Lincs Free Press letters February 12
RAF
Memorial vandalism showed worst and best of our communities
Last month’s vandalism at the Bomber Command Memorial (in London) highlighted the very worst and the very best of our communities. I cannot thank your readers enough for their incredible support in the wake of this shocking paint attack.
To date we have received more than £25,000 in donations to help the RAF Benevolent Fund meet the repair bill. Repair works have now been completed on the Memorial and it is now returned to its former glory.
As well as the donations received, the RAF Benevolent Fund had thousands of messages of support from around the world. It was heart-warming to see how well the Memorial, the veterans and the 55,573 men it stands to represent are thought of.
We must never forget their sacrifices and the RAF Benevolent Fund is proud to be the guardian of this tribute to their legacy, for generations to come.
As the Fund enters its 100th year of support for the RAF Family, we must not forget those veterans who are still with us. Our aim this year is to ask for the public’s help in reaching more of these veterans and their families, while we still can.
Our support could help pay for the care costs of an RAF widow, or provide for mobility aids to keep an elderly veteran at home, or simply allow a veteran to enjoy his retirement in dignity and comfort, through a regular financial grant.
Put simply, the RAF Benevolent Fund looks after the RAF Family. If you know someone in need of support, contact our free support line 0800 169 2942 or email mail@rafbf.org.uk
Air Vice-Marshal David Murray
Chief Executive, RAF Benevolent Fund
BREXIT
Leaving the EU with No-Deal would be unforgivable
In a country divided over Brexit, one thing on which we all, seemingly, agree is that our elected MPs in Westminster have made a complete mess of it to date.
Voters across the EU27 also overwhelmingly agree on one thing too. Neatly expressed in an article in The New York Times, it goes like this: "Two years later, as Britain’s exit... looks increasingly messy and self-destructive, there is a growing sense, even in the populist corners of the continent, that if this is what leaving looks like, no thank you. Nothing has brought the European Union together quite as much as Britain’s chaotic breakdown."
Whatever happens with Brexit, our political system in Westminster – which got us into this mess in the first place and has crippled our public services through Austerity – must be reformed to make it more effective, less self-interested and less party-politically obsessed in future.
However, there's now a gigantic risk looming over our country that transcends any arguments about leaving or remaining, namely a No-Deal Brexit, under which we walk away from negotiations on March 29 and pray that trading under WTO rules won't cripple our whole country, not just our public services.
When the high priests of Brexit tell you that you'll still benefit from "the sunlit uplands of prosperity" if we leave with No-Deal, they're living in a fantasy world of belief, not reality.
Unfortunately facts don't trump beliefs. But let's consider just one factual example: Nissan's decision not to build their X-Trail model in Sunderland, despite a previous promise to do so after the Referendum in 2016, for which they were given an undisclosed 'sweetheart deal' (rumoured to be up to £80 million) and was widely trumpeted as proof that "Global Britain will be open for business after we leave the EU".
So, what's happened since? The answer is that the EU has concluded a brilliant trade deal with Japan under which tariffs on cars built in Japan for export to the EU will face tariffs falling to 0 per cent, whereas, in contrast, thanks to No-Deal Brexiteers in the UK, Nissan cars made in Sunderland for export to the EU will instantly face a 10 per cent tariff after March 29. No, you couldn't make this up.
A No-Deal Brexit would be unforgivable. MPs, please wake up to reality, rather than your beliefs.
Alan Meekings
by email
Who can I sue?
Should my standard of living plummet further as a result of Brexit, who can I sue? Someone has to be held accountable.
Andrew MacDonald
by email
