IT IS ironic that Daniel Stafford, of Oxford East Conservatives, tries to back up his arguments for high military spending by quoting Paul Eddington from Yes, Minister (Letters, March 3).

Eddington (the actor, not his character) was a pacifist who resisted conscription in the 1950s.

Daniel Stafford writes of “the defence of the realm”. But defending “the realm” – the state, the monarchy and all their trappings – is not the same as defending the British people.

For decades, Tory and Labour governments have used the armed forces for aggression overseas and made the world even less safe.

It is not a foreign army that is destroying public services in Britain, but the British government.

It is not an invasion that has ripped away the livelihoods of thousands of disabled people, but the policies of David Cameron.

People on low or middle incomes in Britain have more in common with people on low or middle incomes in France, the US or even Russia and Iran than they do with the rich and powerful whose interests are served by Cameron, Putin and most other world leaders. It’s time to rid ourselves of tribalistic notions of loyalty to nation-states and think instead about loyalty to humanity.

SYMON HILL
Bayswater Road, Oxford