Letters to the Editor – 25/02 – Intimidated Russia, Best of Twitter
Intimidated Russia
[Re: Russia must back down over Ukraine to avoid a catastrophe, yesterday]
The situation with Russia is more complicated than generally appreciated. Suppose the communist system of the USSR had triumphed and that, one by one, European states had applied to join that Union, and were then invited to join the Warsaw Pact. We could now be seeing Siberian troops exercising in Calais. But that is what has happened, in reverse, to Russia. The USSR collapsed, its member states applied to join the EU, but they were then invited to join Nato and accepted; that final part is not fine for Russia. It puts US troops on the Russian border with Poland. Ukraine will likely join Nato, and this will seriously antagonise Russia further. It will respond by getting closer to China and India (you can see the start of this in the Shanghai Cooperation Agreement). None of this is in the UK’s interests.
Julian Malins, QC, author of The Serpents Head – Revenge
[Re: The only solution to the housing crisis: Build, build and build, Friday]
Planned garden cities have worked well in Britain. They can deliver affordable housing in places people actually want to live. So why aren’t we building more?
Tim Walker
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BEST OF TWITTER
PM: UK can afford tax allowances and investment to ensure we recover as much North Sea oil as possible.
@Number10gov
Slight relief for the ECB as Eurostat reports inflation at an annual rate of 0.8 per cent in January.
@notayesmansecon
Goldman Sachs: euro area growth 1.2 per cent this year; 1.5 next. Up off its knees, but still well below par.
@SimonatSaltus
Populus: more public sector workers will definitely vote at general election than private sector workers.
@RedHotSquirrel