Yahoo Finance If we have moral corruption in the highest office, what hope is there for the rest of us?
Former prime minister David Cameron is in the spotlight over the Greensill scandal
(AP)Corrupt people, whether morally or otherwise, leave a long-lasting effect. Mr Tony Blair is no exception, so why he is being feted by the press and the Labour Party is beyond my understanding.
As far as I am concerned he rates as number three behind the IRA and Covid-19 for the damage done to the British people. His tenure as PM has left Britain with a dreadful legacy regarding the war with Iraq and “weapons of mass destruction”.
Mr Blair, his government and others closed ranks and he was never punished for the lies, obfuscation and subterfuge he employed to cover his lack of honesty to the British people.
He left office only to resurface as a consultant to country leaders advising them how to control their people. No doubt he was paid vast sums to legitimise subduing unrest and opposition in the country.
Very few people are brought to book, or even investigated, when corruption crimes come to light in our government. This gives corrupt people the green light to raise the bar even higher, making it even more difficult to punish the crime.
Patrick Cockburn’s informative article shines a light, as if one was needed, on where and how corruption occurs. Currently, Mr Johnson has been shown to be an advocate of the untruth on many occasions with impunity. And now a previous PM, Mr Cameron, has been caught out. Various MPs have been found guilty of serious offences while in office but nothing is done to deter future incumbents from doing the same thing.
Until we change the way we live our lives nothing will change, and corruption will expand and continue to ruin many lives. If we have moral corruption in the highest offices in the country, what hope is there for the rest of us?
Keith Poole
Basingstoke
Gay conversion ‘loophole’
A new disturbing ‘loophole’ has been reported to the long-awaited ban on so-called “gay conversion therapy”.
The UK prime minister has told the Evangelical Alliance that religions will continue legally to be allowed to give “pastoral support” and pray for those who are “exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity”.
So, gay conversion therapy is to be banned unless it’s religious gay conversion therapy?
Is there any other sort?
Neil Barber
Edinburgh Secular Society
Johnson and Johnson
Both the AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson vaccine rollouts have been blighted by the possible links to blood clotting. The reaction is quite extraordinary. The total number of deaths through the currently unconfirmed extreme side effects of all Covid-19 vaccines is currently measured in tens, and the delays may have caused thousands more deaths than those caused by the reaction.
Up to 20 per cent of the population of most countries risk daily reactions of anaphylaxis through allergies, many of which are life-threatening. Hundreds of people die in Europe alone each year through bee stings, for example. There is no move to wipe out the world’s bee population or destroy the honey market, unlike the reaction to Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease which, although it has killed fewer in thirty years than the annual bee-related deaths tally, resulted in the destruction of millions of cows.
With the negative trend in respect for truth becoming a rapid and exponentially downward curve, scope for total panic is rife. This is epitomised by the myths surrounding Covid-19, from the risk of eczema from mask-wearing to the financial tracking software in the Sputnik V vaccine. Without government courage and strength to hold out for positive information which could swiftly quell the fear, the tendency may get completely out of control.
In the meantime, however, as there has been more than forty days of rainfall continually in some parts of the world already this year, I have started to build an ark.
Matt Minshall
Brittany, France
Pageantry vs gossip
Today’s (17 April) funeral is not about William and Harry or you and me but about Prince Philip, the Queen and their family as a whole. Peter Phillips is the eldest grandchild and rightly will be front and centre; just because he's not regular gossip column fodder and his mother wisely chose not to have him titled, there is no reason to set him aside. The British pride themselves on pageantry but really all they want is gossip and entertainment. Have some respect and compassion, and that is from a republican, not a monarchist.
John Simpson
Ross on Wye
BBC coverage
If the BBC received 110,000 complaints about its coverage of Prince Philip's death, breaking the previous record, will it do a programme exploring why 110,000 people are upset? As a licence payer, if the programme is made the BBC might learn some valuable lessons about being respectful, proportionate and dignified.
Kartar Uppal
West Midlands
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