Reasons to stay
Sir: While I agree with much of Fraser Nelson’s analysis on the impact of higher taxes on total tax revenue (‘Osborne’s tax exiles’, 13 November), he misses one key aspect of the Chancellor’s tax reforms: the extension of entrepreneurs’ relief on capital gains tax from £1 million to £5 million.
In September 2008, having worked for the Saatchi brothers for 21 years, I left my comfortable, well-paid and secure job to create a virtual global agency via the internet. Given the nature of my business model I could locate in Bahrain and pay no income tax. But the opportunity to build capital value from my new business and after three years pay only 10 per cent capital gains tax is the risk/reward ratio that is incentivising me to stay in the UK despite the increased income tax burden (as well as loss of child benefit, personal allowances and pension benefits). My new company has won contracts from clients on every continent, bringing new revenues into the UK, enabling us to hire more people here. I for one am voting with my feet, which are planted firmly in British soil.
Michael Moszysnki
CEO, London Advertising, London NW1
Moral equivalence
Sir: I have no problem with Jo Johnson setting out the desperate situation in Gaza (‘Generation jihad’, 13 November). Where I differ with him, however, is not just over the reason for that misery, but also the cause of terrorism and Islamism itself.
Mr Johnson states: ‘It was out of “loyalty to [her] Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine” that she [Roshonara Chaudhry] dropped out of King’s College London and set off on her murderous mission’.
This is the worst kind of moral equivalence. It implies that Chaudhry’s actions are understandable given the conflict in Palestine. The reality is that, even if the conflict were solved tomorrow, with Israel retreating mostly to 1967 borders, the Roshonara Chaudrys of this world would still exist. The objective of Islamists worldwide is not a peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict, but jihad, and that Israel — and by extension, Jews — be wiped off the map. President Ahmadinejad, for example, makes no distinction between the West Bank and Tel Aviv. Instead, the ‘Zionist entity’ must be destroyed per se.
When Ehud Barak offered almost everything to Yasser Arafat at Camp David in 2000, far from discouraging Islamists, it emboldened them. It was the same when Israel withdrew from Gaza unilaterally in 2005. Islamists exist because of ideology, not policy differences.
Robert Halfon
MP for Harlow, London SW1
Peace trains
Sir: Lucky Sam Tanenhaus to live in America, where ‘quiet car’ rules are observed (Diary, 13 November). On a recent Reading-bound train from Waterloo, I listened to a young woman yakking inconsequentially on her mobile phone from before departure until Clapham Junction. Eventually, I pointed out the quiet carriage notice above every seat. She did sign off but I was greeted with a sneer from the man sitting opposite her and very soon another passenger started up on her mobile. I realised that any hope of self-discipline in this country is futile.
David Salter
Richmond, Surrey
Sir: The train guard ‘enamoured of his own voice’ is as well known in Britain as in America. Those on Southern Trains repeat at greater length what you’ve just heard from the recorded announcement; I suspect that bonuses are awarded for the longest and most tedious messages. South West Trains have ‘quiet zones’; though the guards don’t police these, possibly fearing earfuls of abuse.
On-board announcements in Britain are to do with ‘health and safety’ apparently. But why not a really quiet carriage or two, with no announcements at all? At your own risk obviously. I bet they’d be thronged.
Tim Hudson
Chichester, West Sussex
The Chinese challenge
Sir: Gideon Rachman provides a timely analysis of the challenges implicit in China’s resurgence (‘Playing with fire’, 30 October) but offers no suggestions as to how the West should deal with this new economic and political force. The reality is that the Chinese have to seize this opportunity to catch up with the West, because they are well aware that the high growth of the last decade is not sustainable and domestically they face a litany of problems: a rapidly ageing population, severe imbalances between regions and progressive environmental degradation.
If we choose to participate in this rapid growth, and one of the conditions is the transfer of technology, then of course we risk creating potential competitors in our own markets. But the historic impetus for globalisation has derived from Western interests and embraced a commitment to free trade: it contradicts our essential values to respond to the fundamental change in the global economic architecture by falling back on protectionist measures to meet the Chinese challenge. China has a huge pool of human talent and the vision and determination to succeed at the capitalist game. Surely our goal should be to maintain a competitive lead in technology and business practice through investment in education, science and technology?
Alastair Campbell
Beijing
Remembering Bron
Sir: Marcus Berkmann’s review of Kiss Me, Chudleigh (Books, 6 November) reminded me of renting the Waughs’ house in the Aude for many years in the 1980s and 1990s. Auberon and I would exchange notes on where to eat and drink. I wrote one year of how a fine local restaurant had gone swiftly downhill and suggested reasons why. Bron’s reply was: ‘It is true, Monsieur ____ (the chef patron) has become quite demented with conceit.’ I always found him charm itself and the locals loved him.
Gareth Spencer Jones
London SE3
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