The Week - UK (2021-07-17)

22 NEWS Talking points

THEWEEK 17 July 2021

WhenTonyBlairsentBritish

troopsintoAfghanistanback

in 2001 ,hedeclaredwaronthe

Taliban,butgavetheAfghan

peopleanexplicitguarantee,

saidUnHerd:“Wewillnotwalk

away,astheoutsideworldhas

donesomanytimesbefore,”he

said.Yetlastweek,withmuch

ofthecountryonceagainin

Talibanhands,anotherprime

minister,BorisJohnson,

announcedtheendofour

militarypresenceinAfghanistan.

Flag-loweringceremonies

apparentlytookplaceinsecret

lastmonth,andonlyahandful

ofBritishtroopsarenowleftto

guardtheembassy.AllBlair’sfinetalkof

building“astable,liberaldemocracy”in

Afghanistanhascometonothing.Ourlongest

militarydeploymentinmoderntimes–lasting

20 yearsandcostingbillionsofpoundsandthe

livesof 457 servicemen andwomen –hasended

infailure.

Britaincan pointto plentyofachievements

inAfghanistan,saidRobertFox inthe London

EveningStandard.Weleave behind anation

with abettereducationsystem,moregirlsin

schools,improvedhealthcare, betterelectricity

infrastructure andevenaviablemobilephone

network. Butallthose advances are nowin

jeopardy,becausethe last 20yearswere blighted

by“muddledstrategy andmuddledplanning”

as well as“unachievable targets”–suchas the

policyoftryingtoeradicate

opiumproductioninBritish-

controlledareas.Thereal

problemisthatwewere

“divertedbytheIraqWar”,said

DominicNichollsinTheDaily

Telegraph.Whenweturnedour

attentionbacktoAfghanistan,

wewerecommittedtofighting

inHelmand,adesertregion

with“labyrinthine”politicsthat

webarelyunderstood–andthe

public’stoleranceforcasualties

“eventuallyranout”.It’squite

true,asGeneralSirNickCarter,

headoftheArmedForce s,said

lastweek,thattherehasbeen

nointernationalterrorattack

mountedfromAfghanistansince2001.Butonly

themost“blinkeredobserver”woulddescribe

ourmissionthereasanoverallsuccess.

Britainhadlittlechoiceexcepttoquitoncethe

Americans madeplain theywere leaving,said

The Independent.Butdidthe alliedwithdrawal

–almostallUS forceshavenowgone–haveto

be soabruptand complete?There isno good

reasonwhywe couldnothave continuedto

provide airpower,intelligencegatheringand

military training.Instead,Britainis“scuttling”

out ofAfghanistan.Such departures, likethose

fromPalestineandIndia,are likely tohave

“gruesomeconsequences”for those leftbehind.

Ourtroopsfoughtwith“greatdistinction”in

Afghanistan.Thisretreatdishonoursallthose

who“have suffered andsacrificed somuch”.

Pickoftheweek’s

Gossip

Afghanistan: “scuttling” for the exit

“Togovern istochoose,”saidtheLondon

EveningStandard.And akeychoiceconfronting

ministerstoday iswhether ornotto risk

alienatingoldervotersbyendingthetriple lock

on pensions. This isthepolicythatguarantees

thatthestatepension riseseachyear by

whicheveris the highestoutof averageearnings,

theinflationrateor2.5%.Thepolicy was

introducedbyDavid Cameron in2010, and

theToriespromised in theirlast election

manifesto to maintain it. Butthepandemichas

complicated things. Although earningssuffered

afreak reduction andinflationrosebyjust

1% last year,pensions stillgrewby2.5%. This

year, the unwindingoft he fu rloughscheme

is expected to lead toafreak 8% increase in

earnings, which–underthe termsoft he triple

lock –means pensions wouldhave to rise by

the same,atacost totheExchequer of£3bn.

Critics claim thiswould be an outrageous gift

to therelativelywell-off elderly, said Andrew

Fisher in TheiPaper,but you have to put itin

context. In national spendingterms,£3bn isn’t

all that much:the2021Budg et unveiled£25bn

in corporatetax br eaks over the next two years.

Andthe U Khas on eofthe least generousstate

pensions in Europe.Itamounts to£137.60per

week for thosewho reached StatePensionAge

(SPA)before 6April 2016,and £179.60 for

thosewhoreachSPA after thatdate.By

comparison, singlepensionersget£254aweek

intheNetherlands and£366in Denmark. Asfor

theideathatit’s“intergenerationallyunfair”,

that’snonsense.Youngpeople aregoingtobe

even more reliant onstate pensionsthantoday’s

pensioners,who are morelikelytohaveworked

inunionisedworkplaces withcollectively

negotiated pensionprovisions.They shouldbe

“fighting hard to defend thetriplelock –itwill

be thebedrock of their retirement”.

Idoubt indebtedstudentsandthose on universal

credi twho areabout t olose their£20 aweek

Covi dtop-u pwould se ean8%pensions hike in

thos eterms, saidWill Hutton in The Observer.

For them, itwould just look like another

undeserved bonusfor th ebabyboomers.

Chancellor RishiSunak “can read the runes,

andhealsoneed sthat£3bn”.Thesigns ar ethat

he’llwater down the triple lockcommitment

by fixingittoalonger-term average of wage

growth. He needstodosomething,said Chris

Whitesideon Conservative Home. “Itisn’t

sustainabletopermanently guaranteeany

section ofsociet yarelati ve incomewhich can

neverget worse but can and ultimatelywillkeep

improving.”The triplelock initially madesense

as away of helpingpensions catch upwith

wag es.But the correction hasgonefar enough.

Pensions: time to end the triple lock?

British troops leaving Helmand

Dr Stephen Benn,Viscount

Stansgate, has taken up a

seat in the House of Lords

–six decadesafter it was

renounced by his father,

Tony Benn.Benn Jr will

join Labour’s group after

an uncontested by-election

following the death of

another hereditary Labour

peer. His late father rejected

his own peerage in 1963,

explaining his position with

amemorable analogy:

“I wouldn’t like to go to a

dentist who, just before he

drilled my teeth, told me he

was notadentist himself,

but that his father had been

avery good dentist.”

Parenthood can be

thankless, even for rom-com

royalty.Emma Freudrecalls

her partner,Richard Curtis,

receivingatext from their

son Jakeafew years ago

saying: “Dad can you pick

me up from school today?”

The film director replied:

“I have been in America for

the past eight days.Iamso

sorry you have not noticed.”

Before the 2019 election,

the then shadow chancellor

John McDonnelllost his

favourite Jack Wolfskin coat.

He’d left it in the Commons

behind the Speaker’s Chair;

it was gone when he

returned. The only people

he’d seen passing in the

meantime wereBoris

Johnsonand Dominic

Cummings.The mystery

has now finally been solved.

“We are havingalittle

tidy-up of the PM’s

Parliamentary Office and

haveacoat that belongs to

you,” wrote Johnson’s team

to McDonnell. “It has your

freedom pass in the

pocket.” McDonnell replied

generously: “I am an

extremely forgiving person

and believe in the...

rehabilitation of offenders.”