LETTER: WHO PAYS FOR THE ARMS TRADE?

YOUR report neglects to mention that it is much more difficult for an investment manager to have regard to ethical issues than it is for an individual. This particularly applies to pension funds, including those of the clergy. Managers are not allowed by law to take account of ethical issues unless it can be proved that this will not prevent them from getting the best return on their clients' money.

Many people would say that ethical interests in the long term would give the best return anyway, but this is not true in the short term. Fund managers have to look at the financial position as it is at present.

The law needs to be changed so that clients are free to have their pension funds invested where these ethical issues are taken into consideration. Cancer charities are not forced to invest in tobacco companies. Neither should church or hospital pension fund managers be forced to invest in the arms trade.

Joan Hughes

London N16