It's not just Europe that needs a rethink, its Western foreign policy

Send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

David Miliband cautioned against Britain leaving the European Union (Getty Images)

David Miliband says Brexit would be "an act of arson on the international order". Dare I mention Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya? We have also long ignored Saudi Arabia's promotion of Wahhabism and its playing of the destructive sectarian card against 'apostate' Shiites.

Then there is Bahrain, which has the distinction of repressing its majority Shiite citizenry and hosting the US Navy 5th Fleet. Worse still, our desert kingdom ally Saudi Arabia together with Nato member Turkey were allowed to facilitate the emergence of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The West bizarrely gave priority to toppling Syria's secular regime. The Saudis have now embarked upon a war of aggression against Yemen's Shiite Houthis, bombing the country back to the Stone Age. We diplomatically approve and supply munitions.

Needless to say, the resulting turmoil has enabled the sworn enemies of the Houthis, al-Qaeda and Isis, to consolidate their foothold in Yemen. As for Ukraine, the west's unwillingness to acknowledge that it was a classic example of a young state that didn't naturally command the allegiance of all its peoples has contributed to it becoming a failed state. EU taxpayers will be dragooned into rescuing Ukraine's economy.

Nothing less than a complete overhaul of western foreign policy will do. Brexit would kick-start the process.

Yugo Kovach
Winterborne Houghton, Dorset

We have heard people like John Major, David Miliband and William Haig give informed, unemotional and dispassionate opinion on the pros of remaining in the European Union. When will the BBC broadcast similar comments from those who wish this country to leave, who also do not have a personal axe to grind? Perhaps then we might be able to clearly hear a debate between knowledgeable people to help us make up our minds on this vital subject?

Geoff Martin
Haywards Heath

I usually read the letters page with a certain wry amusement at some of the views expressed that disagree with my own. However, yesterday’s letters page filled me with a certain dread that the EU referendum result might well hinge on votes being cast because people are uninformed on the real issues involved.

It included Mr Turner of Norfolk who raised some very real issues that people should think about, Mr Arnott of Sheffield who would appear to be in favour of Brexit but felt this would be the only chance for that eventuality. In fact, a vote to leave is final while a vote to Remain would not shut up the eurosceptics, who would be campaigning for another referendum as soon as they lost this one (see Scotland).

Ms Bostock of Oxford seems to have little idea of what overseas aid actually achieves and Mr Haskell of Cardigan seeks to recruit Winston Churchill to his cause. I would remind him that it was Mr Churchill who once proposed a complete political union between Britain and France.

The greatest service The Independent can serve over the next few months is to do what it does best: present both sides of the argument, allow representatives from all sides to have their say and, hopefully, get them to answer the points from the other side without simply screaming "scaremongering". You have proved in the past, by allowing Nigel Farage a column, that some politicians are capable of debunking their arguments themselves.

Bill Collett
Wendover

Independent commission could scrutinise our tax affairs

Entertaining reading as it might be, the tax returns of a few selected politicians isn't the answer to the moral issues that have come to the fore in relation to tax avoidance rules. What we need is a national debate lead by an independent commission about the type of tax system we want and feel is correct for our age. For example, do we want the American-style approach that counts all income, no matter where it is earned, to be taxed here in the UK? Do we want an annual limit of both earned and unearned income that a person can use as tax deductible?

That is going to be far more useful and productive in establishing a taxation system that is both fairer and funds public services than understanding Boris Johnson and George Osborne’s dividends and royalties.

Lord Paul Scriven
Sheffield

I would agree to the publication of the tax return of every citizen if this were balanced by the publication of the amount received by every recipient of a state benefit. As a result of such disclosures, envy and spite – two national pastimes, it would seem, judging by the events of the past week – could permeate every level of society.

Fair enough? I can almost hear the howls of rage about the gross invasion of privacy. A decent society needs wealth creators to provide the safety net to protect the unfortunate. Unless we are going be required to elect politicians on the basis of mediocrity in all matters, we need to expect that some people are better wealth creators than others. As long as they obey all relevant laws, they should not be subjected to the aforementioned envy and spite.

Katherine Scholfield
London, W8

The idea that everything is hokey dokey now that a few of our politicians have published their tax returns appears to have been uncritically accepted by our commentariat. Our tax returns only show the amount we have declared as earnings to HMRC. Income generated on the black economy, illegally or in offshore trusts and bank accounts, will not appear on declared income.

One of the reasons for “offshore” is primarily to hide earnings from the taxman. The City of London will be rubbing its hands with glee, as they continue to play chess whilst our politicians and media play to the rules of draughts.

Sean O’Donoghue
Hay-on-Wye

Surely what should be greatly reduced is inheritance, not the tax on it. It's OK for a spouse or dependent children to not have to be evicted after a death. But the offspring of a well off family would probably have had a decent up-bringing and education. They stand a better-than-average chance of having good jobs. Why, in adulthood should they get the loot as well?

A modest bequest may be morally acceptable, but allowing great wealth to be acquired because of an accident of birth is one of the reasons that the poor stay poor. Goods don't have to become the possession of the state; they could be bequeathed to a good cause of the testator's choice, thus enabling our society to become less inequitable.

Susan Alexander
Frampton Cotterell

Yesterday, the MP Dennis Skinner – one of the few left who could be called "Left" – was asked by the Speaker Tory Bercow to withdraw "the word starting with ‘d’ and ending with ‘y’" which he used to describe Cameron ("dodgy Dave"). How childish is it, firstly, that Bercow didn't fully enunciate the word? Everybody with an interest in politics knows what Mr Skinner said. And what is it all but dodgy?

It's the perfect adjective. I can think of worse for Cameron and all those Tory MPs who voted in favour of cutting that disability benefit by £30 a week. "Sociopath" would be one of them.

Terry Maunder
Kirkstall

Sir Alan Duncan claimed “we risk seeing a House of Commons which is stuffed full of low achievers”. Judged by its abysmal performance, amounting sometimes to abject stupidity, I thought it was already overflowing with low achievers.

Peter Moyes
Brightlingsea, Essex

The drugs don’t work

Your article on the amount of money spent by the NHS on prescriptions for over-the-counter drugs and the responses of outrage from the TaxPayers Alliance et al rather misses the point. While I am very sympathetic to GPs offering solace to the suffering of their patients as best they can, the callously economic argument is that a GPs time costs around £3. 80 per minute. If a GP can get a mildly ill person ‘out the door’ a minute or two sooner by giving them a prescription for an over-the-counter drug then this is a cost saving. The real problem with drugs is not that they are expensive, but that they are cheap – relative, that is, to human contact therapies, a problem which is particularly marked in the mental health field.

Mark Tuckett
Bideford, Devon

To write to The Independent, please email letters@independent.co.uk. Letters may be edited before publication