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  Friday 29 April 2011

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Why do I bother? There was I this morning doing my bit as a Labour party foot soldier delivering election addresses in my part of Nottingham and what do I come home to? A report that the "Libya commitment [is] open-ended" (28 April) according to Liam Fox, and all Labour's shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, wants is an assurance that the £1bn cost (and that just for starters) won't come from savings in Afghanistan or the MoD.

After 51 years in the party, why did I think Ed Miliband would be different? I had such high hopes and at the first fence he falls. I fear there are yet more billions waiting to frittered away on foreign "escapades" while all around me I see a Labour city council and local community groups doing their best to protect frontline services which have been subjected to budget cuts. To spend precious financial resources on wars (and Trident) is a betrayal of the homeless, the vulnerable, the sick, the poor and many more.

Robert Howard

Nottingham