Letters to the press: Pensions Investment in Arms
Ethical funds outperform conventional funds
Rosemary Bland, December 2007
...[more]
Pension concerns are justified
P Davenport (Letters February 7th) points out that we live in an increasingly dangerous world. ...[more]
Marilyn Jones, February 2007
Greens condemn Councils funding of the arms industry
The investment in the arms industry by Wirral Council and other Councils on Merseyside revealed in your recent article is a scandal ("Pensions funding arms firms", Wirral News, 20th September). ...[more]
Jim McGinley, September 2006
Ethical funds outperform conventional funds
Bill Nock's defence of Merseyside Pension Fund's investment in arms companies (Dec.12th) assumes that such investment yields higher returns than ethically sound investment. In fact ethical, particularly "green" funds have recently been outperforming conventional funds and are expected to continue doing so by, amongst others, major financial institutions such as Schroders, HSBC and Virgin. For example, investment in "climate change funds" could have produced a return of 125% between early 2004 and November 2007 (Observer, Nov.11th 2007). This is a rather "inconvenient truth" for those who, like Bill Nock, base their case on "fiduciary duty" i.e. the duty to obtain the best return. It is clearly reasonable from the narrowly financial view alone to switch to ethical funds and any court, if such a move were challenged (by whom, incidentally?) would be forced to agree.
Bill Nock makes no mention of the Fund Managers' duty to take account of the moral concerns of members or pensioners of the fund. Perhaps that is because such a consideration points clearly to the rightness and indeed the necessity of investing in companies combatting environmental damage rather than in the ecologically and socially destructive arms trade.
Rosemary Bland
December 2007
Pension concerns are justified
P Davenport (Letters February 7th) points out that we live in an increasingly dangerous world. What he fails to realise is that our gross over expenditure on weapons and warfare is making us less, not more secure. Does he honestly believe that the £48m worth of UK weapons exported to Israel and Saudi Arabia in 2005 furthered the cause of peace in the world and made Britain more secure? Clearly our weapons producers are selling to the highest bidder and history has shown that these weapons frequently end up being used against Britain and its allies.
It is therefore hardly surprising that many members of the Merseyside pension fund are deeply dismayed that their money is furthering these activities.
Moreover, the British government now spends £34bn each year on defence. This is vastly more than other European countries who, in the main, have sensibly structured their armed forces to deal with civilian emergencies and to participate in peacekeeping activities. This is what we should be aiming for in Britain. We could then divert scarce resources to deal with the real and acute threats posed by climate change and energy security.
Marilyn Jones
Green Party (Wirral)
February 2007
Greens condemn Councils funding of the arms industry
The investment in the arms industry by Wirral Council and other Councils on Merseyside revealed in your recent article is a scandal ("Pensions funding arms firms,", Wirral News, 20th September). Military expenditure worldwide totalled £553bn in 2004. Every minute someone is killed by armaments (500,000 per year) and 1.5 million more are wounded. Conflict is fuelled and inflamed by the massive quantities of arms available; 88% of conventional arms exports are by the USA, Britain, China, Russia and France, none of which could be thought to be dependent on the trade.
Redirecting even some of the gross over-expenditure on arms into socially useful and environmentally friendly industries and into disease eradication and poverty alleviation would transform our world for the better. Council taxpayers' money should be channelled into ethically sound enterprises that do not exacerbate the threat of nuclear annihilation. Indeed, given the growing crisis of energy supply and the related dangers of global warming, a significant proportion should go to the development of renewable technologies.
Jim McGinley
Green Party (Wirral)
September 2006
Back to top