I write in response to Jeff Prestridge’s column about Apfa (FA, 3 December).
I am a member of both Libertatem and of Apfa. There are things I agree with that both say and things I disagree with. There are things which Garry Heath at Libertatem is better at doing than Chris Hannant at Apfa, and vice versa.
Rather like politics and the recent vote over Syria, tying yourself to one party and accepting the whip can sometimes be wrong.
There was good example of when I followed an informal whip at an Apfa meeting with the FCA which Alan Lakey and Chris Hannant attended. On the way in I made a point of refusing to have my bag X-rayed by the security people unless they could confirm that all FCA staff in the building had been through the same security system as they were asking me to (they had not, and I suspect this is still a flaw in Canary Wharf’s security).
But after 15 minutes I had made my point, so I submitted to the search, and went in to the meeting rather than cut my nose off to spite my face, as I was there to represent other Apfa members concerned about the injustice of the removal of the long-stop from the rulebook.
Phil Castle
IFA,
Financial Escape,
Ramsgate,
Kent
