A visit to the Stop the War stall at this year's Lambeth Country Show proved lucky for one local.
Graham Kemp's entry in our 'Guess the cost of the Afghanistan war' competition – £35 billion – was closest to the £29 billion answer the adjudicator was looking for.
The competition prize was a made-to-order “peace cake” featuring a white dove, and by extraordinary coincidence Graham was informed of his win and received the cake on his birthday, 20 July – the Wednesday following the Country Show on the weekend of 16 and 17 July.
“That was a nice moment of serendipity,” said Graham, of Loughborough Junction. “I was persuaded to pay 50p to enter the competition by a Lambeth Stop the War activist, who described it as 'guess how many sweets in the jar for Guardian readers'.”
The competition question, devised by activist Jim Brann, was: “What does the UK government say will be the total cost of British military operations in Afghanistan by the end of 2014?". Guesses ranged from £2 million to £950 billion.
While Jim phrased the question carefully to be clear that for the purpose of the competition we were using controversial Government figures, the competition nevertheless prompted polite dissent among some Lambeth Stop the War activists, who felt it was important to stress that the true cost of the war is incalculable.
“For the true cost of a war we should not be relying on MoD accountants”, emailed Aubrey Nunes. Fellow activist Veronica Ball added: “The real cost is the alternative goods/services which the resources used on war could have provided. But this ignores the even more scandalous real costs in the victim country, which are hardly imaginable.”
At Lambeth Stop the War’s latest planning meeting it was agreed that for our next stall at a big event, the Urban Green Fair in Brockwell Park on Sunday 4 September we would develop the competition idea by holding a caption contest.
A big thank you to Graham Brooks of London Cakes who provided Lambeth Stop the War with a medium sized cake for the price of a 'small', because he felt it was for a good cause