The Conservatives are struggling to compete with a right-wing populist Reform Party.
HS2 is “the railway that blew billions”. Sizewell C, estimated to cost £20 billion in 2020, is reckoned to be costing double that just a few short years later. England’s NHS is in “critical” condition according to a Government-commissioned report citing long waits for treatment, crumbling hospitals, mental health patients in “vermin-infested cells” and has far fewer MRI and CT scanners than nearly every other comparable country.
John NE Rankin (Letters, January 15) believes “This whole sorry ferries fiasco exemplifies why Scotland is not ready to be an independent country yet.”
Really?
Alan Carmichael, Glasgow.
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Sucking up to the City
Rachel Reeves is back from her China trip with a trade deal worth £600m (“Reeves’ China visit branded ‘tone deaf’ as Labour claim £600m deal is ‘a start’”, The Herald, January 13).
Why go all the way to China for such a pittance? Because the UK ejected itself from the EU, its largest and nearest market. Brexit has slashed real UK GDP by 5% and trade by 15%.
She didn’t go to help the British people, but the City of London. Her travelling companion was Bank of England boss Andrew Bailey and she cut a deal with China to deepen cooperation in trade and financial services.
The City of London is hurting. In December, Ms Reeves begged the EU to give greater access for the City but stuck to her “red lines” – not rejoining the single market or customs union or agreeing to the free movement of people. She’s called the City the UK’s “crown jewel”, yet London and UK crown dependencies launder 40% of the world’s dirty money and add nothing to the productive economy but serve the rich.
Ms Reeves’ China jaunt makes the UK look desperate and shows how little she and Mr Bailey know about stimulating economic growth.
Under Mr Bailey, interest rates (4.75%) are higher than inflation (2.5%) plus growth (0.1%). At the same time, the Bank of England is removing money from the economy by selling bonds. Ms Reeves thinks she must balance the budget as if she’s running a household, not a government. The only thing she can do within her self-imposed fiscal rules is cut spending. That means austerity. Does she seriously think this will result in growth?
Labour no longer believes in investing in the real economy. It has chosen to swim in a neoliberal swamp infested with vulture capitalists who are sucking the UK dry. That’s why growth has flatlined, wages have stagnated, and poverty and inequality have soared. Labour has forgotten what John Maynard Keynes knew: only government spending can get an economy out of an economic downturn.
Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.
Problems ahead for Labour
Labour would have you think Rachel Reeves has everything under control because inflation has dropped by 0.1%. Think again. The drop in the value of the pound will raise oil costs and in two months’ time the horrendous tax increases in Ms Reeves’ Budget will hit and these certainly will fuel inflation.
The tiny drop is irrelevant, it is the general trend and that must be upwards courtesy of the Government’s actions. Ms Reeves’ “reprieve” will not last long and even Keir Starmer has held himself as a hostage to fortune by declaring there will be only one Budget per year. In political parlance, he is being “brave” and that is even before he has to deal with President Donald Trump who, understandably, is not the PM’s best friend.
Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.
FM should focus on the big challenges
John Swinney’s plea to respect Nicola Sturgeon’s privacy amidst her marital troubles (“Swinney: Respect Sturgeon’s privacy amid divorce to Murrell, heraldscotland, January 15) is perhaps an indication of a government more absorbed in personal matters than in effectively managing public concerns.
With continued challenges in Scotland regarding education, healthcare, and public safety, our leaders ought to be addressing these pressing issues instead of diving into the realm of personal affairs. We need leadership that prioritises governance. Communities are yearning for a government that ensures our schools are well-funded, our healthcare systems are robust, and public safety is uncompromised.
In the words of the influential historian and civic leader Thomas Carlyle, “the first duty of a leader is to define a vision for the future”. However, in this instance, it seems our leaders are more focused on navigating personal crises than outlining a sustainable vision for Scotland.
If Mr Swinney and the SNP aim to demonstrate responsible leadership, they must divert their attention from private matters and re-engage with the challenges facing the Scottish public. It is time to restore focus on the essential services that our communities rely on, ensuring that our leaders are held accountable for their governance.
Alastair Majury, Dunblane.
Lack of treatment for addicts
I am at a total loss. Could someone tell me what difference is there – morally, medically, or in any other way – between an alcoholic reaching the beyond-help stage and drinking on the street or in secluded places, and a drug addict shooting up anywhere he or she can find? Yet the addict is now supplied with facilities to do what he or she must in Scotland and alcoholics, who also die in numbers, do not. Many families, including my own, have watched a loved one suffer and, in many cases, die.
In either case, under the SNP, there is not enough treatment available to help them get off their harmful way of life – they seem to prefer to spend our taxes elsewhere. The new clinic in Glasgow seems to be all about making the addicted comfortable while they continue the lifestyle that in time may very well be fatal.
Something, surely, is very seriously and fundamentally wrong with this approach.
Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.
SNP must invest in childcare
Recent statistics from the Care Inspectorate highlight a troubling decline in childminding services across Scotland. Over the past decade, the number of childminders has halved, plummeting from 6,274 in 2012 to just 3,225 in 2023 – a staggering 49% reduction.
This sustained decline over seven consecutive years underscores the failure of the Scottish Government to adequately support this vital sector. Their lack of effective action has left many families struggling to access affordable and flexible childcare. In rural areas like those I represent, where childcare options are already scarce, this issue is felt even more acutely.
Barriers such as excessive bureaucracy, insufficient financial incentives and poor support for those entering or staying in the profession must be addressed urgently. It is clear that the Scottish Government’s priorities have failed to align with the needs of families and communities, and without decisive action, the situation will only worsen.
Scotland’s families deserve better than a decade of neglect. It is time for the SNP to reverse this damaging trend, invest in childcare, and ensure that childminders receive the recognition and support they deserve.
Alastair Redman, Independent Councillor for the Kintyre and the Islands ward, Port Charlotte, Islay.
John Swinney has called for Nicola Sturgeon’s privacy to be respected (Image: PA)
Long way to go for Palestinians
I refer to your article “Hamas accepts draft ceasefire agreement in ‘closest’ point to a deal” (The Herald, January 15).
It is a necessary first step but there is a very long way to go to resolve the tragic situation best described by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, who said in 2021, some two years before the attack by Hamas and the horrors that followed: “If there is a hell on Earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza”.
The truth of that assertion is confirmed in a report dated November 8, 2024 (The Question of Palestine) in which the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that, in Gaza, children aged between five and nine accounted for the largest number of dead in Israel’s military onslaught, followed by 10-14 year olds and then babies and children aged 0 to four…There must be ‘due reckoning’ for horrific violations, possible atrocity crimes in Gaza”.
However even costly reparations would fail to compensate for the suffering undergone and the long-term consequences both physical and psychological. There must be, inconceivable though it seems especially with the approach of Donald Trump, a long-term solution to right all the wrongs the Palestinians have suffered at the hands of Israel, the US and the UK since the creation of the Israeli state in 1948.
John Milne, Uddingston.