Readers’ letters: Britain is living on borrowed time, ideas and money

In 1976, as the IMF brokers arrived, Prime Minister James Callaghan told Labour’s conference that our problems were caused by paying ourselves more than we produced. Britain, he said, had been living for too long on borrowed time, borrowed ideas and borrowed money.

Now Andy Burnham assumes office facing the exact same structural failures. Without a fresh mandate from the electorate to tackle this reality head-on, the UK remains on an unsustainable course. The public deserves a real say in our economic future.

Doug Clark, Edinbugh

Slim chances

Political commentators claim “Middle England” is where elections are lost and won, another reason why, to quote your editorial, a “sense of realism” is required amongst “left-wing Labour backbenchers who appear to have developed a false sense of confidence” based on the 2024 landslide election result (Scotsman, 18 July). The new Prime Minister Andy Burnham declared this “the most significant change moment in our politics in 40 years”, ending a period of neoliberalism. He might return to the politics of Old Labour in the 1970s when we endured the winter of discontent, 83 per cent income tax, frequent power cuts and cosying up to unions over beer and sandwiches.

Burnham will hopefully be more savvy, recognising that he was elected by the people of Makerfield, and needing to appeal to the mood of the country from Basildon to Barra. Winning in Scotland is not just about oil and gas. He needs devolution to work across the UK otherwise the acerbic rhetoric of Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage will become more relevant.

If Burnham is to win the next election he will need a snap election within a year or hope Reform implodes as growth and stopping small boats is proving elusive.

Either way, his chances are slim given the UK’s finances and distrust in politics. Blair and Starmer knew how to win but does he? Let’s hope that pride feels now doesn’t come before a fall.

Neil Anderson, Edinburgh

Liberty and latitude

Andy Burnham has promised to give people “hope back” and a “return the Labour they once knew” (your report, 18 July). He claimed that he could make political discourse “that little bit less toxic” and that this requires “a new path to the one we’ve been on for the last 40 years”.

Very laudable but whilst I admire his ambition, I believe that he will have to examine, and where necessary, draw the line between liberty and latitude, between the disparity between one person’s rights and and another person’s rights, because this is the fault line which has opened up over the past 40 years and undermined the coherence of our society. Evidence of this split was expressed by different writers in Saturday’s Scotsman.

Aine Fox reported on JK Rowling’s response to Amnesty International UK’s criticism of Beira as “gender critical and anti-rights” in a research paper. Susan Dalgety accused Amnesty of “double standard over single-sex spaces” since it supports single-sex toilets in sub-Saharan Africa but not in Scotland.

John McLellan’s article, “An arrest that’s bad news for free speech”, quoted the late Ann Widdecombe saying “there is no right to be offended!”, yet we all know that this right has been usurped by what he calls “aggressive trans activism”. Also, Joanna Timms in her letter debates Westminster's Conversion Practices Bill being challenged by the Equality Network.

So as Andy Burnham takes office, I think he will discover that the economy, hugely important as it is, is not the only issue he will have to deal with. Over the 40-year period he refers to, our society has been rent by conflicting interpretations of the Human Rights Act. If he wants to restore “hope” in our society, then, he will need the wisdom of Solomon, the courage of David facing Goliath and the patience of Job. I hope he succeeds.

Lovina Roe, Perth

Unlawful intent

In her latest column (Scotsman, 20 July), Jenny Lindsay claims that Engender and the Equality Network do not operate “in accordance with the law”, and that they “push unlawful positions”.

By that reckoning, I am personally privileged and proud to have acted "unlawfully” over the past four decades. I campaigned, alongside many others, to repeal the ban on the “promotion of homosexuality”, to introduce an equal age of consent for gay men, and in favour of civil partnership, gender recognition, equal marriage, and more. All those things we campaigned for were unlawful at the time of our campaigns, and all are now lawful.

Gender-critical (or as I would call them, anti-trans) campaigns currently have the wind in their sails because the UK Supreme Court last year ruled to reverse the intended meaning of part of the Equality Act. The Equality Network is transparently saying that the act should be amended to restore Parliament’s original intention. I agree. Ms Lindsay’s position appears to be that calling for a change in the law is, or should be, of itself, unlawful. That would be a step towards totalitarianism.

Tim Hopkins, Edinburgh

Money wasted

I could not believe what I was reading in your report “Hundreds of workers suspended on full pay” (20 July).

Why is it taking so long to deal with this issue? Why are they on full pay for such lengths of time?

Admittedly, a lot of them may be innocent, but this shouldn't mean so much money being wasted while they are investigated (or not, by the look if things!) No wonder our public services are under-financed. This would not happen in the private sector so can the government learn from this?

Liz Towns, Edinburgh

Here and now

As Chair of the Aberdeen Better Together group I utterly reject Herbert Petrie’s argument (Letters,18 July) that we were nostalgic for the past and were clinging to empire; as for us wanting to keep the pound this was the SNP policy in the Yes white paper “Scotlands Future” signed off by Alex Salmond and rejected by Scottish voters in 2014. We were not living in the past but in the present, often judging what might happen in the future if Yes won on the basis of the performance of the Scottish government. Its record since then regarding matters under its control has been worse and not helped the independence cause; ferries, gender wars, and the struggling NHS (last year I was a corridor patient), for example.

As for the 21st century being about small nimble democratic nations working together as equals, I am not sure that citizens of the former Yugoslavia would agree, and the Baltic states are working together because of the real threat from Russia, a very powerful argument for the UK to have its nuclear deterrent. As for Herbert’s prediction of independence for Northern Ireland, I have been there many times, once hearing a bomb going off. I doubt whether its citizens will forget historical events any time soon, or even whether the Republic of Ireland would be all that keen to take it over.

Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen

Football disgrace

The Argentine football team behaved badly in victory against England and worse in defeat to Spain in the World Cup final.

46 other teams lost during the tournament, some in very painful circumstances, but none of them resorted to the shameful antics of the Argentinians at the end of the final. Their manager praised them! What was he watching?

Callum Towns, Edinburgh

Hope for Syria

Melanie Ward is right that Syrians are on a mission to rebuild their shattered country and the UK must help them in doing so. Syria was once regarded as the ancient pearl and the beginning of civilisation. It is the birthplace of the first alphabet in history – a watershed moment in human history. Syria is also home to the oldest musical notation in the world. It is time for Syria regains to its original glory and contribute to the enrichment of humanity.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob, London

Pumped up

Martin McCluskey MP, pursuing the misguided Millibandesqe zeal, believes all homes currently using oil (and presumably lpg) should be converted to heat pumps (your report, 17 July). As a townie he is probably unaware that these users are almost exclusively in rural areas, many are miles away from large centres. Their electricity is provided by overhead cables which are prone to disruption due to gales, storms, snow and ice and morons driving into electricity poles. Both gas and oil are stored on site and require relatively small amounts of electricity to keep them running but heat pumps require substantial energy.

As we have seen over recent winters, some areas can be without power for days on end. Batteries and small generators can keep oil and gas running for quite a long time. They cannot run heat pumps for more than very short periods. On this basis it would appear that the solution for the government, along with the heat pumps, is to supply each home with a very big diesel generator! Mission accomplished, as Mr Trump would say.

John Marsh, Arbroath, Angus

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