Readers' letters: Chief Miekelson's 'bams' appear in many guises today

One of Miekelson's most useful nouns is the word “bam”, mainly in the plural “bams”, referring to what might be termed in another parlance villains. Implying that the villains are not just daft but also to be held in some contempt as well as being figures of fun, “bams” is special because it is short, punchy, comic and descriptive. Never was so much squeezed into three or four letters.

Perhaps we could transfer the word from Scot Squad on our TV screens to other areas of modern life. The bams at Holyrood. Eco-bams. Harley- Davidson bams. One can imagine a BBC Scotland report beginning with “The bams in Downing Street...” or in the singular on BBC News 24: “The bam in the White House...” Then again, perhaps not. On the other hand, there’s an argument for lighting up the gloom and doom which pervades our newsrooms and plunges the nation into despair.

William Loneskie, Lauder, Scottish Borders

Train wreck

Having reflected on the Chancellor’s welfare reform proposals in the Spring Statement, I am deeply concerned about the impact these proposals will have on genuinely disabled citizens of Scotland. I am horrified to learn that some elements of the Green Paper are not open to consultation – they are scheduled to go ahead regardless.

There is a noteworthy question mark over whether the proposed reforms are in breach of the Equality Act. How can the Chancellor justify proceeding with reforms until this potential breach is thoroughly investigated? An out-of-control train, ignoring the signals and red lights, comes to mind. Allowing her to do this sets a perilous precedent, increasing the likelihood of further cuts being imposed without consultation.

The Universal Credit health element will be frozen at the current rate until 2029/30, not rising with inflation. This is immoral, especially after the Chancellor’s complaint last year that she struggled on her (then) £86k salary.

Social Security Scotland may be forced to mirror the proposed DWP’s PIP eligibility and changes, adversely affecting disabled people claiming ADP (Adult Disability Payment) in Scotland. ADP was introduced to safeguard Scotland’s people against the undignified PIP system.

Fear caused by the proposed welfare reform must not be underestimated. I know of many people whose mental health issues have already been exacerbated, to a dangerous degree, because of it. I suspect that others – who have not suffered mental health problems before – will develop anxiety and depression as a result of the proposals.

Let’s hope the disability advocacy organisations, backbenchers, and the House of Lords will stop this frightening, full-steam-ahead approach in its tracks, bringing it to a smooth, safe standstill for all its panic-stricken and helpless passengers. Otherwise, we can only expect a dreadful train wreck down the line.

H Mackenzie, Inverness, Highland

Harvie exits

There will be few who are not delighted that Patrick Harvie is standing down as co-leader of the Scottish Greens, yet surely the most thrilled will be private sector tenants.

Harvie’s Pavlovian dislike of landlords led to flawed and naive decision-making adversely impacting the private sector rental sector – a market he clearly was incapable of understanding.

The consequence is the situation tenants now live with: a shrinking number of private sector properties and escalating rents. It's a shame the Scottish Greens have become so obsessed with the far-left politics of grievance instead of their supposed raison d’être of caring for the environment.

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Scottish Borders

Such a shame

The welcome news that Patrick Harvie is stepping down as co-leader of the Scottish Greens was tempered by the fact that he intends to seek re-election as an MSP at the next Scottish election. What a pity.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Slater’s verdict

For once, I agree with Lorna Slater, when she says that “attempts to praise and flatter Donald Trump have not worked. He is not our friend or ally”(Scotsman, 2 April). The question is, to whom, exactly, is he a friend and ally?

By his actions, guiding America to a threatened recession, it is alarmingly clear that he isn’t even his own country’s friend and ally. His persistence in imposing a raft of tariffs, leading up to yesterday’s infamous Liberation Day, is, above all, self-harming.

Neither is he a friend and ally to neighbouring Canada nor equally threatened Greenland, both of whom are showing that steadfast defiance in the face of threats seems to be working.

President Trump’s inner circle of bloated billionaires are his staunchest friends and allies, but for how long? With egos as inflated as their wealth, sooner rather than later, they will clash, leading to an inevitable fallout. The world can but wait and hope.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Aim for rehab

The new addicts’ consumption room facility in Glasgow has not done what its proponents said it would do. 17 overdoses have been reported. There has not been one referral to a rehab facility.

With the best will in the world, it is simply not doing what it was meant to do. Residents living near the building have complained it is “disgusting” and that their environs are littered with dirty needles.

Part of the decision-making process, surely, is knowing when something is most certainly not working. I think that in this case that point has been reached and passed.

A new approach is required. The emphasis has to be switched dramatically to getting more addicted unfortunates helped into rehab.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Back on track

I am delighted to read that a group of Heriot-Watt students is looking at the suggestion I have made in the Letters pages of The Scotsman for several years – the reopening of Edinburgh’s South Suburban railway. The existing track which runs around much of Edinburgh is an open invitation to a council with vision to introduce a suburban railway to serve Edinburgh’s commuters.

For those who have environmental concerns, the use of a train will minimise pollution and maximise the numbers that will be moved from (say) Morningside to Abbeyhilll, or, in days to come, perhaps, even to Portobello and Leith. The access to the railway could be offered to companies to operate the service and their obligation would be to upgrade the platforms (which still exist!) and pay for the privilege.

It is interesting that, when I proposed this idea many years ago, I was sent a very long letter by another reader who seemed to regard the idea as quite unfeasible. I am glad that I am being vindicated, although it will take quite some time to be put in place.

Next stop the introduction of geothermal energy to power Britain cleanly and reliably? I can't wait.

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

More fool us

Clark Cross (Letters, 2 April) is right to have expected any talk of Neil Gray's ‘masterminding’ anything as a probable April Fool’s joke. Gray presides over a system incapable of reform in any way that would benefit patients. The much-maligned NHS in England at least has a serviceable NHS App that patients can use to make GP appointments and access their records, including the results of blood pressure and cholesterol checks…. What? They get blood pressure and cholesterol checks? At an advanced age, I have not been offered these by NHS Scotland. The only app I have had was the Covid app, and it has now been discontinued so I can no longer see the dates of my Covid vaccinations.

It is obvious that NHS Scotland has not been able to provide us with an app that works because to do so would be doing the same as they do in England. And, in SNP Scotland, we can’t have that. Even if it is patient-friendly and efficient.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

No free speech

We live in a world in which the basic elements of a free neoliberal society are being steadily eroded.

When I was young, I could say things which would now be classed as racist, probably because there weren’t many ethnic groups among the population at large to be offended.

Since the late-20th century, a new offence was created: “hate speech”. Of course, one man’s hate speech is another’s honest opinion, expressed forcibly. This has, in turn, led on to Non-Crime Hate Incidents, a means by which opinions can be identified as sufficiently concerning for you to receive a visit from the police, and yet not serious enough to be a crime. How can that be in a nominally free country?

What does this mean? It means that we no longer have free speech, as JD Vance recently stated to the horror of all right-thinking Euro apparatchiks. Yes, even Vance can be right on the odd occasion. It is a matter of great concern that this should be the case and the next government will have to roll back the laws which make us unfree.

Peter Hopkins, Edinburgh

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