Readers' Letters: Donald Trump's actions are bringing the UK together

Only Nigel Farage and his far-right Reform party of billionaires, tax exiles and failed Tories support what he is doing in a way that is borderline treasonable. But they would do, wouldn’t they?

Perish the thought, but should Reform gain power we all know that they would gratefully roll over and allow Trump to tickle their tummies. That’s when we would officially become the 51st state.

Nigel would be so proud having delivered for his great mate.

D. Mitchell, Doune, Stirling

Stop pandering

Apparently, the BBC’s Debate Night had never been to Grangemouth before Wednesday but thank goodness the audience saw Reform UK for what they are. It would be nice if their tribute acts, the Tories and Labour, would stop pandering to them.

I’m so glad I attended as the audience were having none of what Lord Offord was saying and it was fine to see folk standing up to Reform’s rhetoric.

If the two “big parties” won’t adopt electoral reform and realise that first-past-the-post has had its day in the new world of multi-party politics then it is time to break the system, just like the Scottish electorate did in 2011.

Peter Ovenstone, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire

Appeasement

Ian Petrie (Letters, 6 March) is, as usual, not a fan of President Trump. The left wing in politics appears to be unable to understand that the world cannot move on whilst a shockingly ruthless and aggressive regime is still in power in Tehran.

The United States and Israel are not the enemies here, they are both fighting to save our Western way of life from destruction. Sir Keir Starmer and John Swinney appear to be leaning the other way whilst the Greens are even further down that road. There comes a time when Britain must decide to be a power for good again, not a jelly. When is the left going to be pro-British rather than pro-just about everyone else? When pride in your country is trashed, everything else is trashed too.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Pay your way

All the ex-pats who went abroad to avoid our taxes are coming back home The first thing they should do is fill in a tax return for the 24/25 tax year to pay for their free health service and free bus passes That should bring in a few million.

Alastair Paisley, Edinburgh

Cap does not fit

I see John Swinney has introduced a £2 cap on bus fares in the Highlands just as the price of fuel increases by the minute due to the war in the Middle East. For how long does he think any bus company can survive when expenditure exceeds income by a considerable amount?

Bruce Proctor, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Scaling challenge

Fast growth start-ups are known by various names in the investor and business community: “Super-Unicorns” (start-ups valued over £100 billion); “Unicorns” (start-ups valued at a billion); “Gazelles” (start-ups achieving a 20 per cent plus annual growth rate); and “Zebras” (profitable start-ups that prioritise ethical and sustainable growth). Analysis in the Scotsman Insider of 28 February added to this lexicon by coining the term “Scalers” (start-ups with earnings of between £5 million and £25m with the potential to scale significantly in the future). Apparently, there are just under 2,000 or so scalers within Scotland’s SME population. Very few, however, achieve revenue growth above £50m. This underperforms the UK average and highlights a fundamental problem which the ScaleUp Institute calls “funnel collapse”. This is not new. It’s been a deep-seated feature of the Scottish economy for years.

The underpinning reasons are complex and challenging (for example, structural weaknesses, poor access to sufficient risk and development capital, lack of firm-specific capacities and capabilities round leadership and internationalisation, gaps in scaling infrastructure, a fragmented and ever-changing policy mix of government support etc). All this is well known.

One unfortunate result has been that too many of our most promising start-ups end up being acquired by larger UK or international firms, or choose to build and expand elsewhere (London, Europe or the US), to be closer to capital and customers. If scaling beyond £50m continues to prove so difficult for so many, the economy will simply never get full bang for the buck. The upshot is that Scotland urgently needs more “bandwidth” focused full-square on full and rapid commercial scale up. More powerful and effective interventions are needed. Otherwise, “can’t scale, wont scale” will be the unwanted tagline that comes to typify the Scottish experience for investors and businesses alike.

Ewen Peters, Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire

Banking blows

Rural communities across Dumfriesshire are being left behind when it comes to access to basic banking services. We’ve seen high street branches close, one by one, leaving residents, small businesses and older people facing long journeys simply to withdraw cash or speak to someone in person.

In Dumfriesshire, the closure of rural post offices has created a “double blow” for communities already struggling from the withdrawal of traditional bank branches. Local post offices were promoted as the main alternatives for essential face-to-face services, but as these sites face their own pressures or transition to limited outreach models, the safety net is fraying.

While shared banking hubs have proven effective in some towns in Scotland, the current system used to decide where they are located is not fit for rural areas. The criteria applied by the interbank network, LINK, and overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) tend to prioritise larger retail centres, overlooking smaller towns and villages that act as vital service hubs for wide rural catchments.

When a bank branch closes in a rural town, it affects not only that community but the surrounding villages and farms that depend on it. The result is growing financial exclusion – particularly for older people, disabled residents and those without reliable internet access.

I have signed and shared the UK Parliament petition calling for a review of access to cash in rural areas and reform of the FCA’s rules and LINK’s criteria. If we are serious about supporting rural economies and tackling inequality, access to banking services must be treated as essential infrastructure – not an afterthought.

Stephen Thompson, Leader, Dumfries and Galloway Council

History chimes

It is interesting when considering the current American political situation, the demonstrations in Minneapolis against ICE agents and the ensuing fatalities to see worrying similarities to previous events.

One of the lesser-known reasons for the American Revolution occurred in Boston in 1770, some years before the Boston Tea Party. It also involved armed men; in this case, British soldiers who were the closest thing to a police force at the time. One poor, lonely sentry, Private Hugh White, was attacked by a mob. Some were said to have thrown snowballs with stones in the middle at him. It is also said that coals and oyster shells were thrown at him (without a snowball around them) as well as ice and sharp objects. The mob of 300-400 was also armed with sticks and clubs. When other British soldiers arrived to help White, they were also attacked and a gun went off, which prompted the nine British soldiers to open fire, killing five colonists.

Last week in New York a snowball fight reportedly got out of hand. A policeman was injured by a snowball to the face and (rather interestingly) it was said that there was no evidence that rocks or ice were packed into the snowballs. Nonetheless, officers were “getting hit from all directions by snowballs” thrown by what was described as a “very large group of people”. Luckily, cool heads ensured that guns were not used.

What might the outcome have been if the snowball fight had been in Minneapolis?

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

Despoiled planet

This might be a controversial statement, but it’s undeniably true: the world would be a safer place without men, who are the instigators of wars across our beautiful planet. We found heaven, and turned it into hell. How can we deserve to live on Earth if we continue to shed blood on the ground on which we walk? Not to mention the many species which we have driven to extinction.

I’d like to think that more responsible, intelligent life forms would take our place on the planet, and would know enough about how we failed to treat it with the respect it deserved to make a vow to be much better caretakers.

A 2022 study suggested that as many as 150,000 to 260,000 of all known species, including plants and invertebrates, may have become extinct since 1500AD.

Scientists estimate that one million plant and animal species are currently threatened with extinction, many within decades, due to human activities. Since 1970, wildlife populations have fallen by an average of 60 per cent.

We should hang our heads in shame.

Carolyn Taylor, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

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