Readers' Letters: Scotland reminds Trump that peaceful protests can be policed

The American police, bolstered by the National Guard, acted very differently and violently to quell the peaceful protests recently in Los Angeles. Unlikely as it might be, Donald Trump could learn something from our police in action.

Sadly, the current UK Government don't seem to follow the police's example, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, whom I once admired, has deemed the peaceful Palestine Action to be a terrorist group, punishable by imprisonment, for simply waving a banner or flag. The right to peaceful protest lies at the very heart of any democracy. Donald Trump should be shown just how unpopular he is in Scotland by peaceful means. That same right should be afforded Palestine Action.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Words not enough

Hungarian author Arthur Koestler famously railed against the people's indifference to the Nazi Holocaust long after it happened.

One wonders whether the train of events would have been different had the publicity then been as it is now for the atrocities going on in Gaza over the past 22 months. No one can deny the visual and other evidence that children have been dying, from bombing and from malnutrition, now amounting to starvation. Their carers are severely weakened, and aid agencies report that “our colleagues are wasting away”.

The question arises: how can “we” support this? At the very same time, in the very same news report, the UK Government is planning to cut aid to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Words are not enough. The testimonies of those on the ground must direct urgent action. Israel will never admit the truth, although on a Radio 4 debate on Tuesday, the Israeli Labour leader was forthright in her condemnation of Benjamin Netanyahu's policies. When will the much trumpeted “values” we are supposed to cherish – support for the needy and upholding international law among them – be put into effect by rapid action to stop the “plausible genocide” and meantime to get the most needy out, here, for medical treatment, as the First Minister has proposed.

Pat Bryden, Edinburgh

Shallow ‘truth’

The claim by UK Environment Minister Steve Reed that “pollution levels in Scotland are worse than they are in England” beggars belief and requires an immediate apology. According to the latest report from the Independent Water Commission (IWC), Scotland has more waterways in “good” ecological condition than England and Wales.

The final report from the IWC found that 66 per cent of Scotland’s water bodies were of good ecological status, compared with 16.1 per cent in England and 29.9 per cent in Wales. Indeed, 87 per cent of Scotland’s entire water environment is assessed by SEPA as having a high or good classification for water quality, up from 82 per cent in 2014.

In the post-truth world, which is now so prevalent, by trying to undermine the case for public ownership of water Mr Reed has only created a furore that has served to highlight the benefits of this approach.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

A good sign

Announcements made by the UK Government this week confirmed that the water industry in England is in an absolute mess – literally and financially. The root cause initially lies with the original decision to privatise water in England by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher and then the choice by the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to tolerate the mess Thatcher created rather than do anything about it.

Fortunately, the people of Scotland fought off the various overtures back in the late 1980s to have our water wrested from public control. What the unfolding events of the past week have proved is how right Scotland was to stand up to Thatcher and make such a decision.

In Scotland, clean water for all citizens is practically a given. This is due to the decision not to privatise the provision of public water. Public ownership continues to pay dividends for Scotland's citizens and this is notable against the backdrop of what is happening in England. Whitehall has created the disaster of privately owned public water utilities all on its own. It sold the assets, set up the regulator, allowed that regulator to green light capital extraction via dividends and massive loading of debt on to the private utilities, and now has the predictable mess of a collapsing system and bankrupt companies to clean up. It’s a crisis entirely of Whitehall and Westminster’s own making, and so it’s only fair that credit is given to Holyrood and Scotland that Scottish Water is a beacon of success by comparison.

This should give many of Scotland's citizens confidence and assurance that we can run many of our own affairs well here, and we don’t need Whitehall or Westminster's input.

Jim Finlayson, Banchory, Aberdeenshire

Waiting to die?

After the recent salutations from contributors regarding the Scottish NHS outperforming the NHS in England and Wales, The Scotsman’s latest article regarding the horrific waiting times (23 July) and missed targets for A&E is frankly astounding.

What a comfort it is to know that 67.7 per cent of patients were seen within the four-hour target period – to make this a bit easier to understand, that’s 32.3 per cent of people not being seen within the target time.

This is just one example of the incompetence of the SNP government, one of myriad other failures – Police Scotland not investigating crimes, the continued ferries saga, the marvellous laminated list of bullet points for teachers to deal with violent and unruly children (next will be the issue of feather dusters as a deterrent) and the pontificating on international matters where there is no devolved power to do so.

Instead of pretending to be statesmen or women, perhaps the mundane day job these people were elected to do might get their attention for a microcosm of their time. While people sit waiting in A&E across Scotland in the hope of being seen lose the will to live, Swinney and co continue to spend £9 million per annum on "pretendy” embassies – and then there are the air miles and flights associated with visiting said pretendy embassies. Go on, defend that in the present climate with the above stats staring out from the page.

Just yesterday I heard someone on the radio stating they believed that the SNP were back on track to be the largest party at Holyrood in 2026. If this is true, we, as a country, deserve everything we get – minus an NHS app!

David Millar, Lauder, Scottish Borders

Ruff justice

James Penrith writes that almost 100 per cent of those dog owners he polled who use shock collars to improve their pets' behaviour report no negative effects (Letters, 23 July). This is a tremendous breakthrough for behaviour control. If the collars cause no pain to dogs then presumably they can be fitted to small humans, i.e. children. Any child who is about to step in front of a bus, steal another child’s toy, yell loudly while a parent is concentrating on their phone or in fact do anything out of line – can be gently dissuaded.

But let’s go further. Mr Penrith says that these collars would help prevent the mauling and maiming of livestock by dogs owned by responsible dog owners. So why not fit the collars to the owners and provide the farmers with the controls?

I also see great potential for their use on car drivers. The collars would be humanely fitted, of course, and each pedestrian would carry a control. Traffic problems fixed! No more mauled or maimed pedestrians.

I forget, Mr Penrith. Hw many dogs were tested for pain during your survey of those caring, responsible, dog-collar owners?

Roger Meachem, Edinburgh

Green cover-up

The Scotsman article “Green light for 50mW battery storage farm” must be challenged (21 July). The planning application by Galileo for this 50 megawatts development at Middlerigg Farm, between Bathgate and Armadale, was “granted unanimously” by the local council. I bet it was not “granted unanimously” by residents, but hey, they don’t matter if we are saving the planet. Project manager Laura Petrie says it will play “a critical role in tackling climate change”.

Wait a minute, Scotland is responsible for a miniscule 0.1 per cent of global emissions, so shut down Scotland tomorrow and it would not make one iota of difference to a changing global climate.

Why do developers of wind farms, solar farms and battery storage never let the public – and the local authority planning departments – know the amount of greenhouse gases that will be created by their manufacture, transport and installation, and how many years it will take for the project to recoup those emissions? It should be mandatory that this information is made available, but politicians are frightened that the truth will lead to stronger opposition.

Add in the risk of battery fires and the pollution and health problems caused by the mining of rare metals in other countries and the green claims by politicians, developers and the green brigade are shown to be a deliberate cover-up.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid 'Letters to the Editor/Readers’ Letters' or similar in your subject line – be specific. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.