Readers' Letters: Scottish courts have been unfit for purpose for quite a while

I agree that Covid has exacerbated delays in dealing with criminal cases but the cause is more deep rooted. Back around 2008-2012 the government cut staffing levels in the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service massively, and following that closed down many Sheriff Courts throughout Scotland as part of a centralisation programme, all at a time when criminal and civil work has seen a steady increase in business.

Court business has not been fit for purpose for many years, with little improvement in streamlining its systems, for example, the waste of police officers’ time attending as witnesses then not being called to give evidence and accused parties changing a plea to guilty on the day of trial, wasting court time and witnesses time. Malcolm Graham, a former senior Police Scotland Officer, is well placed now as Chief Executive of the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service to make improvements, if his political masters give him the means to do so, which I doubt.

Changes which have been put in place have done little to improve this situation, so radical thinking needs to be the order of the day, as well as having sufficient staff and premises to deal with the backlog and increase of business.

Michael J Fraser, Tullibody, Clackmannanshire

Inhumane acts

The latest update from Doctors Without Borders on the situation in northern Gaza makes truly grim reading, revealing that the health system has been “reduced to ashes” and the region itself is “almost uninhabitable”. People have been living in the ruins of their homes with no other shelter in winter conditions and Emergency co-ordinator Caroline Seguin reported that “the level of destruction is total – it's a flat land. I've never seen anything like it in my life.”

She added that the territory's medical infrastructure had been completely obliterated by Israeli bombardment and in one hospital “every medical machine seemed to have been deliberately destroyed; they were smashed to pieces one by one to make sure no medical care could be provided anymore.” In north Gaza and Gaza city there are six paediatric intensive care beds compared to 150 prior to the beginning of the conflict and 350 beds for ordinary hospital patients compared with 2,000 previously. In concluding the update, Doctors Without Borders reaffirmed the need for food, water, tents and shelter materials remained critical.

My father-in-law saw combat during the Second World War and would often lament “man's inhumanity to man” based on some of the horrific things he had seen on the battlefield. How else can we describe the slaughter of Palestinians and destruction of their homes in what has looked very much like an attempt at ethnic cleansing?

Alan Woodcock, Dundee

A suggestion

Since Donald Trump is keen on annexing Greenland, Panama, Canada and Gaza and seems prepared to collaborate with Vladimir Putin over his attempted annexation of Ukraine, this might be the time for Russia to consider annexing Alaska. Russia did, after all, once own Alaska.

Someone should suggest it to Putin.

David Currie, Tarland, Aberdeenshire

Stand united

The deepening rift between the US and Ukraine, with President Trump calling Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator”, reinforces the fact that we are in a new era, where so-called strong men dominate the global stage.

The previous rules and multilateral institutions that dominated over the last decades are now over, and we are in an age reminiscent of the Second World War when strong men at Yalta, in the form of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt, carved up Europe between them.

Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping are the new strong men. The role of the US, which previously asserted itself worldwide and implemented the previous international security structures, has diminished considerably.

This is not how Europe operates, but it is vital that if it is to become a player and influence this new world order, it delivers a strong united front.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

Strong men?

It is very worrying that, in addition to his gross, insulting and false assertions about a supposed ally whose country has suffered three years of war at the hands of a brutal invader – in breach of its express agreement guaranteeing the integrity of its victim’s borders – President Trump’s intellectual acuity seems to be going the way of his predecessor’s.

At his next press conference he should be asked for his opinions on Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and President Roosevelt’s immediate action, relative to Russia’s attack on Ukraine and what he implies his response would have been had he been the USA’s Commander-in-Chief in 2022.

He should also recall his previous forays into strong man diplomacy, with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, which was a total failure, and with his premature setting of a withdrawal date from Afghanistan which the Taliban was able to exploit to their advantage, leading to utter humiliation for the USA.

Trump now wants an election in Ukraine to ratify the terms he agrees with the aggressor, Putin, but makes no mention of a referendum in the eastern areas and Crimea to ratify their “annexation” by Russia. Also, will that election cover the whole country pre-2014, or pre-2022, or be limited to the 78 per cent or so still controlled by Kyiv? And would such voting procedures be sufficiently monitored by European observers to give credence to their results?

John Birkett, St Andrews, Fife

Time to talk

It was no surprise that the Americans met the Russians for Ukraine peace discussions this week. Predictably, President Volodymyr Zelensky, was not invited. Nor were the British and EU representatives. Putin has grasped at Trump’s Ukraine “peace” proposals like a drowning man grasps at a straw. The Russian economy is in a perilous state. Sanctions are hitting hard. Billions of rubles of military hardware have been destroyed.

Not least, 860,000 Russian soldiers arriving home in body bags, since the invasion commenced in February 2022, is creating more than a little unrest among soldiers’ families at home. Without Vladimir Putin these men would still be alive. As would hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian dead and maimed soldiers and civilians. Not to overlook six million Ukrainians who have fled the country.

It’s believed Trump’s plan would entail Russia keeping all the land it has taken, something which would be totally unacceptable to Zelensky’s Ukraine and its European and UK supporters. There can be no peace agreement until all legitimate parties are around the table.

What happened this week is a major step in the right direction. This process was never going to be quick. But, as Winston Churchill said: “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.”

Apart from human and logistical considerations, how much longer can Putin afford to go to war?

After his claim that Ukraine started this European war, one has to ask if Donald Trump is of sound mind? Right now Trump is a liability in any negotiations. While he and his team blunder one way then another, his buddy Putin will simply continue to kill Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. The two Presidents are well matched; neither can be trusted; neither has personally experienced being on the battlefield.

Poland and others close to Russia rightly warn all Europe that if Russia wins in Ukraine, Poland will probably be next. We cannot rely on Trump to say and do the right things.

The United States is not in danger. Europe is vulnerable, which is why we must have a meaningful role in any future peace discussions.

Doug Morrison, Tenterden, Kent

Alter-ed states

Given the closeness of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Moscow regime, the Pope referred to the head of the Church there, a while ago, as "Putin's alter boy”.

Given the ridiculous comments coming out of Washington just now, over Ukraine, from Donald Trump, can we refer to Trump as “Putin's puppet”?

William Ballantine, Bo'ness, West Lothian

Working it out

All this controversy over toilets reminded me of a visit to the newly built Kelso High School. The Head Boy gave a few of us a guided tour. We arrived at the toilets, one on each side of the corridor. He announced that these were unisex. Our group was quite surprised, and I asked how the pupils coped with this modern edict.

Simple, he said, pointing first to one and then the other. “The boys use this one and the girls use that one.”

Jane Ball, Cardrona, Scottish Borders

Blowing cash

A Scotsman report claims that floating windfarms might become a trillion-pound industry (Business, 19 February).

Such a large figure needs to be seen in the proper context. Floating offshore wind may well be the most costly generation technology ever deployed, with developers currently requiring a guaranteed price nearly four times prevailing market rates.

The UK's insistence on pursuing such absurd technologies may not be unconnected with the fact that we now have the most expensive electricity prices in the world and why most of our manufacturing industry has shut up shop.

Andrew Montford, Director, Net Zero Watch, London

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