Readers' Letters: Starmer's words on truth come back to haunt him

This year, on 4 February in Westminster, the Prime Minister said “He [Mandelson] lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein, before and during his tenure as ambassador. I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government.”

We now know this to be a lie. All over the country people are now saying: “There’s a guy who is detached from the truth. Whether he’s lying or not, it doesn’t matter to him.”

Time to go, Mr Starmer. Resign!

Jane Lax, Aberlour, Moray

Fire failngs?

Jackie Baillie’s article “How Glasgow fire revealed depth of SNP cuts to Scottish Fire and Rescue Service” (10 March) misses an important point in its attempt to blame the Scottish government, solely, for limitations in funding. A point that wasn't missed by the (then) retiring Chief of Police Scotland, Iain Livingstone, when he specifically asked the Scottish government to “give less to [Scotland's] NHS and more to the police”. Mr Livingstone did, for sure, understand the limitations of devolved funding.

The head of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) will, no doubt, also be aware of the limits of devolved funding, and the choices that have to be made by whoever is forming the Scottish government at any one time, make it impossible to fully fund all our services to the level those services (and we, the public) would like.

For the avoidance of doubt: the total funding available for our devolved public services is fully dependent on how much is spent on those same services, in England, by the Westminster government. As Westminster continues to play Scrooge with England’s Fire and Rescue Services; police; NHS; education etc, we in Scotland will see the negative effect on our own public services, regardless of who is in charge in Holyrood.

From what we've seen, particularly from drone images from the scene of Sunday's fire, SFRS did a top job in limiting the total loss to the single building within which the fire started, despite it closely adjoining another building of similar stature and vulnerability – as well as Glasgow Central station.

Ian Waugh, Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway

Poor plaque

On a recent visit to St Andrew Square I was astonished to see that the City of Edinburgh Council has still not removed the controversial Dundas plaque. The wording of the plaque is on the level of a poorly researched essay from a not very bright undergraduate. I find it hard to believe that the committee set up by the council took any serious academic advice – despite its claims to having done so. Frankly, the wording is an embarrassment to the city.

Those attacking Henry Dundas have to address the question as to how a slave-supporting Parliament at that time was ever going to vote for abolition. A previous attempt in 1792 to pass a motion for abolition had been very heavily defeated. It would take years for the force of the moral argument led by William Wilberforce against the vile trade to have any chance of success. Dundas worked closely with Wilberforce to plan a path to abolition.

There were other serious matters for Dundas to contend with. Britain was then at war with Revolutionary France and was faced with the real prospect of invasion. Furthermore, the British Establishment was terrified that the success of the French Revolution might inspire similar uprisings in the UK. The country was in turmoil and it fell to Dundas to try to restore order at home and meet the French threat. Yes, he took harsh measures against those campaigning for change but the fear of revolution was very real.

During the debate in 1792 Dundas, determined to keep the issue on the statute book, proposed a gradual path to abolition stating: “My opinion has been always against the Slave Trade.” Indeed, it was Dundas who had taken on the case of the West Indian slave Joseph Knight in 1777 which successfully established that there was no slavery in Scotland. So, it is quite wrong to state that Dundas was fighting a rear-guard action against abolition and that he alone was responsible for condemning some 420,000 Africans to the horrors of slavery.

Finally, it must be stressed that Wilberforce and Dundas were not enemies. Dundas advised Wilberforce as to how best to take forward his campaign. In later years Wilberforce remembered a meeting with Dundas. “About a year before he [Dundas] died we suddenly came upon each other... at first I thought he was passing on, but he stopped and called out, ‘Ah Wilberforce, how do you do?’ And gave me a hearty shake by the hand. I would have given a thousand pounds for that shake. I never saw him again”

Eric Melvin, Edinburgh

Broken Britain

It seems some staunch pro-Unionists, amazingly, have no idea what is happening in the rest of our so-called Union. While public services are struggling throughout the UK due to economic incompetence and mismanagement at Westminster, Scotland under the SNP at Holyrood has, thankfully, been spared the scandalous cronyism, corruption and fraud also associated with Westminster governance.

On reading Brian Barbour’s contribution (Letters, 10 March) one would think everything was hunky-dory with the NHS in England and Wales, when in fact, even without considering free nursing and personal care at home, free prescriptions for all and free parking at hospitals, as provided in Scotland, the standard of service in these countries across a range of comparable statistics does not match that provided by Scotland’s NHS. Correspondent Alan Thomson (Letters, same day) goes further and in misleadingly sweeping statements effectively blames the SNP and devolution for the dire consequences of Westminster-imposed austerity, Brexit and the reckless actions of an economically naïve Liz Truss government.

Most UK political parties now recognise Britain is broken, not just economically, but democratically, socially and morally, yet both Brian and Alan shun debate on the challenges of federalism or confederalism, and independence.

Where I would agree with Alan is that devolution is not working for Scotland, but instead of attempting to overturn the wishes of nearly 75 per cent of the electorate (by abolishing Scotland’s parliament and returning to absolute Westminster control) he should support enabling Scotland’s parliament to hold a constitutional referendum following the broken promises and Britain’s significant decline since the last referendum nearly an electoral generation ago.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry, East Lothian

Trump’s folly

If Donald Trump thought the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family would mean a short, sharp war in Iran, he couldn't have been more mistaken. If anything, despite the Ayatollah's unpopularity among the Iranians, it has drawn them closer together.

Far from nearing an ending, this war is expanding dangerously, throughout the Middle East to the Gulf States. With Iran's ally, Russia, looking over its shoulder, Vladimir Putin is weighing up his options. The way things are going, we may well be sleepwalking into a calamitous world war.

It's painfully obvious Trump has no endgame in sight, and quite frankly is, with his short attention span, losing interest in this war, zigzagging between victory being close and this being only the beginning. His blanket bombing of Iran has already claimed well over 1,200 innocent lives. The Iranians are in it for the long haul, and it may well be Trump looking for a ceasefire, in an admission that the whole enterprise has been a huge mistake.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Speak out

Take note of Alastair Majury’s observation that “SNP and Green politicians have been eager to denounce Western action and flirt with obstructing cooperation” (Letters, 11 March). There’s been no end of anti-Israeli support for Palestine from these people, but not a squeak of criticism about recent massacres of protesters carried out by the mad mullahs controlling Iran. Tens of thousands of civilians were murdered.

So come on “Honest John” Swinney, let’s hear you condemn these atrocities on behalf of “the people of Scotland”. The same challenge to all our separatist correspondents to do likewise.

Martin O’Gorman, Edinburgh

Road of shame

My partner and I have just returned from a visit to Dunkeld from Edinburgh. We drove up the M90 then A9 roads. It was a truly upsetting and depressing experience. All the way, along both sides of each road was an incredible amount of litter, especially plastic bottles. It is a total disgrace and is soul-destroying to witness. What should have been a lovely trip was completely ruined by this sad spectacle. I have been driving on both of these roads for years and the problem is much worse than in previous years.

What must our visitors think when driving to the Highlands? Who are these selfish people who contaminate Scotland with their rubbish. Something needs to be done.

David Howard, Edinburgh

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