Readers' Letters: Trump's visit shows who the real King is these days

Instead, the true King of Kings rolls into one of his dominions, at our expense, to visit a new palace at Menie, and graciously agrees to meet minor dignitaries like Keir Starmer as long as they obey on issues such as the slaughter of children in Gaza, the demonisation of Iran and the doomed attempt to keep China in its box. Our Prime Minister, of course, bows the knee in pursuit of trading advantage.

In this he is not alone. The royal progress includes acts of obeisance from the EEC’s Ursula von der Leyen and possibly our First Minister, though he at least may have something to say on Gaza so long as it does not affect the tariff on whisky.

James Scott, Edinburgh

Change the signs

Over the last 20 years, a new heterodoxy has prevailed. It has entered various part of society in all parts of the UK and the rest of the west as well.

For example, guilt over sins of which we are entirely innocent, but of which some people’s ancestors may have been guilty is aimed at the whole of society, and “black lives matter” became so all-powerful that the English women’s football team has apparently only just stopped “taking the knee”, which expressed atonement for the sins of American society, not ours!

A new orthodoxy has found its way into “new age” thinking and, along with other strands of thought – climate change, for example – became the new truths. Heaven help you if you disagreed, because “the science is settled”, even if science is never settled. If men decide that they are women, then they are women. Sixteen year-olds are adults, even when they can't buy cigarettes or alcohol, fight in wars or stand for Parliament, except when they aren't, when it suits the party that hopes to benefit by pretending that they are (no names, no pack-drill, Labour and SNP). Remember legal guardians to the age of 18?

Now, Museums Galleries Scotland (your report, 28 July) claim that the Supreme Court ruling on sex and gender could mean that museums may have to close because trans people, may have “no facilities at all”.

Under the Equality Act of 2010, all such places are required by law to provide disabled lavatories. So, either they are breaking the law by not providing such lavatories, or they are not prepared to put the words “disabled and gender-neutral/trans lavatory” on the door.

Peter Hopkins, Edinburgh

Injustice today

Having published a hugely expensive report looking at slavery which took place hundreds of years ago against victims now long dead, Edinburgh University Principal Sir Peter Mathieson has pledged to take action, insisting that “meaningful change” will occur and that the institution will “learn from and repair its past”.

Amid this apparent desire to appropriate the moral high ground, the University’s deafening silence on current day human rights abuses, which it has complicitly supported lest it upset wealthy dictatorships, cannot go unmentioned. The University was quick to jump on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon in 2020, apologising for the death of George Floyd; it has, however, failed to condemn the Chinese government’s genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing against Uighur Muslims.

Nor did Sir Peter Mathieson issue a message of support for pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong, despite the many hundreds of Hong Kong students at Edinburgh.

The University’s acceptance of £16 million from a Saudi Arabian billionaire prince to fund Islamic studies, and the acceptance of cash from the Kremlin-backed Russkiy Mir Foundation to fund Edinburgh’s Princess Dashkova Russian Centre simply confirms that for Edinburgh University its easier to virtue signal when referring to the past, rather than taking action in 2025 to support real human rights improvements.

David Tan, Edinburgh

Sum problems

June's figures for public sector borrowing came in at £20.7 billion, well above the OBR's forecast and City expectations. What's more, £16.4bn of this was accounted for by debt interest payments.

Yes, that's right: £16.4bn in one month. We are borrowing vast sums to pay the interest on past borrowings of vast sums. The time has come for a national referendum on government borrowing.

Doug Clark, Currie, Midlothian

Respect for all

Following The Scotsman’s recent reports about the Sandie Peggie case, it appears that the relevant staff in NHS Fife have very old-fashioned attitudes towards the medical profession, with the belief that a doctor's word is infallible.

Sixty years ago, when I was training, the belief that a doctor could do no wrong was gradually being challenged and, as young nurses, we were taught to question anything we were unsure about. While fully respecting the skill, training and expertise by all members of the medical team we worked together for the greater good of the patients. We also understood that we were all human beings and as such were capable of errors of judgment, vanity, arrogance or even deceit, as qualifications do not ensure perfection.

The people who automatically condemned Nurse Peggie have shown their disrespect towards her, her unblemished years of work and to the nursing profession when, without further investigation, they decided a doctor's word was paramount. NHS Fife should be ashamed of the way they have treated a valuable and long-standing member of their staff.

Dr Upton claims to be female and claims discrimination due to gender recognition issues. There must be an area available for a separate changing facility to deal with these problems so that everyone can get on with the work they should be doing with mutual acceptance and respect.

It is very perturbing to learn that, in an effort to maintain political correctness, some of the professional witnesses in this debacle feel unsure of of the gender that they were born with.

I can't help wondering – if there were special benefits given to all redheads would I qualify if I dyed my aging locks?

J Main, Elgin, Moray

Water history

In his paean of praise of water in Scotland I am surprised Stan Grodynski (Letters, 28 July), with his reference to Enlightenment figures (who must have got hydrated using water-caddies and taken action whenever they heard the cry of gardyloo!) does not mention another piece of Scottish history, the mid-19th century building of an aqueduct and tunnels from Loch Katrine to Glasgow, and in particular, that it spared its residents from the 1866 cholera outbreak, which killed only 68. Some 5,596 died from it in London.

Maybe his silence comes from the fact that before building it, Glasgow had taken advice from experts south of the Border, Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It should also be noted that microbiological safety did not drive its construction. Big reasons were meeting the needs of trade and increasing the number of street fire hydrants, needed to fight that good old Glasgow tradition: have an iconic building, burn it down.

Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen

Manx magic

On holiday in the Isle of Man last week, it was exhilarating to see that there was not a single ugly wind turbine blighting the spectacular landscape. Nor did we encounter any potholes anywhere on the excellent road network.

At one time a Scottish possession, this thriving Crown Dependency has its own distinct identity and ancient parliament. The island’s language (similar to Irish and Gàidhlig) is being revived and its official status raised.

Surely our left-wing separatists, trapped in an endless cycle of bitterness and victimhood, might learn something from the Manx success story?

Martin O’Gorman, Edinburgh

State of play

So the SNP want to jump on the French bandwagon and recognise the State of Palestine. So what is a State? It’s a politically organised territory ruled by a centralised legal government.

Does that sound like Palestine? If the SNP want the best future for Palestine then you do not reward Hamas for the atrocities of October 7. The answer to such evil isn’t the award of a State. A path to genuine peace relies on the expansion of the Abraham Accords, leading to a partnership between Arab States and Israel. This would lay the grounds for a future Palestinian State supported by its Arab neighbours.

Lewis Finnie, Edinburgh

It’s a knockout

The hilarity of the penalty shoot out at the Women’s Euros, England v Sweden, covered by the BBC in Zurich, brought back happy memories of “Jeux Sans Frontieres” to my generation. It also put to bed any notion that the women’s game has now caught up with the men’s game for quality.

Yet more merriment was to come. ITV covered England v Italy in Geneva and, being oblivious and patronisingly ambivalent about the fact they were broadcasting to all four UK Nations, the commentary descended into utter ear-splitting incoherence as England got an unlikely equaliser. It was such a long way removed from the masterful restraint of the late Kenneth Wolstenholme (“there are people on the pitch” etc) Wembley 1966.

John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing. Fife

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