Letters to The National, April 29

We in Scotland have a responsibility towards Nepal and its people. The influence of Scottish officers in the Brigade of Gurkhas from its very beginning until the present day has been considerable. You just have to look at the tartans selected by the various Gurkha regiments as their very own to say nothing of their exemplary pipes and drums. There are many close relations with Scottish regiments such as the Gordon Highlanders, the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), regiments which have since been disbanded.

In the current crisis appeals have gone out from various institutions. They must be fully supported. However, I would like to focus on a particular group of veterans and their families. The Gurkha Welfare Trust is currently looking after 6,667 Gurkha veterans of whom more than 3,200 are aged over 80. These people, many of whom served throughout World War Two but whose service was insufficient to earn an official Army pension, are cared for by the Trust which provides a Welfare Pension of £53 a month.

In addition, it has established Area Welfare Centres around the mountainous country where the pensions are issued and medical care is provided. In emergencies, grants can be made to rebuild or repair houses after earthquakes, landslides or fires. Furthermore, in conjunction with other bodies action is being taken to build and repair schools as well as providing fresh water facilities. The Trust has also built two retirement homes.

All this is financed by donations from serving and retired members of the Brigade of Gurkhas as well as with the generous contributions from the public. Given the catastrophic situation in Nepal today, our veterans would greatly appreciate any support. They have sacrificed much for us, let us now repay their loyalty and courage.

Hugh McLean

Newton Mearns

WHAT Professor Jeffery describes as David Cameron’s “shameless electioneering” (Evel slammed as “shameless political tactics”, The National, April 28) over Evel (English Votes for English Laws) is worrying – not only for the stability of the British state but also for amicable relations between England and Scotland.

Already I sense that it is having an adverse effect. On a recent visit to England a friend there, a retired judge, solemnly informed me that Scotland was grossly over-represented in Westminster. There were, he said, Glasgow’s “rotten boroughs” with electorates of only 23,000. I assured him Glasgow’s constituencies ranged in size from 55,000 to about 65,000. But his sense of grievance was palpable.

If well-educated members of the establishment in England such as my old friend are so misinformed I can only guess at the attitudes of the general public there. Cameron is playing a dangerous game for short-term political advantage.

Peter Craigie

Edinburgh

When I read in The National on Monday of a Conservative election poster depicting the former first minister of Scotland as a pick-pocket “grabbing cash” from a passer-by, only one image from history came to mind. Echoing down the decades was the type of scaremongering imagery used by the Nazis in their posters that depended upon gross racial caricatures of Jews. Even to give a nod in this direction, as the Conservative posters do, is deplorable and shaming.

If the Conservatives really do reject the claim that they are trying to stir up discontent (at best) among the English towards the Scots, then perhaps they could explain why this poster is not being displayed in all the countries of the Union.

Gavin Brown

Linlithgow

AS Scottish Labour and its pro-Unionist allies fear a heavy defeat at the hands of the SNP in the forthcoming election, they are reverting to fear tactics as used during the referendum campaign to try and scare Scots voters.

One such claim is that the fall in the price of oil would make it impossible for Scotland to function if it is successful in its demands for “full fiscal autonomy” .

These claims could not be further from the truth. North Sea oil revenues since the late 1950s raised around £260 billion in taxes. Every penny of this has gone directly to the exchequer in London and into the consolidated fund which contains taxes from all other sources.

Scotland, with a mere twelfth of the UK population, has therefore received through the Barnett Formula only a minor share of this. If it had full fiscal control or independence, every penny would have belonged to Scotland, making it a very rich country. Even in the future, were there to be a 50 per cent drop in oil revenues, it would still be a big bonus for Scotland.

John S Jappy

Muir of Ord, Ross-shire

I WRITE this letter to your readers to offer them my thoughts. After 15 years service in the RAF I retired just a year before the referendum.

When I retired I was on the fence over independence for Scotland, but since I have seen the bias from the UK Government, including the MoD, I have become fully engaged in the fight for Scotland.

Here’s why, and it is really quite simple. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas. And the turkey in this case is the MoD. By coming out in support of Trident removal, the MoD would be supporting huge cuts to its budget. This will never happen. So they will do all that they can to keep Trident.

Both the MoD and the Royal Navy have contingency plans should Trident not be renewed or even moved to a base outside of Scotland. Anyone with any knowledge of how the MoD works will understand that they have contingencies for almost any permutation.

Here is a quick guide to what I believe is the MoD plans for Trident removal from Faslane. The base will NOT close down; it will not endure mass job losses or funding cuts. It will however see much more investment and naval footprint. This is due to the planned use of the base for the non-nuke carrying submarine force as well as the introduction of a surface fleet force on the base. This will increase the number of naval personnel on the base, not reduce it.

Vote SNP and support the removal of Trident so that the MoD and Royal Navy contingency plans can be put in place to secure the future of Faslane, but without the immoral weapons of mass destruction.

Hugh Moodie, RAF (ret’d)

Isle of Bute

THE latest economic growth figures for the UK indicate that growth has halved in the three months to the end of March, continuing a slowdown that began six months ago.

This is further evidence of how unsustainable the recovery – which is heavily reliant on consumer spending and [high] levels of household debt relative to income – actually is.

The General Election campaign has however been dominated by the major UK political parties looking at how they can impose further austerity, cutting the deficit and the debt through public spending cuts, rather than doing so by investing in the economy to stimulate economic growth.

When it comes to total private and public-sector investment, the UK’s record is appalling, coming in at 32nd position out of the 35 most advanced economies in the world. This is a significant concern when it comes to the future prospects of the economy.

There needs to be a radical change in mindset and a focus on increasing both public and private-sector investment, through modest public spending increases and additional borrowing.

This will see the deficit and the debt being cut, but on the back of sustainable economic growth.

Without such an approach the fragile foundations on which the economic recovery is currently based will quickly crumble.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh