THE article by Iain Macwhirter in last weekend’s Sunday Herald has crystallised a train of thought which has been brewing for a while. Will Theresa May be judged by history as being the British politician who caused the most damage to the people of the four nations of the United Kingdom in the early 21st century? Given the competition from Blair, Brown, Cameron, Osborne, Johnson, Gove and Farage – to name a few – this is quite an achievement.
Her single-minded fixation with reducing immigration numbers using totally bogus figures is doing massive harm across the United Kingdom, and to our international reputation. Angela Merkel may be the target of brickbats for insisting that Germany take in a million-plus refugees, but she will be shown to be on the right side of history. Compare her stance to that of May halting our token programme to take in unaccompanied children.
The latest example of the lack of common sense, decency and morality is the case of Chennan Fei. She was brought to the UK by her parents aged 13. After living in Scotland for 15 years, and graduating from Edinburgh University she is threatened with deportation to China. Currently, the Home Office is licking its wounds after a Scottish court ruled that it has acted unlawfully.
Along with the 100 letters supposedly sent in “error” to EU nationals telling them they had a month to quit the UK, this is the work of a department of state implementing the bizarre fixation of the current Prime Minister and former Home Secretary, in a fashion worthy of Kafka. I can state categorically that this is not being done in my name, and I doubt that many of my fellow citizens approve either.
I call on our elected representatives in councils and at Holyrood, Westminster and in Brussels to stand against and fight against the reprehensible actions being carried out against innocent people.
One way to do this would be to vote at Holyrood for all people resident in Scotland to be given the protection of Scottish citizenship and that Scotland decides who may reside here. Scotland is a sovereign nation with its own Parliament and judiciary, so reserved powers be damned. The other nations of the UK may think that they are full to bursting, but Scotland isn’t, and we should be proud to shout out that we both need and want new blood in our beautifully multifaceted country.
Jonathan Southerington
Deerness, Orkney
I ENJOYED Hugh Noble’s letter (The National, August 29) and totally agree that it is constant repetition of the positive independence message that’s required to win over the doubters. We need, as Christopher Bruce says in the same issue, strong and positive arguments over currency and tax. And for the economic and business case for a successful and prosperous Scotland.
The bilge written about how the GERS figures show Scotland as being incapable of becoming an independent country is a disgrace. I’m fed up with my country being run down like this.
Hugh’s excellent handbill idea is a great way to achieve these aims – a breath of fresh air in a fetid environment. I used to subscribe to a well-known Scottish daily paper based in Edinburgh. I cancelled my subscription as I became so aggrieved with the constant and unchallenged Unionist tripe published on its letters pages. So when I was comfortably ensconced in my seat lapping up the last performance of Alex Salmond – Unleashed on Sunday with Mike Russell and the fabulous Janey Godley, I realised that this Unionist tripe should be countered.
We need a team of dedicated letter writers to respond to the negative and usually unsubstantiated bleatings from our opponents in the biased daily papers. We need crack team of quick response activists to respond to and counter the cloying attachment to the dying Union published in our press. Not just in the aforementioned publication, but in all Scottish and English rags.
Hugh’s handbill idea would serve to reinforce our confidence that we have – or will have – all the answers to the questions folk are asking. We must be better prepared for indyref2.
We need to be proactive like this to convince folk that independence is not a concept to be scared of, it’s one to be embraced. Let’s get writing!
Ken McMillan
Edinburgh
WITH regards to your article quoting unions as saying new boardroom transparency will not close the wage gap (The National, August 29), if unions will not fight for a wage rise, there is no chance of the gap closing.
The Fire Brigades Union took a vote on a pay offer and it was rejected by members. After putting this to the employers they were told, ‘sorry but that is all you can get’. Rather than fight its members’ corner, the union recommend the members accept their lot and let the employers decimate any last vestige of conditions. If that is all unions have they are finished, and so are workers’ rights. Sad day.
A Very Disgruntled Firefighter
Address supplied
COGNISANCE should also be taken of the landlords who increased rents (Letters, The National, August 29). The men were away fighting, hoping to return to “homes for heroes”. The landlords thought the women were easy targets. How patriotic.
The pattern of land ownership has not changed radically since then. a land value tax could remedy this.
Catherine Gilchrist
Bowmore
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