Letters: Defeat for Theresa May has worsened the Tories’ civil war

The Tories have effectively met every demand the EU has made. The guidelines issued for the UK on Brexit stipulate that it must adopt all new European Union laws created during the transition period, while being excluded from any decision-making role. This mean free movement, European Court of Justice jurisdiction and membership of the single market and customs union all continue.

The EU negotiations have to be seen against the backdrop of a possible new financial crisis similar to 2008. The Dow Jones is hitting a record high. In its quarterly review of financial conditions, issued earlier this month, the Bank for International Settlements, sometimes known as the central bankers’ bank, said the circumstances were similar.

Increases in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have failed to choke off risky investments and financial bubbles are growing, it warned. Financial investors are basking in the “light and warmth” of improving global economic growth, subdued inflation and soaring stock markets, while underlying risks are increasing.

Claudio Borio, the head of its monetary and economic department, said: “The vulnerabilities that have built around the world during the long period of unusually low interest rates have not gone away. High debt levels, in both domestic and foreign currency, are still there. And so are frothy valuations.”

The bitcoin frenzy is one such example of an out-of-control bubble. It’s had an 11-fold increase since the start of the year, when it was valued at $900. To find financial bubbles comparable in scale, commentators have reached back hundreds of years to compare the bitcoin mania with the Dutch Tulip bubble of the 17th century and the South Sea bubble of 1721.

In the immediate period before the 2008 global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund pointed to the highest level of global growth in three decades, and economic authorities around the world hailed the “great moderation” of increased growth, financial stability and contained inflation.

Theresa May is in a weak position, and given the possible economic tsunami that is coming, Brexit may be the worst decision ever made by the UK public.
Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

KEITH Howell is naive to complain that Mike Russell challenges the UK position on Brexit and returning powers (Letters, December 15). He refuses to accept that Mike Russell is simply doing his job to protect the best interests of Scotland, which Westminster obviously does not wish to do.

“UK-wide frameworks”, as Mr Howell calls them, will damage Scotland. The whole point about devolution is to place powers into the hands of democratically elected people who are best placed to deliver them. He is even more naive to say that the Scottish Government should be trusted “to act in the interests of the UK as a whole”, when it was elected to act in the interests of Scotland.

There is an overwhelmingly clear exception to this, however, which Mr Howell has overlooked. The Scottish Government has repeatedly asked Westminster to keep the UK in the single market. Why? To protect the interests of the UK as a whole!
Dennis White
Blackwood, Lanark

THANKS a lot for publishing my letter advocating keeping Hampden as the home of Scottish football (Keeping Hampden is best for Scottish Football, The National, December 15). Interesting to see that The Kicker agrees, and that 39 per cent of the Scottish football supporters surveyed agree that Hampden should be retained/refurbished (Who will refund the cash if Hampden is abandoned?, The National, December 14).

The Kicker adds an interestingly different perspective to my argument, and that, combined with The Rucker’s comments, put forward an overwhelming case for the retention of Hampden as Scotland’s national football stadium. As Joni Mitchell sang in Big Yellow Taxi: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” We must not let go of Hampden Park.
Peter Hynd
Paisley