I WOULD like to congratulate George Kerevan on is piece in yesterday’s issue (This is why the Yes movement must watch out for Tory poodle Galloway, August 31). It is a particularly perceptive one, even by his usual high standards.
I would like to comment on the claim by that other George, Galloway, that his unprincipled cosying up to the Tories is justified by extreme circumstances. Much as was said by Nick Clegg to justify his doing the same with David Cameron. We all remember how well that worked out for the Liberal Democrats.
READ MORE: George Kerevan: The Yes movement must be wary of George Galloway
Having a far grander view of himself, he prefers to compare his arrangement to Stalin having by force of circumstances to accept alliance with Churchill in1941. I think a better comparison is with Stalin’s voluntary choice of the Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939, the purpose of which was to do the same to Polish self-determination as his Tory pact is intended to do to Scottish self-determination.
While immediately successful, the Third Reich and USSR have both gone to the dustbin of history. Poland and its fellow victims Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania thrive as modern European nations and I am confident that they will be joined by Scotland before too long.
It is all the same struggle, Za wolnosc twoja i nasza (For your freedom and ours).
David Rowe
Beith
THE Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has said he would vote against allowing UK imports of chlorinated chickenand hormone-injected beef from the US in a post-Brexit trade deal.
Ha, Ha! Trying to stand up for Scotland when he is outvoted at Westminster and not even in the Cabinet as well! So, is he going to blow his whistle?
READ MORE: Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross 'misled' public on food standards
Who is he trying to fool? He is there to do what he is told by Cummings! D Ross is truly politically wet behind the ears. Independence within the EU, as Scotland voted for in 2016, would mean that we do not need to kowtow to the US! No-one really takes any notice of this guy at all; too often caught “offside” when he should be at his desk!
John Edgar
Kilmaurs
ON Radio Scotland yesterday morning Douglas Ross refused to admit he voted against Clause 11 of the Trade Bill, which gives protection from foodstuffs coming into the UK from abroad that could be of a lower standard than at present, eg chlorinated chicken.
He then quoted the policy director of the National Farmers Union as saying no MP had ever voted to reduce standards on food. This is true, but the issue in Clause 11 was to give PROTECTION to farmers in this country regarding standards, and he and every other Scottish Tory MP voted against this clause.
Mr Hill is not happy his words were taken out of context and used as a ploy to take attention away from the fact that Scottish Tory MPs had voted against this clause, which would have given farmers protection against the introduction of reduced standards.
Not surprisingly, Mr Ross was unavailable for comment.
Winifred McCartney
Paisley
I HAVE known Sandra White MSP for more than 20 years and fail to recognise the description of her by your correspondent, Mr Jonathan Manevitch, as someone who promotes antisemitism (Letters, August 31).
I have often attended the annual Holocaust Memorial Event in East Renfrewshire, in a civic capacity, and am sensitive to those who deliberately promote antisemitic views, and I can say that Sandra White is unequivocally not in that camp.
The fundamental point of defence for Mrs White, regarding the 2015 tweet which Mr Manevitch refers to, is lack of intent. To be guilty of a hate crime it must be proved beyond doubt this was the intention of the author, and in this case it was not.
Where I will concur to some extent with Mr Manevitch is that there does seem to be a an element who wrongly conflate criticism of the political actions of the Israeli Government with all of the Israeli people per se, and this is clearly wrong.
Politicians, like all people, have feet of clay. Therefore, to judge decades of service on the strength of one solitary misdemeanour, for which genuine atonement has been shown, is one of the most unsightly features of modern political life which sadly now seems to be all too common.
Cllr Andy Doig (Independent)
Renfrewshire Council
RUTH Wishart ends her column with the old AIDS slogan, “Don’t die of ignorance”, aimed at the awkward squad of non-cooperationists vis a vis Covid-19 (Icke and his like cry freedom while putting lives in danger, August 31).
I would expand it slightly into “Don’t die of ignorance, or cause someone else to die through your own bloody-minded stupidity” (OK so it’s a wee bit long for a billboard, but it’s true).
Barry Stewart
Blantyre
I AM currently enjoying the wonderful coverage of the Tour de France. The roads across and through the mountains are breathtaking in their beauty.
I began to think about the Rest And Be Thankful road, which is at present closed due to a serious landslide. These landslides seem to happen almost every year, causing major disruption to local communities.
An obvious contrast to the French mountain roads and this Scottish road is that the French mountains are heavily wooded. The Rest And Be Thankful is a bare mountainside with no tree coverage.
It seems to me that planting trees on the Rest And Be Thankful would be a comparatively easy and cheap answer to the problem of landslides. Tree roots form a strong matrix which bind the ground surface, thus preventing land slippage.
Harry Key
Largoward, Fife
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