IT may be that Ruth Marr understates the contributions of Keir Hardie and the Rent Strike Committees to 21st century Scotland (“Look at today’s Labour Party. You will see why Keir Hardie must be birling in his grave”, letters, August 8).

The early 20th century House of Lords, with its almost entirely hereditary membership, and holding both legislative and judicial authority, has been ‘ended’ rather than ‘mended’, just as Hardie wanted.

The hereditary membership is now reduced to a rump of 92, which the House of Lords itself has voted to exclude from the House, and the judicial function has been transferred to the new, exclusively judicial, Supreme Court.

Also, the Rent Strike Committees would no doubt be gratified by reforms which have greatly reduced the scope for the legal eviction of tenants and excluded it altogether for the duration of the pandemic and transferred the process from the sheriff courts to new, specialised housing tribunals.

If there is any graveyard birling, these may be birls of joy.

Further reform of the House of Lords is on the drawing-boards of all major parties. The choice seems to lie between the current system of membership appointment, based mainly on particular knowledge or experience, and election in a more transparently democratic but inevitably more political process.

One advantage of appointed membership was demonstrated recently when the Lords forced the government to modify the terms of the Internet Market Bill in relation to the potentially illegal operation of Brexit in Northern Ireland.

The positive benefit of an intelligent revising chamber has been further demonstrated by its absence from the current Scottish legislature, which might otherwise have avoided the crashing and burning of some of its more ill-advised legislative ventures – the Offensive Behaviour at Football Matches etc Act of 2012, and the Named Person scheme.

It serves also as a check on the threat of a one-party state – the evil which the architects of devolution sought, unsuccessfully, to avoid by the introduction of proportional representation.

Keir Hardie’s legacy to 21st century Scotland may become even greater if his aspiration for home rule for Scotland brings into focus a common ground which could fend off the threatened irreconcilable and mutually damaging conflict between those who would advocate the exchange of UK membership for EU membership and those who would remain in the UK.

Possible cue for more joyful birling.

Michael Sheridan, Glasgow.

WHY IT’S TIME FOR A NEW REFERENDUM

MY thoughts this week have been firmly on when can we set a date for the referendum. It was a week when Boris Johnson came to call – not on our First Minister, that would have been too polite for this guy; instead, he called in on the police. Reminding them who is in charge, perhaps.

He went on to speak in a hugely jocular manner of the Thatcher days: dark days for Scotland when the police were set against their own communities.

These things are not political gaffes. They are done very carefully and deliberately. Johnson is not to be trusted.

It also turns out he should have been self-isolating as a close aide had Covid. The story has now been changed, however, to “he wasn’t that close”. What to believe when there is a known liar in charge?

He was asked about a role for Nicola Sturgeon in Cop26. This is a ridiculous question but one which was no doubt prearranged.

Nicola already has a role, as First Minster of the host nation. She doesn’t need Johnson to hand out roles. Our government in Scotland is perfectly capable of managing their own roles.

All of this from Johnson is to remind us that we should do what Westminster says. They are in charge.

The thing is that I, and many others, do not like the way we are governed by this union, and so it is definitely time for the referendum.

Time for Scotland to manage its own affairs: and this we will do very well.

Ann MacKay, Crossford, Fife.

THE SNP’S VACUOUS MEDIA SOUNDBITES

I THINK it is an excellent idea by the SNP’s chief whip, Owen Thompson that Boris Johnson can meet with families offended by his comments about the closure of mines 40 years ago.

In fact, I am frankly astonished that Mr Thompson, the MP for Midlothian, and his party have not exercised their powers to reinstate and reopen any of those closed Midlothian mines, as he presumably sees them all to be viable economically and would wish his constituents to work there.

Then again – having spent his entire career as a councillor or MP without ever having a job in the real world of business – perhaps he, like most of his SNP colleagues, lacks any grasp of economic reality.

Additionally, given the effect of some more recent issues, presumably Owen Thompson will be encouraging Nicola Sturgeon to meet with the families affected by the excessive drug deaths in Scotland, or to meet with the families of the elderly whose care-home deaths resulted from the SNP’s actions under Covid.

He’ll be encouraging her to meet with those inhabitants of the Scottish islands whose lives and communities continue to be disrupted daily by the shambolic ferry services which she and her party have neglected for 14 years.

Or will they instead simply continue to bury their heads in the sand, ignore all issues in Scotland, and deflect attention to Westminster with endless vacuous media soundbites?

Steph Johnson, Glasgow.

BORIS REMARKS WERE CRASS, BUT ...

YES, I find Boris Johnson’s remarks about Margaret Thatcher closing down the coal mines in the Eighties offensive, and I feel sorry for the mining communities affected.

As for Nicola Sturgeon her friends in the Green Party finding it crass and offensive – if they were in power at the time they would be considering doing exactly the same, as they are totally against coal-mining.

William McCarron, Glasgow.

ONE of these days, Johnson’s throwaway, happy-go-lucky quips are going to get the better of him. I know of several mining families who have never recovered from what Thatcher did to their communities in the Eighties. Johnson thinks it was all a joke. He is genuinely without shame.

P. Lewis, Glasgow.

INSENSITIVE AND MORALLY BANKRUPT

WE are indeed ruled by a bunch of spivs (Teddy Jamieson column, August 6) and the chief spiv would put Arthur Daley to shame. When will we be rid of this insensitive, bumbling buffoon?

He has no redemptive qualities and is a lazy, incompetent boor. His recent visit to the far reaches of our land reveals his cowardly streak, and his comments regarding Margaret Thatcher’s killing off of the mining industry shows a lack of any empathy for communities devastated by Thatcher’s policies.

It would appear his only success is in procreation. Let us hope his offspring show more humanity.

He is no leader and is head of a government totally devoid of any moral fibre which cares no a jot for the general populace. Only for their chums who are clearly equally immoral and self-serving.

I have seen many governments come and go over the past 70 years, but cannot remember one so devoid of innovative ideas or so morally bankrupt.

Ian Smith, Symington, Ayrshire.

WE NEED TO TAKE OUR NATION BACK

I READ Guy Stenhouse because I like a good laugh (“Nationalists should focus on making devolution work”, Business Voices, August 9).

He says Scotland “is not blessed by a position in the middle of Europe” but is on its edge, and thus more cut off. And why does he suppose we are cut off from Europe but Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, further “on the edge” than Scotland, aren’t? It’s Brexit, stupid, and the disastrous consequences of this folly were predicted.

Like the UK, Ireland has Covid, and a Covid app, but unlike the UK, Irish grocery-store shelves heave with fresh produce because they are in the EU and have forged frictionless trade links to the EU from Dublin, Rosslare and Cork to France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Here, Boris has said the army will be deployed to help distribute food to supermarkets. A fully functioning country doesn’t need to use its army to deliver food in peacetime.

If Scotland were free of a distant English parliament that has dominated us, ignored our interests and exploited our resources, it would do what Ireland has done and create new transport links to the EU.

We would invest in a fairer and more sustainable future because we would keep our resources and revenues for Scotland, not subsidising England.

We would not have suffered so many Covid deaths if we controlled our borders. We would not experience a collapse in exports, or food shortages, rising unemployment, growing inequality, poverty and the re-imposition of Tory austerity.

No other nation would tolerate this level of abuse. Why do we? We need to take our nation back.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.