THROUGHOUT the continuing Covid pandemic, many thousands of those who died were disastrously dependent on what the Westminster Government and UK media now refer to as the care “industry”.

Covid disasters in privatised care homes illustrated the problem very vividly: no insurance was available to those who allowed residents to interact with family and friends, so cruel isolation was enforced; Covid was spread by employees – on minimum wages – moving from one home to another for various reasons, including shortage of staff. The same problems are still faced by those who support people in their own homes.

Boris Johnson has just announced that the working generations throughout the UK will now pay more National Insurance in order to fund this “industry”, which was privatised by Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government in a series of Parliamentary Acts during the 1980s ("Pension triple lock suspended for a year over costing", The Herald, September 8).

This raises a fundamental question about the nature of our society, our economy and our national priorities. The foundation of the NHS was based on the understanding that care – clinical or social – should be a service freely available to all at point of need and funded by contributions from everyone.

The tragedies of Covid have demonstrated very dramatically that care should not be an opportunity for profiteers; privatised profit should not, under any circumstances, be funded by taxing anyone at all. In short, profiteers should not be involved in national services – at all.

This is apparently understood by Scotland’s Government, which now proposes a National Care Service. The Westminster Government clearly does not understand – or it chooses not to.

In this way, a vast gulf has just been drawn between the two nations. In my opinion, even more than Brexit, this is a red line on which Scotland must stand firm.

Frances McKie, Evanton.

PROGRAMME IS BEREFT OF IDEAS

I CANNOT be alone in being so completely underwhelmed by the statement from the First Minister detailing her Programme for Government ("Sturgeon seeks to ‘transform’ nation with legislative agenda", The Herald, September 8). It plumbed the very depths of ineptitude, bereft of ideas, innovation, initiative and flair.

The statement offers at best little, at worst nothing for the small and medium-sized employers who will endeavour to drive future economic growth. It was a statement from a stale, tired and stagnant Government which has shifted further to the left due to the coalition with the far left Greens.

We have the biggest budget deficit in history but we are blessed with a Government looking perhaps to implement a four-day working week combined with a universal basic income – who is paying for that and what happens to productivity in a 24-hour trading world? We are offered a gender recognition bill and a bill on fox hunting unlikely to affect the daily lives and living standards of the vast majority of the Scottish people. Finally, the threat of a further destructive, divisive and discordant independence referendum looms on the horizon. How this will help our national recovery is anyone’s guess.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh.

* SO another year, another campaign is announced for Scottish independence recalling Groundhog Day, in which Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his retreat and is scared by his own shadow and retreats again for another year. The tradition is said to be based on a communal suspension of disbelief.

So is Groundhog Day.

John Dunlop, Ayr.

WE WANT OUR OWN GOVERNMENTS

JANE Lax (Letters, September 8) rightly points out that "governments come and go" and at some point, Boris Johnson will no longer be Prime Minister; however, the problem is that Mr Johnson is just the latest in a long line of Prime Ministers that Scotland didn't vote for, including Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May. Indeed, I don't remember the last time Scotland voted Tory, as I was one year old in 1955. However, I do remember as a teenager being assured that Scotland couldn't afford to be independent as the oil would run out in about 15 years, and I also remember back in 1997 being told that a Scottish Parliament would lead to "Scotland being isolated in the UK". Scotland is not isolated in the UK, but we have been isolated from the European Union despite voting overwhelmingly to remain.

Ms Lax appears to believe that this lack of democracy is an acceptable price to pay for remaining within a political union where we have no right of veto, because of a "sense of being together with all those who live on this island". We will always be part of this island which we share with England and Wales, and there is absolutely no reason why we cannot maintain and strengthen a strong social union built on friendship and respect with our nearest neighbours. Although I enthusiastically echo Ms Lax's sentiments when she writes "I see those who live south of Berwick as my friends", I don't want the governments elected by our friends south of Berwick imposed on my country. It is only right that our friends get the governments they vote for, but so must we.

Ruth Marr, Stirling.

WRONG TO PIN BLAME ON SNP

YOUR Letters Pages are a demonstration of our freedom of speech. Douglas Pitt (Letters, September 7) professes that Boris Johnson has fortitude and stoicism but omits the PM’s self-delusion of adequacy. Fortitude was what George Galloway attributed to Saddam Hussein. For fortitude read dangerous pomposity. Anyway, please continue to publish opinions on politics and other topics.

However, Neil Mackay must have had a very bad day on Monday, or a very good night before, when he blamed the Glasgow SNP for all the ills of Glasgow ("A filthy city, kids begging... Does the SNP have no shame?", The Herald, September 7). Scotland has given the world many significant inventions but we have to share the presence of poverty, homelessness, alcoholism, drug addiction and dirty streets with many towns and cities both home and abroad. If we are leading in some of these, it is not all down to the SNP. UK finances are mostly controlled by Westminster, whatever party holds power in Holyrood. The raised National Insurance contributions, which hurt the poorest-paid, demonstrates this.

My own serious concern is that, unlike Neil Mackay, Douglas Pitt and myself do not get paid for our opinionated tirades.

J B Drummond, Kilmarnock.

* RE the article by Neil Mackay and the various letters since, I wrote to MPs and MSPs prior to the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and was fobbed off with puerile replies. It was the perfect opportunity to clean up not only Glasgow but Scotland and get a grip on the problem. Our highways and byways are testament to the filthy nation that we are. I am ashamed.

Steve Barnet, Gargunnock.

WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR CONSCIENCE?

TWENTY-THREE years ago, as part of their outreach experience, sixth year pupils cooked soup in Glasgow's Holyrood Secondary. At night they took it to George Square, where they served it to the homeless.

Now we have hungry pupils and families, during the day, collecting free food from food banks and soup kitchens.

A recent Trussell Trust report for Scotland reveals the need not just for food but other essentials from toilet paper to feminine hygiene products. Churches, mosques, gurdwaras and other community initiatives which are struggling to address a social evil are given little press publicity. Where has our social conscience gone? We should be ashamed of our complacency in the face of endemic poverty in our supposed social democratic society.

Brendan Berry, Glasgow.

POLICE SCOTLAND IS A DISASTER

THE case of Lamara Bell and John Yuill is sad in the extreme ("M9 crash mother would probably be alive if found sooner, court told", The Herald, September 8). Chief Constable Ian Livingstone has apologised “unreservedly” and the force has indeed a great deal to answer for.

Police Scotland was the brainchild of Alex Salmond and ex-Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, controversial from the beginning. It was seen as an attempt to reduce costs, remove local accountability and provide political control over one chief constable as opposed to previously eight.

The new force has gone from crisis to crisis with three chief constables in five years and as many chairs of the Scottish Police Authority. Operationally, call centres have been centralised and subject to swingeing cuts with the force reporting substantial annual financial deficits.

Police Scotland is nothing more than a political pawn used by this controlling regime. The tragedy of Lamara Bell and John Yuill happened during the tenure of Sir Stephen House and Chief Constable Livingstone has apologised. Perhaps those who should be apologising are the architects of Police Scotland, which has been an unmitigated disaster and a huge mistake, costing lives.

Douglas Cowe, Newmachar.

Read more: The filthy state of Glasgow makes me despair of the SNP