When are we going to do something about our homeless problem?

It may sound insensitive but do homeless Scots not deserve at least as much attention as homeless Ukrainians?

David J Crawford, Glasgow.

ARROGANCE OF LABOUR AND LIBDEMS

YOU report Sir Keir Starmer as claiming that the UK is a "voluntary union" but, despite a majority of independence-supporting MPs being voted into Westminster and of independence-supporting MSPs into Holyrood, he has insisted that he would not back a referendum on the constitutional issue ("Starmer pledges change – but reaffirms no to independence", December 4).

On the same page, the leader of the LibDems in Scotland has branded the move to use, in the absence of our unionist masters "allowing" a straightforward referendum, a General Election as a de facto referendum as "unspeakably arrogant" ("‘De facto’ row over Sturgeon’s election plan", December 4).

Does either of those two leaders have any sense of irony? Can they not see that they are the ones displaying "unspeakable arrogance"?

The level of hypocrisy being displayed by UK-supporting politicians at all levels is beyond belief – especially when a recent UK-wide poll has shown 55% of UK voters favour the Scottish Government holding a referendum on independence.

Ian Waugh, Dumfries.

TIME TO PETITION WESTMINSTER

I’M reaching the conclusion that the hard right knew they were inflicting damage when they conned the least informed voters into backing Brexit.

Stealing the Conservative Party from its centrist and internationalist élite was just step one.

If the public of Scotland can’t choose to leave or stay, where is the voluntary Union?

The answer is, those who reshape the world for their own narrow gratification don’t like anyone to escape or to choose. That is a sentiment at the heart of all dictatorships.

Some people are worried about strategic security, but there are enough wise heads in Scotland to stay committed to the defence of democracy. The public can be trusted and have all the more authority when decisions are vital. The public in some places wasn’t quite alert in 2016.

It’s now half a generation since the referendum of 2014. In normal circumstances it would have been reasonable to say, wait at least three-quarters of a generation, but that’s already less than four winters away.

That also reckons without the inflicted catastrophe of Brexit, the most ruthless planned sabotage in British history, a victory of lies which has scorched the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties into utter cowardly silence, the shabby centre of the craze for insular power which doesn’t like Scotland to choose.

So just knock the voluntary off Union. It makes it easier to spell.

Whether the support is there for independence or not, there is a step which unionists and nationalists should take together. Staff at the Palace of Westminster run secure online petitions given significant demand. So demand, because it won’t offend anyone.

The people don’t have to ask for authority because they have it. They just have to ask trained and expert public servants to do something about it. Petition Westminster to fashion that authority into law. Confirm our right to vote on our future.

One way or another, the numbers will speak for themselves in full and inescapable view at Westminster and everywhere else.

I joined the Conservative Party in 1968 and left it in 2016. Who wants a state which hounds refugees out of their kitchen jobs, which turns the Straits of Dover into bureaucratic sabotage for UK export industries, which allows those Straits to become Russian roulette for migrants?

Tim Cox, Bern, Switzerland.

A SACRIFICIAL VICTIM

DID the royal family do the right thing in retiring lady-in-waiting Susan Hussey without allowing her side of the story to be told (Letters, December 4)?

Has this been a case of an 83-year-old woman being condemned in the court of public opinion where only the prosecuting voices were heard or was it indicative of what has been alleged since the departure of Harry and Meghan that there is an ingrained and systemic racism abroad at this level?

We know that the lady who endured what she described as a hostile interrogation by Lady Hussey has had her version of events corroborated by another woman who says that she witnessed that affair. So it does look as though there is substance to the accusations. However, in the absence of hearing both sides of this contentious narrative, we have been led into accepting just the one version presented by the news coverage.

It brought to mind what James Baldwin stated in Next Time The Fire that, after the objectionably racist treatment he received while growing up, whenever someone accidentally bumped into him in a busy New York street, he took that as intentional and racist.

There can be no doubt that the description by the complainant can so easily be interpreted as unconscious racism in intent by her questioner, her mindset on the alert ready to be triggered by any conduct with a strong hint of racism in her eyes.

Swirling around royalty recently have been strong suggestions that racism is embedded therein and that had to be put to bed immediately with the reaction to retire the sacrificial victim to prevent the pillorying of the Palace by the news media which thrive on such controversy.

There is a fin de siecle horde of vultures hovering with talons extended to see an end to our hereditary monarchy. Surely we must not bow to the emotion whipped up by this perhaps-confected controversy when we should be open to hearing both sides of this sad episode with the explanations which could well throw a saving light upon the matter instead of generating heat and hostility.

Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner.

Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.

IT DEPENDS WHOM YOU ASK...

WHEN I hear a foreign accent or come across an unusual name, I often politely ask the person where their accent or name is from.

Usually, I start my question with “I hope it’s not rude to ask…" or some similar phrase. In my experience, most people are happy to talk about themselves and where they are from. Showing a little interest in people has led to many memorable conversations. Occasionally, someone has been more reticent, but I have never had a seriously negative reaction. Of course, unlike the unfortunate Lady Susan Hussey, I have never asked a charity boss or a political activist where they are from.

Otto Inglis, Crossgates, Fife.

STARK NEWS ON NET ZERO AIM

OMINOUSLY, the CEO of Volkswagen has stated that making batteries for electric vehicles in Europe is now “unfeasible” due to soaring energy costs. This means that production will go to places like China and Indonesia, where the majority of energy comes from burning coal.

But worse than this is a recent 1000-page Finnish Government report on achieving net zero. One of its stark statistics is that the world would need 573,400 GWh (gigawatt hours) of electricity storage (the UK has only built 1 GWh of storage in the last decade, to add to the 30 GWh that had existed since 1984).

The report concludes that replacing fossil fuel using renewables by 2050 “will not be possible for the entire human population. There is simply not enough time, nor resources”.

Geoff Moore, Alness.

E-SCOOTER CALL COMES TOO LATE

TOM McNeil, West Midlands assistant police and crime commissioner, is calling for a ban on the sale of e-scooters until the Government decides on the regulations for their wider use.

More than a million e-scooters have been purchased in the UK and are being used illegally on roads and pavements. There have been 12 deaths and 1,437 casualties in the year ended June 2022, a huge increase on the previous year of four deaths and 1,033 casualties. The Met confiscated 3,637 privately-owned e-scooters so why have they stopped? Politician interference?

Why are other forces not arresting illegal e-scooter riders? Is it because they cannot catch them and they have no number plates? Is it because the green zealots think that e-scooters will replace cars and save the planet? There are 1.446 billion petrol/diesel cars in the world.

Plans to make e-scooters legal on our roads in 2023 must be shelved before there are more unnecessary deaths and injuries.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow.