Why is Scotland so poor at attracting badly-needed immigrants?

What’s of more interest is the question of why Scotland is so lacking in diversity. I’ve skin in the game here: my granddaughters have Indian heritage and my grandsons have Indian and Chinese heritage. I think that’s great: it gives them connections to the two countries that contain almost 40% of the world’s population and are set to be the global superpowers as American influence and prestige wane.

Immigration is good for a country, it brings energy, different perspectives and fresh ideas. Closed, monocultural countries typically have slower development, or none whatsoever. Japan was a closed country for over 250 years, with a repressive feudal society. Among those who led its transformation after the Meiji Revolution in 1868 was Thomas Glover, from Fraserburgh, whose house in Nagasaki my wife and I visited earlier this year. In only 30 years, with foreign expertise, Japan transformed itself into a major industrial power, greatly improving the living standards of its people in the process.

Why is Scotland so poor at attracting immigrants? Sure, the climate doesn’t help, but Sweden has a long, chilly winter and 20 per cent of its population is foreign-born, with the highest number coming from Syria. Scotland needs more immigrants but, as long as we’re tied to Westminster, the rhetoric will be anti-immigrant, bordering on racist, whether Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer has the keys to No 10. Scotland needs its own policies on immigration so it can persuade hard-working people, wherever they’re from, to make their homes here.

Doug Maughan, Dunblane.

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Let-down in education bill

I WAS initially elated to read your article reporting that the proposal by Holyrood to scrap the Scottish Qualifications Authority was officially going ahead but I am now more sceptical that it may have an identical twin emerging (“ Exams body ‘will be replaced’", The Herald, June 6).

Having read the new Education (Scotland) Bill referred to in the article it seems to me very largely a wish list of unfulfilled intentions from the past. Such government documents on developments in education always seem to stick to the same repetitive genre like a religious catechism. However it was one statement which convinced me we were witnessing another exercise in wordsmanship to maintain the status quo. Many people in power habitually appear content to use schooling and assessment as a social filter.

The section in the new bill published this week, titled “Child rights and wellbeing impact assessment part 2)” referring to “ Greater parity of esteem across academic and non-academic qualifications and awards”, made me shake my head in wonder. Apparently the unenlightened authors do not realise how offensive the prefix “ non” can be in several contexts, of which school subjects are only one example. It is because the implication in the use of the prefix “non” is so obviously strong that we do not call black people non-white.

Is the term functional qualifications or some such too hard to come up with?

Bill Brown, Milngavie.

Ignoring the Prophets

I REFER to the letter published on June 3 headed “We Jewish university staff stand with our students and their pro-Gaza encampments” and the subsequent letters (June 4, 5 & 6) .

I remind those of your contributors who are critical of the university staff’s opinion of the significance of the Jewish Prophets’ teaching on justice and compassion which remains to this day a foundational element of our western civilisation and which played such a significant role in the emergence of the Christian faith.

I suggest that they refer to an article on the internet by Meghan Conner of St John Fisher University titled “The Impact of Judaism on Social Reform”, the introduction to which reads: “Judaism marked the beginning of a revolutionary idea that laid the groundwork for social reform: humans have the ability and therefore the responsibility to stop injustices in the world. The Jews were the first to decide that it was their responsibility as the Chosen People to fight against inequality in the world. This mentality revolutionised social reform and brought it into existence as a way for human beings to positively shape their world. The ideas laid by the Jews continued to impact people for centuries and are especially relevant in the modern world.”

I find it inconceivable that those fanatically ethnocratic ministers in the Israeli government, not to mention Benjamin Netanyahu himself, can so ignore the aforementioned teaching of the Prophets.

John Milne, Uddingston.

What will be the effect of the new Education (Scotland) Bill? (Image: PA)

First the books, what comes next?

ATTACKING books in any guise is akin to trying to eradicate knowledge. The current row over book festival sponsorship really ought to be a wake-up call ("Sponsor link axed by Book Festival", The Herald, June 6).

This subject has been taken over by left-wing activists deciding just what the public should be thinking, consequently giving no credence to those on the other side of the argument.

Freedom is an oft-used word nowadays but it seems one person's freedom is another person's cancellation. We still need oil and gas just as Israel's right to exist should be respected. Problems are never solved by precipitate actions of the few but after cancelling book festivals what comes next?

Action is now needed by the Scottish Government but given its stance on both the oil industry and Gaza where will the even-handedness required come from?

Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.

Annoyance factor

HAVING read today's and recent letters to your good self, I have concluded that author Kingsley Amis knew his onions when writing "If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing ".

I shall simmer down over my cornflakes.

David Miller, Milngavie.