Our nation has been diminished since indy obsession began

Prior to the inception of the Scottish Parliament Scotland did, indeed, have a separate and highly respected legal system with its bedrock of Scottish legal firms. Now, following legislation by the Scottish Parliament, many and probably most Scottish solicitors who serve the Scottish public are employed by non-Scottish entities and that same parliament now proposes legislation which puts Scottish firms up for sale to foreign investment companies whose profits and taxes will be paid by Scottish clients and bypass the Scottish exchequer.

So far as the education system is concerned, your columns have often advised of the loss of standing of Scottish education in international rankings, again since the inception of that parliament.

Finally, as to the Scottish sporting teams, the reader might spend a few minutes on the internet to review the achievements of the national soccer and rugby teams during the 20 years preceding the inception of that Parliament and compare these with their achievements during the ensuing 20 years. The progressive deterioration is admittedly difficult to attribute to the Scottish Parliament but is remarkable nevertheless and raises questions as to the effect on the national psyche of a nation in which has been brought into constitutional confusion.

The evidence appears to demonstrate that the separatist diversion has at least coincided with and may well have contributed to serious detriment to Scottish nationality. The Scottish nation therefore stands to benefit from a more positive attitude within Scotland to its own essential hallmarks including a long-standing and mutually beneficial participation in the UK.

Michael Sheridan, Glasgow.

The economic realities

ONE has to admire the enduring and unwavering support for Scottish independence shown by Ruth Marr (Letters, July 16). However, despite the references to sport, the United Nations, Parliamentary representation and “the views of many people all over the world”, she does not address what would be the economic realities of secession from the UK.

Scotland has long-running, large structural fiscal and trade deficits which could not be sustained as an independent nation without massively increased austerity, increased taxation and further cuts to public services.

Fortunately, on July 4 voters in Scotland rejected separation from the UK as evidenced by the General Election evisceration of the Scottish National Party which put independence on “page one, line one” of its manifesto.

James Quinn, Lanark.

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Devolution is being dismantled

THE new Prime Minister was greeted in America as the Prime Minister of England: nothing new there as royals and Westminster politicians have been titled “English” all my life, with Scotland as a largely invisible country. Independence brings international connectivity and cooperation and while John Gilligan claims we can focus on critical issues like the economy, housing, employment and health, that would depend on Scotland actually controlling its economy (we cannot even develop our renewables without permission), which is not the case.

Devolution is being slowly dismantled for centralised Whitehall control. We do not even have any serious Scottish broadcasting in return for a substantial licence fee, supposedly “to reflect, represent and serve ... all the United Kingdom’s nations and regions”. There is no way the BBC does this for Scotland, our history, culture and present society. It would be interesting if the minutes of the BBC Board discussions on Scotland over the last two decades were opened for public perusal, and as a publicly funded body there is no reason this should not happen.

GR Weir, Ochiltree.

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A proud record for the SNP

ALEXANDER McKay (Letters, July 16) claims the SNP has no reputation in government. So let’s look at some of the facts.

The SNP Government has built 40% more affordable homes per head than in England and over 70% more than in Wales. With the establishment of Social Security Scotland the Scottish Government has introduced benefits that are available nowhere else in the UK.

The NHS in Scotland has seen no days lost to strikes and has the highest-paid doctors and nurses in the UK. And twe have free prescriptions, yet in England people are charged £9.70 per item, a tax on the sick.

Under the SNP, Scotland has the most progressive and fair tax system in the UK, asking those who earn more to pay more and exempting low earners from taxation.

The SNP in Government has a very strong reputation, one I have no trouble defending.

Catriona C Clark, Falkirk.

Biden must end Gaza violence

PRESIDENT Biden has expressed horror at the violence of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump ("Biden in unity call after attack on Trump", The Herald, July 15), but at the same time approves sales of ammunition to the Israeli military for violence on a much greater scale. He’s released half of the one shipment out of hundreds which he suspended, with 500-pound bombs sent again. Children in Gaza continue to be traumatised and disabled for life, killed, orphaned. Hospital staff have to amputate the limbs of three-year-olds without anaesthetic as they scream in agony.

The war is pointless as IDF intelligence admits Hamas will continue to exist as a “guerrilla group and terror group” (the only “military capabilities” it ever had) and to have significant support among Palestinians however long the war continues.

It doesn’t prevent another October 7. That could have been prevented just by not ignoring intelligence reports.

Talk of a two-state solution without negotiating with Hamas, one of the two main Palestinian parties, who won the last Palestinian legislative elections, is fantasy. Since 2005 Hamas has said it would agree to a long-term truce with Israel of five to 10 years in return for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and the right to return to their homes of Palestinians made refugees in 1948 and 1967. The latter is unlikely to be acceptable to Israel, but Hamas is willing to negotiate, but has never been given any option except war.

Hamas is guilty of the mass murder of civilians, but so are the IDF and Israeli government, on an even larger scale, both beginning long before October 7. Both are also democratically elected though. And most Israelis supporting the IDF as it commits war crimes against civilians is as bad as many Palestinians still supporting Hamas after October 7.

Duncan McFarlane, Carluke.

Should Joe Biden do more to end the war in Gaza? (Image: PA)

Nothing changes

I WATCHED two old movies yesterday (I know, I know, “get a life”, but I’m temporarily incapacitated and it beats staring at the wall).

The first was Zulu Dawn on the subject of Isandlwana, the worst massacre of UK troops by native forces in the history of the British Empire. At the crux of the disaster was the fact that the colonisation of that part of Africa was driven by the greed of the UK Establishment. Those who were charged with carrying out the process were so wrapped up in their own self-accorded superiority and arrogance they chose to ignore sound advice from those they considered to be socially inferior. They were intent on sacrificing as many lives on both sides of the contest as was necessary to expand the boundaries of the Empire and therefore gain access to the resources found in the new territory.

The second film was The Wild Geese, wherein a group of mercenaries are charged with rescuing a deposed African president by a UK industrialist so that he may use the political power of the former politician to facilitate his company’s exploitation of local copper deposits. The planned escape, which is sanctioned by a representative of the UK Government, involves the deliberate murder of 200 local troops by gassing them in their sleep. The industrialist eventually reneges on his agreement as he negotiates a better deal with the current regime and sacrifices the lives of those he hired to do the job. I appreciate this movie, unlike the first, is fiction, but the fact that it exists encapsulates the mood of society at the time.

I found it difficult not to draw parallels between these films and the reality of what is currently taking place in the Ukraine and Palestine. It seems obvious to me that in the pursuit of profit the Establishment is still happy to wreak havoc in foreign lands slaughtering innocents by the thousand just as long as back home in safety the cash registers keep ringing. Nothing changes.

David J Crawford, Glasgow.