John Swinney must step in now and stop bin strikes

We learned on Monay that a revised offer of 3.2% has been made by Cosla and rejected by Unison which stated that Cosla had initially refused to make representations to the Scottish Government about the necessity for increased funding for local government to try and resolve this dispute.Why? As I write it has been reported that a meeting of the three parties is scheduled to take place soon. Some evidence of urgency at last.

Meanwhile until now at least John Swinney dithers and absolves himself of all responsibility whatsoever in his Pontius Pilate role by stating that "pay negotiations are a matter for local authorities as employers and unions" and that he and the Scottish Government have no formal role. This is in spite of the fact that this is a strike which will be carried out nationally across Scotland (in 16 local authorities) in the country of which he is First Minister. Must we wait till the bins all overflow and the rubbish piles high before he decides to intervene? Perhaps he and his Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, whose economy remit covers this area, are making use of the parliamentary recess to dodge their accountability to elected members.

Unison further stated that over the last 14 years employees had seen their wages reduced by 25%. If this is the case it is truly shocking, for it is both a dirty and physically demanding job carried out in all weathers by those employees. Moreover refuse workers in England have recently settled for a 5% wage increase. This begs another really important question: why is there no such mechanism as an independent pay review body to arbitrate and try resolve this dispute? Moreover why have efforts not been made to establish one since our previous experience of 2022?

Where is your leadership in this emergency, Mr Swinney?

Jim Park, Edinburgh.

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Prison release doomed to failure

THE early prison release scheme proposed by the Scottish Government will end in failure. Dangerous prisoners will re-offend due to inadequate supervision from the social work departments which have already warned of overloaded case work and a shortage of social workers.

This will only be a short-term fix for our overcrowded prisons and unless the Scottish Government funds community payback schemes properly and we stop sending too many offenders to jail we will be in the same crisis in six months' time.

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.

Labour soft on migrants

HOME Secretary Yvette Cooper has said she will instruct officials to process the claims of the 120,000 people who came here illegally and whom the last government said would never be allowed to remain in Britain. Many crossed the Channel instead of claiming safe haven in Europe. It is thought that between 70,000 and 80,000 will be granted asylum. How will she deport those not granted asylum?

Ms Cooper told MPs that this would save the taxpayers £7.7 billion in accommodation costs. It will then cost council tax payers a similar amount since councils will be forced to house them. Most will be able to claim welfare benefits. It seems she is determined to add to Britain's critical housing shortage, unemployment, crime and the ever increasing costs of welfare benefits.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow.

The key to rural learning

OFFICIAL figures showing that young people from Scotland’s more remote rural towns are less likely to access higher education than ever demonstrate the pressing need for a step-change in how we enable learners from every background and geography to access learning opportunities ("Fall in 'remote small town' young Scots entering higher education", heraldscotland, July 20).

If we’re to create a prosperous future for people, communities, businesses, and the natural economy in Scotland, we need to deliver on widening access to further and higher education for people from every background. To achieve that we need school leavers to have the confidence that further and higher education will work for them. At Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) we believe that a place-based model of education should offer tertiary learning opportunities that are as diverse as the landscape of Scotland itself.

Key to getting this right is effective collaboration between educational institutions, policymakers, rural businesses and communities themselves. We know young people want to learn in vibrant environments where their ideas are nurtured, and where links to industry lead to sustainable local employment where they want to be. These priorities sit at the heart of SRUC’s new school of veterinary medicine as it prepares to enrol a first cohort of degree students from across rural Scotland this year.

We know this model, enabled by SRUC’s new powers to award taught degrees, is the right one for rural communities. Our challenge as a nation that values rural communities is to deliver it with urgency.

Professor Wayne Powell, Principal & Chief Executive, SRUC, Edinburgh.

We have let Ukraine down

If Ukraine is forced into entering peace negotiations with Russia without returning to its post-2014 boundaries, who is ever going to believe a word out of the mouth of any western politician?

So many Ukrainians have sacrificed their lives and physical wellbeing to the cause of liberty, independence and democracy that there will be a temptation on the part of other nations to look askance at our leaders.

We provided munitions and weaponry but no more than enough to fend off the Russian attacks.

What Ukraine needed was an arsenal which could deter any further assaults from Russia and enable it to recover the territory lost by our pusillanimous politicians in case Putin went nuclear.

Where are the aircraft which were promised, where is the freedom to use long-range missiles on military targets in Russia and why has the West been so dilatory in its support for Ukraine which is fighting a proxy war for us?

If Ukraine has to succumb to the terms and negotiations demanded by Putin, it will not be long before we are all fighting to save ourselves from the twin-pronged Sino-Russian threat.

We should be ashamed of what is now on the verge of transpiring.

Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has pledged to speed up asylum claims (Image: PA)

Keep horses out of the Olympics

ALL eyes are now on the 2024 Paris Olympics. Whilst there will be displays of impressive human athleticism and sporting prowess and tales of athletes overcoming adversity, a darker undercurrent lurks: the use of horses.

Equestrian sports are inherently cruel and have no place in a progressive society. There are countless tales of abuse in the world of equestrian sports; horses being whipped, kicked, neglected, left with bleeding wounds after aggressive use of painful artificial aids (equipment used to maximise a horse’s "performance"), subjected to cruel (and outlawed) training regimes, pushed to their physical and mental limits and punished for not scoring highly enough.

In 2024, it is simply unacceptable and unnecessary for animals to be used in sport. Humans at their best are compassionate, respectful, and willing to change for the better. These qualities are gold-medal worthy whilst the subjugation of an innocent animal is not.

Nina Copleston-Hawkens, Animal Aid Campaigner, Tonbridge.

Send for Saunders

KAMALA Harris would do well to persuade Bernie Saunders to join her as Vice-President to defeat Donald Trump.

Saunders remains impressively vigorous and would mobilise multiple demographic cohorts and interests, including those of class, gender, race, age, and more.

Harris and Saunders could both win the election and over the next four years make the USA better than it has ever been. Forget the delusion of MAGA for the few and deliver the reality of MAB for the many.

Stewart Sweeney, Adelaide, Australia.