THE school holidays will end in less than a fortnight and teachers will return to the chalkface with no sign whatever of the urgent action deemed necessary to tackle the violence in our schools, which has increased by 53% since pre-pandemic. In the last school year there were 23,010 incidents logged, though the largest local education authority (Glasgow) has not divulged its figures. Most were pupil violence against teachers. Teachers, pupils, families and the unions have been sounding the alarm for years. Here in Fife we had 7,546 incidents.

Jenny Gilruth, the Education Secretary, has admitted that "violence is a really tricky challenge and an issue which cannot be solved overnight". That does not absolve her of blame. It would help if she read the evidence: for example, failing to read the report of violence against EIS teachers in Aberdeen beggared belief. She does not seem to keep her eye on the ball with regard to the health and safety of pupils and teachers. At times she truants when asked to be interviewed on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland.

There is a further problem. Ms Gilruth was born in 1984 and the belt was phased out in 1982-1983, hence she has no concept of a well-disciplined school in an area of multiple deprivation.

What then should be done? There has been considerable debate in these columns on the topic but, if one mentions reverting to corporal punishment or fining the parents of feral kids, correspondents take up their default positions without actually suggesting a solution. One is left with the awkward question: why should the decent bullied kids cower at home while the feral bullies roam the school corridors?

Physical and verbal abuse have become normalised in schools and school management, allegedly, cover up the abuse staff suffer on a daily basis. Is it not truly remarkable that in some schools exclusion figures have plummeted or they are simply unavailable? Politicians make mealy-mouthed comments about recording and monitoring incidents. A few schools have a permanent police presence.

With Scotland crying out for action, Jenny Gilruth, very much a product of her generation, says she is against a punitive approach. She believes that she is seen to be doing something by having her summits with teachers, unions, councils, heads, pupils, her working parties, mission statements, action plans and the like, but she fiddles as Rome burns. In November she gave a statement to the Scottish Parliament on "The Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research" and said she would not sugar-coat the pill, then proceeded to do just that. We were told England and Wales are as bad, so that was alright. She had seen many schools which remarked on their good behaviour. Action For Children pointed out that children were arriving at school hungry (which the 37Scottish Labour MPs who voted on the child payment cap should note). Ms Gilruth, nothing if not on trend, highlighted misogyny and gender violence. Furthermore, the lack of support for children with additional support needs exacerbated the problem.

This is not good enough. Action is needed now. Restorative practices (condemned by Ofsted) such as inclusion at all costs and rejection of discipline, have led to disaster. Children must learn there are consequences to their actions. The soft-touch approach to discipline must be binned.Teachers must not be punched, kicked, threatened, spat upon and verbally abused.

John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing.

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We have seen through the SNP

WHAT is all this nonsense about the two-child benefits cap? We know the arguments involved are largely political, and designed to cause political discomfort within the Labour Party, not actually to resolve the problem.

The Labour Party has been elected at a UK level, on a manifesto of issues which it had deemed to be its priorities. There will be other issues which it would like to address, but cannot commit to these due to other pressures. The public elected it as a government on this basis, and if it wants to be successful, it needs to show some discipline and commitment, and focus on the issues it has said it will deliver. We all understand this.

The SNP in particular has been trying to create merry mischief around this, but it is in government in Scotland, and could address the problem through the powers of the Scottish Parliament if it wanted to. Indeed, what is the purpose of the Scottish Government if not to take different decisions if it thinks this is merited? To do so, it would of course have to prioritise this over something else, this being the political choice it would have to make, as the Labour Party has had to make.

I am pleased to see the Labour Party in Scotland having some discipline, and working together within its party at a UK level to make things happen. It has not “gifted the SNP a clear line of attack” (Spotlight, July 38). If the SNP says we should prioritise something else, then why doesn't it do that when it has the powers to do so? That is the line we should be pursuing. There is also an implication within Gaby McKay's article that the SNP is always so clever and strategically aware that everyone else has to tip-toe carefully around and try to anticipate all the traps it has laid. The reality is that the SNP's powers and awareness are now gone, and everyone sees this. All other parties should plough their own furrow and be judged on that. We have heard all the talk from the SNP over many years, but have seen very little to show for it. The standard it has set is not difficult to surpass.

Victor Clements, Aberfeldy.

Swinney & co need to go

THERE is no doubt that the SNP needs a complete clear-out at the top, starting with leader John Swinney, otherwise it will get another wipe-out result at the 2026 Scottish election.

Mr Swinney and his cronies have had there day and the General Election results underline the urgent need for the SNP to undergo change and to be led by new fresh blood or face oblivion.

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.

Who checks these figures?

THE Scottish Government has for long lived in a climate cloud cuckoo land and boasted of being the only country in the world to state that they would be net zero by 2045. Other countries selected 2050 with China selecting 2060 and India 2070. Now Stephen Good of the Just Transition Commission has shown that the Scottish Government's estimate of £33 billion to decarbonise Scotland's 230,000 non-domestic buildings and 2.6 million homes is wildly inaccurate.

Mr Good says that £130bn is needed, not £33bn. He pointed out that the £33bn was only enough to provide £11,500 per building which is only enough to fit a heat pump but redecorating and the larger radiators required would add to the cost. Why did MSPs whom we pay £72,195 never question the £33bn? How many more of the Scottish Government's climate cost estimates have been done on the back of a fag packet?

Clark Cross, Linlithgow.

s it time for John Swinney to stand down? 
Is it time for John Swinney to stand down?Is it time for John Swinney to stand down? (Image: PA)

UK a patsy in the climate scam

PRIME Minister Keir Starmer's plan to make Britain a clean energy superpower with 650,000 jobs seems optimistic, as so far the 12,000 windmills on land and offshore have created just 30,000 jobs, nearly all for a brief period during construction. Our green efforts have however made other countries rich, as Britain has been the patsy in the great climate scam, while the industrial giants of the world ignore it all to expand and prosper with fossil fuels, leaving Britain behind.

On another front, we have become the home for mad inventors looking to finance hopeless power schemes ranging from floating wave devices to dropping weights down mineshafts. All of them better described as subsidy farmers.

And all this nonsense from the country that invented clean and endless nuclear power.

You simply could not make it up.

Malcolm Parkin, Kinross.

Fine work at Strathcarron

THE interview by Helen McArdle ("CEO of Scotland’s largest independent hospice retires", July 28) that marked the retirement of Irene McKie as CEO of the Strathcarron Hospice, shows the impact of community-based end of life care services in Scotland.

The article demonstrates the creativity of a chief executive who had the foresight to develop a new approach to offering palliative care and supporting families who might otherwise be in hospital care at the end of their lives.

Irene McKie deserves our gratitude for developing the hospice services that Strathcarron provides and for leading the staff into imaginative and effective ways of providing the care they give.

It is such a pity, therefore, that your article misprinted Irene McKie’s name throughout as McVie.

David Carver, Glasgow.

• We apologise for this error; the article has been corrected.