THE Irish have the confidence as a nation to govern themselves and at least half of Scotland’s people have sufficient confidence in themselves to wish Scotland to be governed as an independent nation.

The Welsh are making steady progress towards self-government but the people of England, in spite of the arrogant and patronising bluster of many of their elected and unelected representatives at Westminster, appear to suffer from a lack of confidence to take charge of their own destiny and to allow, if not encourage, the other nations of these islands to go their own ways. This fundamental lack of confidence is holding back not only England but the other countries\nations of these islands which is exemplified by Poland’s economy (following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the democratic election of an independent government in 1991) on a trajectory to overtake the UK economy within the next five years.

For centuries England has relied on the people and resources of those "other nations", and continues to do so today. This dependence has no doubt diminished confidence in the people of England to go their own way (and regrettably the Brexit debacle will have done little to restore confidence), but sooner or later they must face up to the fact that the earlier England develops the courage to stand on its own two feet and establish its own identity the sooner future generations of all the nations of these islands, including the English, will prosper.

In the meantime, far-right groups in England will increasingly fill the void of unfulfilled English patriotism to the lasting detriment of all of the people of these islands.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry.

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A missed opportunity

KEN MacDonald (Letters, August 28), writes a very good, carefully considered letter in response to the Kevin McKenna column of the previous day ("I'm now glad we didn't win in 2014", The Herald, August 27).

Despite this, I still found the whole matter so depressing. If someone as grounded in reality as Mr McKenna can come up with the same illogical and irrelevant reasons as the Union-supporting correspondents for not supporting independence, what hope have we all?

I consider 2014 a giant missed opportunity to build the type of country we want, while keeping more of the money generated from our resources in Scotland. Sadly it looks like it will not come up again in my lifetime.

Iain Cope, Glasgow.

Why is the PM so negative?

"THINGS are going to get worse", the Prime Minister said in his speech in a slogan to inspire the nation ("PM Starmer warns next Budget will be 'painful' in short term", The Herald August 28). "Between now and Christmas we will carry on as we have started," the Prime Minister opined, conjuring up visions of an even more dismal Scrooge and a snowy December with ice in the inside of the windows. Sir Keir makes Bernie Scripps in Heartbeat (Peter Benson) look like a stand-up comedian.

Here we are in the the world's sixth-largest largest economy, blessed with innovative engineers, scientists, creative artists, great universities, a civil service and the rule of law which is admired across the world, a global reach in soft power, oil and gas fields waiting to to be tapped, world-class companies like Rolls-Royce, Astra Zeneca, BP, HSBC and a hundred others, yet Sir Keir can find nothing positive to say about our great country and its future which would be bright under the right leadership. Sir Keir is not that leader, unfortunately.

William Loneskie, Lauder.

What Labour must do next

THE biggest thing this Labour Government can do is lower the cost of living for families. Accommodation in the form of rents and mortgages is the biggest expense. The good news is interest rates are on the way down but the bad news is there is no clear path to lowering the capital cost by swamping the country with good, low-cost housing.

There is also no sign this Government is serious about lowering the cost, or increasing the security, of our energy supply; in fact Ed Miliband is on a mission to kill our oil and gas industry and sign us up for untold billions of extra infrastructure to deliver unreliable, subsidised, wind energy - all on a promise of lower bills and "thousands" (nothing more specific than that, and I've Googled extensively of jobs.

Then there's the burgeoning benefits bill, particularly those associated with the huge, and growing, number of 16-65-year-olds who are economically inactive and/or receiving disability payments. PIP spending alone is expected to grow by 52 per cent from 2023/24 to £32.8bn - an increase of around £11bn - by 2027/28. Tackling this would enable significant savings.

Keir Starmer's "address to the nation" contained almost nothing on these core issues that affect all British people, or the other topics that threaten our foundations such as immigration, which concerns tens of millions more than the few who rioted, and the NHS, both in terms of preventive measures and actual treatments.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.

Stop the failed policians' perks

I NOTE the various letters today (August 28) stating that the "black hole" claimed by Labour is something the party knew or ought to have known about before making its "change" promises of no tax cuts.

You published just before the election a short letter from me from which I quote: "I can predict with almost absolute certainty that the 'change' featuring large in Labour's manifesto and advertising will be just that after two years. Small change after tax left out of your hard-earned wages."

It gives me no pleasure in noting I was correct but out in time by 20 months.

I suspect that, as in all things political, Labour knew exactly what the state of the parties is and, if not, what is it doing about the lies and obfuscation?

We had Liz Truss swanning about the Edinburgh Fringe and stomping out when asked to justify her position. She was effectively sacked for incompetence. Did she get her prime ministerial pension? No doubt. Has anyone thought to take this from her? What about Boris Johnson? Also effectively sacked for lying about the Covidgate parties. Any penalties? No.

So, who ends up paying? The poor taxpayer who also has to foot their pensions.

Can we not have accountability on this by defraying pensions, resignation honours lists and the like for at least a year until such time as we see that these rewards are earned? In fact, can we not just get rid of them altogether and allow a proportion of their salaries into a pension fund much the same as any other person with maximum amounts per Inland Revenue rules depending on time in office?

This would apply to all politicians, including MSPs and First Ministers.

Ken Mackay, Glasgow.

Liz Truss has a prime ministerial pensionLiz Truss has a prime ministerial pension (Image: Colin Mearns)

Done down by a free market

WE live in a society characterised by consumerism, materialism, individualism and short-termism. All of this contributes to a decline in the awareness of the public and a shrinking of the public sphere.

In an article today Scott Wright takes the opportunity to quote Gillian Stewart, chair of the British Council for Offices in Britain, who, commenting on the state of Glasgow city centre, remarks that "there is a real lack of care in the city centre and the general condition of the public realm is just embarrassing" ("City council defends protracted revamp for Sauchiehall Street", The Herald, August 28). Given the dominant political and ideological ethos of our society what does Ms Stewart expect?

To a great extent the state of city and town centres are the consequence of market players in a "free market" economy taking market-driven decisions: giant retailers, bookmakers, banks and others. Driven too by changes in shopping and working habits promoted by these same entities. Bookmakers, once so visible, now find internet gambling much more profitable. Banks not in the least interested in a branch network fall into the same category. Market forces prevail, Ms Stewart's "public realm" decays. This is unavoidable in an economy such as ours.

Meanwhile Glasgow City Council, by no means faultless, is the scapegoat for all problems. How many of those attacking the council for poor services will fight to the death against increases in council tax? The coverage of the recent pay increases for public sector workers is illustrative. These we are told undermine nature conservation, flood defences and other vital projects ("Scottish Government’s nature fund money redirected to council pay awards", The Herald, August 26). I don't recall this outcry when resources are allocated to fight pointless wars against innocent people who never did us any harm.

I wonder too about how many people who criticise the pay awards were among the pot-bashers during the early days of Covid.

Brian Harvey, Hamilton.