ANOTHER SNP policy fails. Their solution to overcrowding in prisons was to release 477 inmates, some of whom had committed violent crimes. Two months later and there are now more prisoners in Scottish jails than before. Releasing prisoners was never going to be the answer. 

There will always be people who commit crimes. There are various ways to deal with them but for many the only real punishment is to deny them their freedom to commit more. I wonder how many of the 477 will be back inside within a year.

The only solution to overcrowding is to build more prisons. The prison population across the UK is increasing year on year with the number of inmates in Scotland rising by 60% since 1990. We currently have 136 prisoners per 100,000 of the population, slightly higher than in England.

The law-abiding citizens of Scotland deserve to be protected from the violent element of society. Releasing such prisoners early is no deterrent and is not the answer. 
Jane Lax, Aberlour.

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Community service schemes
JOHN Swinney has been forced to admit that the SNP plan to reduce Scottish prison numbers has been a complete failure, with the prison population numbers actually rising to 8241 higher than it was before the plan was introduced.

In addition, victims of serious crime feel totally neglected with the early release of violent prisoners and the increased risk to their safety in a plan which has failed to achieve its main objective.

The only sensible way forward for the SNP is to provide increased funding for community service schemes that keep offenders out of prison and give them a better opportunity to re-engage in society without criminal behaviour and not to re-offend.      
Dennis Forbes Grattan, Bucksburn, Aberdeen.

 

Private access to the Bank of Alli
SIR Keir Starmer is unique in Britain in having his very own personal pension plan approved by an Act of Parliament. It now seems that he and his wife, together with other Labour Cabinet Ministers, also have private access to the Bank of Alli.

The Prime Minister campaigned for a government for “working people” but forgot or perhaps chose not to mention the “elite” to which he and his cabal belong. Their shameless acceptance of freebies/gifts and their demonstrable hypocrisy will not be forgotten.
Richard Allison, Edinburgh.

A poor start by Labour

LABOUR had a very long time to prepare for power and to make sure it had no skeletons in the closet. It’s disappointing that it has got off to such an erratic start and has given so much ammunition to its enemies in Parliament and the right-wing media.
S. Duncan, Glasgow.

 

Classy response to rudeness
A CLASSY response from Ruth Marr (“Sneers won’t deter me from writing”, letters, September 20) to the rude, dismissive letter from Peter A Russell you published the previous day. 

His letter did make me ponder what the ‘A’ stands for, and I’m pleased that Ms Marr elegantly avoided the temptation to get down in the gutter with Mr Russell.
Doug Maughan, Dunblane.

 

Noises off were such an irritant
ON yesterday’s Sunday Show on BBC1 Scotland, Martin Geissler interviewed the Scottish Secretary of State, Ian Murray, who was at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, but from both an interview and technical standpoint, this was a disgrace.

Someone clearly thought that placing Mr Murray in a noisy conference venue foyer was an appropriate place to answer questions. It can’t be that difficult to find a location at a venue that’s quiet and calm but still shows that you’re at the heart of the action.

Just because broadcasters have the technology to “do the show right here” doesn’t mean that they should. Mr Murray clearly struggled to hear the questions.

Technically, the interview was embarrassing because of the obvious delay on the line which also included the picture breaking up. How can it be so difficult to do an Outside Broadcast from Glasgow to Liverpool? The BBC invented this stuff.
Stuart Neville, Clydebank.

 

Pointless jolly in the Big Apple
JUST when you thought the reality of spending our taxes recklessly and then having nothing left for real need had begun to sink in, off they go again. 

Despite the latest promises on belt-tightening and getting a grip on the SNP administration’s outgoings, we learn that Gillian Martin, the Scottish Government’s Acting Net Zero and Energy Secretary, is heading off to the Big Apple shortly for a conference. 

No doubt she will have the usual bloated SNP entourage with her. Why worry about where else the money could be spent? There is still only one matter that demands unlimited cash and attention. 

In any case her presence in the US will be meaningless, other than providing some nationalist froth and more make-believe that we are up there with the big boys and girls. Another fix perhaps for the SNP junkies: send the bill to the Scots taxpayers.

At least on this latest jolly, Angus Robertson has missed out, so perhaps some of the voters’ message is beginning to be heard.
Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

 

Clearing the air over the LEZ
DR Gerald Edwards (letters, September 21) says that the fact that emissions outside Glasgow’s LEZ have fallen by 15.3% as compared to 20% within the LEZ means that the effect of the LEZ has been to reduce emissions by 4.7%. Has he considered the possibility that the 15.3% reduction is due to fewer numbers of high-emitting vehicles travelling towards the LEZ?
David Hill, Dumfries.

 

Has Scotland really learned nothing?
OVER 50 years ago, at a Glasgow Corporation education committee meeting, I listened to a Very Rev. senior member of the Catholic church strongly defending the right and necessity of  separate schools for Catholics. The subject degenerated into a side-argument about allowing pupils of both religions to share a common playground, as the schools in question were contiguous. One strand of his argument against the suggestion was “Our history is different than yours” (letters, September 21).

In those days the rift was much greater than is apparent even today. That this subject, with all its implications, indicates how little public opinion has apparently changed. “Of course, he is a Catholic”, said in a sneering implying manner, is still to be heard in households, even in the leafy suburbs,where education is considered to be a condition of locality.

Having been educated in a school where all the major religions were represented, it never occurred to me that different approaches to any one religion were important. Having lived and worked in the US, for some time, where there is much more tolerance, and in other countries where I was very much in a religious minority, I find it appalling that, some fifty years later, this small nation still appear to be like the Bourbons, of whom it was said they “appear to have forgotten nothing and learnt nothing “
Robin Johnston, Newton Mearns.

 

A Promise that has to be kept
THE Scottish Government report highlighting the work done on improving the lives of care-experienced children and young people is to be welcomed. There is, however, much to be done.

‘The Promise’ is a commitment that by 2030 all care-experienced children in Scotland will grow up loved, safe and respected, with the ability to reach their full potential. Those in this category represent some of the most vulnerable members of our society, experiencing considerably fewer life chances than their peers, with poorer health and educational outcomes.

Recent data reinforce this, noting that the figures for exclusion of pupils who have been looked after in the past year are still between five and six times as high as the levels found across the total pupil population. This is despite a commitment that all formal and informal exclusions of care-experienced pupils would end. Scotland is still very far away from achieving that.

If we want to build a care system which has love and respect at its very heart, we must provide the resources necessary to ensure that that this group of individuals get the vital care and support they so desperately need. Only through this can we ensure that ‘The Promise’ is kept.
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition, Edinburgh: Kenny Graham, Falkland House School; Lynn Bell, LOVE Learning; Stephen McGhee, Spark of Genius; Niall Kelly, Young Foundations.