Our people suffered in days of Empire. It's not us who should pay

There was no free health care, no job security, no pensions, the list is endless. The situation for most citizens only really started to change after two world wars when the Establishment decided to throw some crumbs to the common herd to quell rumours of rebellion.

Bearing these factors in mind, to suggest that we the descendants of those UK citizens should pay anything to anyone to compensate for something that our forefathers neither caused nor benefited from is patently ridiculous ("PM Starmer told he must discuss ‘the ill-effects of slave trade", The Herald, October 25, and Letters, October 25). Considering that Westminster only finished paying compensation to British slave-owners for the loss of their human assets in 2015 it is not difficult to identify who has and continues to profit from historic slavery.

David J Crawford, Glasgow.

Such a sad irony

I CAN'T be the only person to have noticed the sad irony of your lead letter (October 25) from Michael Sheridan, extolling the liberty of the individual and the rule of law as well as "substantial infrastructure" as a legacy of said Empire.

This is all well and good but as the final letters from Douglas Simpson and Ken Kennedy point out, we are currently standing by wringing our hands and paying lip service regarding our concern about the deliberate destruction of infrastructure, starvation, disease and displacement in Gaza, whilst actually paying for it through our taxes, not to mention that the carve-up of the Middle East like that of the partition of India is yet another legacy of said Empire, soaked in blood.

Marjorie Thompson, Edinburgh.

Read more letters

• Reparations? The world owes plenty to the British Empire
• Do the SNP or Labour really care about the poor?

Should India be grateful?

WE'RE asked to believe that "the world owes plenty to the British Empire" as Michael Sheridan suggests, because of the "substantial infrastructure" it left behind when indigenous peoples took their own countries back.

So how much gratitude ought the average Indian show, given that in 1750 India's economy was about 20-25% of the world's GDP and by 1948 it was about 2%?

AJ Clarence, Prestwick.

Where does it all end?

IF the sins of our ancestors are to be laid at our door and people feel that they should be financially compensated, where does it end? Should we not be making claims against Italy for the carnage cause by the Romans when they invaded Great Britain? And what about another claim against Scandinavia for the rape and pillage carried out by the Vikings? Won’t half of Europe be entitled to reparation from Hungary for the barbaric acts carried out by Attila the Hun?

Alan McGibbon, Paisley.

Colony talk is nonsense

YOUR correspondent Ni Holmes (Letters, October 25) does not know his Scottish history. He calls King Charles III "the English monarch" as an intended insult and is clearly unaware that, firstly, he is descended from James VI of Scotland who, in 1603, became James I of England in the Union of the Crowns, and that the King’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was Scottish. The King is not singularly "English".

Further, Mr Holmes clearly implies that Scotland is a "colony". He should bear in mind the words of a tweet by veteran SNP MP Pete Wishart on October 18, 2023: "I don’t know where all this 'colony' rubbish comes from but all it does is make the movement look unhinged. Could you imagine going out Yes canvassing and asking normal people how they feel about their 'colonial status'? You’d be laughed all the way down the street."

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

Don't write off the Chancellor

FROM all the rumours swirling in the media about the forthcoming Budget, you would be likely to think that Rachel Reeves is going to be caught in the crosshairs of sniper fire from within her own ranks and from the Opposition.

The denouement of Budget Day may well have all the characteristics of a cliffhanger where we expect the Chancellor to have no wriggle room for escape from a bad press day. However, clever chess player that she is, it may well be no surprise that she has tantalisingly set up the narrative of doom to suggest that she is boxed in but with one subtle gambit she may well burst free from what has been built up to look like a scenario from which she has no escape.

If she has some esoteric moves up her sleeve, she could well turn the tables upon the anticipation of a media salivating at the prospect of her possible fall from grace, to translate the depressing headlines the Government has had to endure in the press and on TV into a much more realistic and optimistic framework guaranteed to revive the Government's popularity ratings.

We are going to find out if the first female Chancellor is Wonder Woman or a chancer who has bitten off more than she can chew.

I would advise those who are currently sharpening their knives with glee at the prospect of her falling flat on her face at her big event should not underestimate the abilities of a woman who is astute enough to pull the wool over the eyes of her opponents and to pull a rabbit out of what she has been at pains to describe as amounting to an empty hat.

Who is going to be left gasping with egg on their faces at the unveiling of the Budget on Wednesday?

Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.

• I REFER to the Chancellor’s statements with regard to changes to the Government’s rules on debt to allow more borrowing ("Reeves set to change rules on debt for borrowing", The Herald, October 25). It is reported that the changes are to be confirmed in the Budget .

I am sure that the Prime Minister will not be referring to her as a "perfect ass". That is what Prime Minister Clement Attlee said about Hugh Dalton, Chancellor in the Government led by Attlee. Dalton had given away information from the highly important 1947 Budget in passing remarks to a journalist. Dalton was forced to resign There was a time when the content of a Budget was viewed as being effectively embargoed in advance of its content being released in a statement to the House of Commons. Obviously we are living in different times in more ways than one with this new Labour Government.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

Will Chancellor Rachel Reeves have a surprise up her sleeve next Wednesday? (Image: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)

No incentive for motorists

REDUCING carbon dioxide emissions is supposed to be a Scottish Government priority, yet there appears to be no effective road traffic reduction programme.

The initiative of the Scottish Government in imposing a massive perceived increase in train fares (almost double for some journeys), cutting the timetable compared with the pre-Covid period (misleadingly described as a "normal" timetable) and running an unreliable network that is prone to delays and cancellations is certainly a novel approach to dealing with the situation. I suggest the Scottish Government should order up a very large pack of carrots.

Scott Simpson, Bearsden.

Bring in tests for elderly drivers

AFTER the tragic death of toddler Xander Irvine on an Edinburgh street, I feel everything possible should be done to prevent a similar occurrence ("Sheriff calls for overhaul of driver licensing after death of three-year-old boy", The Herald, October 22). As someone if not quite past my sell-by date, pretty close to it, may I say I would welcome the additional cognitive and ability tests proposed for elderly drivers in this week's fatal accident inquiry. I am sure the infrastructure needed could be put in place relatively quickly.

It should now be a matter at the top of the agenda for those involved with making vitally needed changes to the law on these matters. Of course, any changes must be implemented at UK level, so much the better for the numbers of lives that could be saved.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

Not fooled by SSEN offer

ONCE again SSEN makes well-orchestrated headlines with its sly offer of giving homes built for its workers to local authorities to help ease the housing crisis ("Energy company to help build 1,000 homes in north Scotland", heraldscotland, October 22). It has obviously spent time identifying a problem and working out how best to use it to its advantage.

You have to ask yourself with its promises of using local labour why it needs to build accommodation in the first place, because local workers would live locally otherwise they wouldn’t be local.

The message from SSEN would appear to be: let us help you with your housing shortage but only if our planning applications get passed.

Housing is the responsibility of the local authority, those elected to serve us and to whom we pay substantial taxes. If there is not enough money in the coffers to house people then we have to ask why. It is not the job of a multinational to provide homes as long as they get planning approval for their highly contentious concrete and steel road show that is causing so much anguish and mental distress all over the North of Scotland.

Big Energy is actually contributing to a housing crisis because of its devastating industrialisation in rural areas. Residents are unable to move because they can’t realise the true value of their homes. That denies families the larger properties they need. People remain trapped in homes that may have become too big for them to manage and afford.

Big Energy is destroying the natural social progression in our rural communities.

SSEN/SSE are flooding our media with adverts and sponsorship. They are in our schools and involved in the renewables/tourism oxymoron.They are impossible to escape but their savage promotion strategy is backfiring. We see them for what they are. We are not stupid and we don’t like being manipulated, it just hardens our resolve to stop them.

Lyndsey Ward, Spokeswoman for Communities B4 Power Companies, Beauly.

I'm so proud of my failure

I ALWAYS enjoy the Teasers page and particularly “Name the Celebrity”. Today (October 25) I set a new record in trying to identify the “famous person” by completing a whole week without getting any right.

It may be a sign of old age but I am so chuffed with myself.

Michael Watson, Rutherglen.