THE Democrats in the USA have suffered a catastrophic defeat to President-elect Trump and the Republicans, and will no doubt blame everybody else or somebody else for this defeat. However they only have themselves to blame and will realise this very quickly if they have they courage to examine their own navels.

Courage was non-existent in their failing to tell President Biden that he was simply unfit for a further term in office and allowed any semblance of a campaign to self-destruct in a short five-minute period during the head-to-head presidential debate with Mr Trump. Further they lacked the courage to select their candidate in a contest and imposed Vice-President Harris on the American electorate. It seems likely that they did this in an attempt to play the “woman” card specifically against Mr Trump, failing to recognise that her term as Vice-President was at best uninspiring and at worst incompetent.

The disastrous Democratic campaign will have repercussions around the world and not least in the UK, where President Trump will not quickly forget how he has been described in the past by various senior members of this Labour Government. The UK and Europe should brace themselves for some rough weather heading from the west.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh.

• AFTER Donald Trump’s election I wonder how long it will take David Lammy to take his foot out of his mouth. So pleased we have such a brilliant diplomat as our Foreign Secretary.

Michael Watson, Rutherglen.

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Never much of a choice

OH my goodness the liberals on TV in the United States and here are going into meltdown with the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House.

To me it is the Democrats' own fault for putting up a lightweight politician who expressed few policies or visions and who appeared to think, maybe because of his previous deviant behaviour, that she could achieve her goal by just attacking Mr Trump.

America is the most capitalist country in the world and the most important thing to the vast majority of its population, old and new, is, as was quoted in Bill Clinton’s campaign, "the economy stupid" and Ms Harris has shared the blame with Joe Biden for making it worse in the past few years.

It was never much of a choice for the American people but let’s just hope that the winner has learned from his previous time in office and brushes with the law and that he has mellowed more than a bit.

Fingers crossed.

W Macintyre, East Kilbride.

Failure of liberal democracy

IS it any surprise that Donald Trump won?

To a great extent liberal democracy has failed electorates. It is now a vehicle for self-enrichment and serious nest-feathering by elected members.

The institutions of state in the western democracies have accommodated this greed on the tacit understanding that no serious attempt is made to alter the fundamental structures of power and privilege that exist in these countries. The continuance of the established state is paramount. No structural changes can or will be made that compromise or challenge the many inequalities and injustices in society.

This self-serving by elected members has effectively disenfranchised the electorate. Minor adjustments to the operations and administration of national systems within a very narrow framework are now what passes for representative government. The expectations of voters are replaced by the personal interests of the elected members and the interests of the state they serve.

Some time ago you printed a letter from me in which I expressed a view that democracy itself is threatened and needs to be back in the hands of the people. I suggested that elected members should receive the median wage of the country and only serve two terms, thus attracting principled people to elected positions rather than the current carpetbaggers.

Ensuring that the current gravy trains are derailed would go a long way to achieving this.

Electorates in the West are seriously disillusioned by their political representatives and the systems they operate. It is little wonder that people in so-called democracies are lashing out at the political classes who only serve their own interests. Donald Trump has capitalised on this democratic deficit and the smug Washington elites for his own ends. But he also has little interest in the wellbeing of those who elected him, as I am sure they will find out.

If the democratic process is not returned to electorates but continues to be a cash cow for craven elected supporters of unreformable states and systems, then the outlook is grim.

There are notable warnings from the past in this matter.

Don Ferguson, Kirkintilloch.

Swinney's big mistake

FIRST Minister John Swinney made a dreadful mistake in publicly supporting Donald Trump's opponent in the American elections.

This will harm relationships between America and Scotland and will cost Scotland dearly.

Yet another nail in the coffin of Scotland's economy compliments of John Swinney.

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.

Time for an indy rethink

DO those who thought that a convicted felon, with all the despicable characteristics of man-child Donald Trump, could not be elected US President, again, still think that Nigel Farage could not become the UK’s next Prime Minister?

Are those who are comfortable to have nuclear weapons based close to our most populous city also comfortable with the fact that these weapons are again under the control of an erratic self-centred megalomaniac?

Perhaps it is time for a rethink on self-determination to enable an independent Scotland, free of nuclear weapons, to work more closely with our European allies?

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry.

A big target on our backs

FROM January it will be President Trump's finger on the Faslane nuclear trigger. Despite all the pretence of an "independent" nuclear system, it has always been the US President in control. From the 1960s onwards the UK has had to bend the knee to the US to be given a delivery system and with the technological advances in recent decades, there is no doubt that the US will keep control of targeting of missiles which regularly return to the US for servicing.

We now know that 40 years ago France sold Exocet missiles with a "kill-stop" device fitted which kept ultimate control in France. So the British posturing as a nuclear power both exposes us to risk especially in Scotland, and has a political not a military purpose. It costs us billions to maintain a phoney big power posture and keep a UK Security Council seat, so remember that when our public services are cut.

Scotland is paying to have a big target on our backs. Let's not talk about making Scotland great again. Just let's make Scotland a force for good.

Isobel Lindsay, Biggar.

Does Trident put a target on our backs?Does Trident put a target on our backs? (Image: PA)

Oh Columbus

THE cynic in me reminds me of author Margot Asquith's comment: "What a pity, when Christopher Columbus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it".

David Miller, Milngavie.

Universalism works well

HOW is Labour in Scotland to spin the latest U-turn of raising student tuition fees in England and Wales as Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves both said in the House of Commons and TV interviews, they would scrap tuition fees, not raise them ("Ministers ‘must introduce tuition fees for Scotland’", The Herald, November 6 and Letters, November 6)? Following winter fuel payments, what next in Labour’s continuation of Tory ideology, means testing for health treatment?

University finances, like those of GPs, charities and our local authorities, are all going to suffer as a result of Labour increasing employers’ National Insurance contributions, which is an indirect tax on working people and wages, unlike VAT or income tax.

The rest of the UK is out of step with most western European countries that have access to free, or very low cost, higher education, such as Norway, Iceland, Germany, Austria, France, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia, Czechia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Scotland.

As the Jimmy Reid Foundation pointed out in 2012, universalism is incredibly efficient. The selective element of pension entitlement is more than 50 times more inefficient than the universal element measured in terms of fraud and error alone and without even taking into account the cost of administration.

In economic terms universalism is clearly shown to deliver things we all benefit from which selectivity simply cannot deliver. The economic impact of universalism is much greater than the economic impact of selectivity because of the multiplier profile of expenditure.

Universalism also creates positive economic stability by mitigating the swings in the business cycle and creating much more economic independence among the population. On virtually every possible measure of social and economic success, all league tables are topped by societies with strong universal welfare states, Universalism creates a higher and more progressive tax base which also improves economic stability, reduces price bubbles and creates more efficient flatter income distributions.

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh.