The people must push for peace. We can't leave it to our leaders

This week, Grant Shapps, our Defence Secretary, pulled no punches in his assertion that conflicts are likely to grow this year and that the world in 2024 will be a more dangerous place. Give us more money for more weapons, please.

Yet amidst all this I do not detect any overwhelming desire or effort to bring opposing combatants and potential adversaries to the negotiating table.

Sadly, I do recognise that many of these actual and potential enemies are not accountable to the democratic will of their own people and pay no heed to international law, but we have to do everything we can to prevent conflict, as the downsides are too horrific to contemplate.

My great-uncle served in the Cameron Highlanders, was captured at La Bassée Canal near Dunkirk in 1940 and was marched to Stalag XXB Marienburg where he was imprisoned in terrible conditions for four years. His life was forever impacted by that experience and, whilst I honour the memory of him and his sacrifice, the thought of my own two sons sharing a similar fate fills me with dread.

So my plea to all of your readers is to agitate for peace, as conflict may be much closer that we think. War delivers little lasting benefit and we need to put as much pressure as we possibly can on the people who hold high office to stretch every sinew to put peace before conflict.

If the actions of others force us to defend ourselves in our own country then we will have no choice but to do so; but we will have failed as a species if we reach that point.

Fraser Kelly, Glasgow.

This is not defence

WHEN is defence attack?

To me defence is to take measures to protect oneself when actively being attacked. To bomb a sovereign country however is a premeditated attack, not defence, especially as the US/UK bombing of Yemen was obviously not a “spur of the moment” event but one which would necessitate lengthy preparations.

Westminster’s attempt to dissociate the recent maritime events in the Red Sea from what is happening in Gaza is simply blatant obfuscation; some would call it a deliberate lie. There is no doubt that the vast majority of humanity that is aware of what is happening in Palestine fully supports the Palestinian cause despite the fact this sentiment is glossed over by the mainstream media.

The fact that our governments here in the UK and the US actively ignore the wishes of the majority of their citizens and not only allow Israel to continue its genocide of Palestinians unabated but actually fund and arm it, confirms that none of us live in democracies but a world controlled by the Establishment to the benefit of western commercial interests. Life is cheap, especially if it isn’t white.

David J Crawford, Glasgow.

Read more: SNP house of cards will soon be a sad footnote in our history

Israel's actions are unjustifiable

KEVIN McKenna ("A silent vigil reflecting hurt and bewilderment", The Herald, January) allows Glasgow Friends of Israel to falsely conflate opposition to Israeli government and military war crimes in Gaza with anti-Semitism.

Everyone knows the horrific crimes committed by Hamas on October 7. They can’t justify the crimes the IDF and Israeli government are committing, including firing on anyone who moves in any area they declare “a combat zone”, even if no fighting is going on nearby. That’s how the caretaker, bin collector and two women were killed by the IDF in the church MP Layla Moran's MP’s relatives were in. It’s how the IDF killed three Israeli hostages waving a white flag. And groups of Palestinian civilians waving white flags when no fighting was nearby in 11 cases investigated by Human Rights Watch in the 2008/9 Gaza War.

The IDF has repeatedly dropped 2000-pound bombs on “safe areas” it just ordered civilians to move to. It’s destroying entire buildings if one person with any links to Hamas has ever lived there. The UN say the IDF makes it impossible to get aid to much of the population, by refusing to allow aid trucks to enter many areas, and by firing on them and on aid depots.

Children who had nothing to do with October 7 are being killed, on average 100 per day, disabled for life, left with no family, in their thousands. And being starved and dying of diseases caused by the Israeli government denying them clean water.

Pretending Israel has no choice in these crimes is shameful. Israel has a thousand times the military firepower of every Palestinian group combined. The IDF says it killed 1,700 of the October 7 attackers in Israel. The attack would never have happened if Benjamin Netanyahu and senior IDF officers hadn’t dismissed reports from Israeli military intelligence, Egyptian intelligence and IDF border guards from July 2022 to 10 days before the attack. And Hamas has said it will swap remaining hostages for prisoners held by Israel if Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire.

Duncan McFarlane, Carluke.

Palestinian surveys the destruction after an Israeli strike at a residential building in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, earlier this week (Image: PA)

Scotland could use the pound

IAN Lakin (Letters, January 16) has evidently not read the recent Scottish Government papers published on independence that clearly state “as soon as practicable, Scotland would move to its own independent currency, the Scottish pound. Until then, the pound sterling would remain Scotland’s currency. This would provide continuity for people and businesses." It added that a new, independent Scottish Central Bank would advise on when the Scottish pound should be introduced, with the final decision made by the Scottish Parliament. No one can stop Scotland using the pound or any other currency it so wishes.

Outside London and the South East, Scotland has the best-performing economy and the best inward investment record mainly thanks to the efforts of the Scottish Government’s offices abroad.

Economists and analysts at Cambridge Econometrics have estimated that Brexit has cost the UK £140 billion so far, and could see the nation £311bn worse off by the middle of the next decade. As all the UK parties support Brexit, no change of government will make any material difference. Even Efta membership would be better than the status quo of economic stagnation and the UK as the second most unequal country in the developed world yet Keir Starmer has said that he won't tax the super-rich more in order to redistribute to the poorest.

If Ireland, without Scotland’s vast energy resources can run up a budget surplus and set up a Future Ireland Fund, then why not an independent Scotland with the right economic policies?

Fraser Grant, Edinburgh.

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IAN Lakin writes that an independent Scotland would "not be allowed" to use pound sterling as its currency. Why not?

I have written before and you have kindly published that the Bank of England, whilst named "England", was nationalised in 1946 and so, in part, belongs to Scotland and any separation from the UK will likely result in negotiations to retrieve our share of any assets including but not limited to gold reserves and the suggestion that the Government can dictate to a part owner of something that it no longer belongs to them is quite outrageous. Not surprising, but still outrageous.

I am pretty sure that for the continued financial stability of the currency it will be an easy negotiation in our separation.

Ken Mackay, Glasgow.

Read more: Scotland being dragged into Red Sea war shows why indy is vital

Five simple answers

STEWART Falconer's amusing plea from the separatist handbook raised five questions for unionists (Letters, January 15).

Here are five answers, kept simple for ease of understanding.

1. At both of the last two elections - UK 2019 and Scotland in 2021 - the SNP and Greens obtained approximately 46% of the vote. That is a minority.

2. I have no issues with weapons on our shores. It's called national security, and the armed forces sustain thousands of jobs.

3. I and the majority of Scots are not content that there is a law-breaking, rule-breaking government - that is why we need rid of the SNP-Green government in Holyrood as soon as possible.

4. Maths is perhaps not Mr Falconer's forte. Sixty-two per cent of my fellow Scots were not "dragged out of the EU". Sixty-two per cent of a 67% turnout voted Remain in 2016 - that equates to 42% of them, again a minority.

5. I do not feel good about the issues highlighted in this point re food banks, rising costs and the like - and that is why we need rid of the SNP from Holyrood as it appears to ignore these matters and instead raises taxes to the highest level in the UK and prioritises spending instead on such vanity projects as independence campaigning, overseas faux embassies and the many failed Scottish Government investments. That list is indeed endless.

Steph Johnson, Glasgow.