Sir, – So another piece of political theatre comes to its denouement with the resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd.
Conservative Home Office scandals are as predictable as pantomimes and come with their own time-honoured tropes including: cruel heartless and usually racist Tories and their selfless Labour opponents championing the underdog. Behind the scenes the reality is rather different.
The underlying driver of the Home Office’s enduring difficulties is that the views of our political, media and judicial establishments on crime and immigration are fundamentally at odds with those of the majority of the British people, who want firm but fair control of immigration.
In the case of the Windrush scandal, we expect a speedy and fair resolution for people who have long integrated into British life, whether they are technically citizens or not.
The Conservatives periodically promise to get tough on immigration and produce measures to give the impression of doing so. However, as their hearts are not in it, they never apply their minds to obviating the legal and judicial impediments. For Labour, immigration is a licence to slander the Conservatives and protect their market share of ethnic minority voters. Their electoral self-interest is in perfect harmony with their ideological opposition to nations and national borders.
It is time all elements of the establishment grasped that control of immigration – the issue which determined the result of the Brexit referendum – really matters to the British public.
Otto Inglis.
Inveralmond Grove,
Edinburgh.
Happy parents are the key
Sir, – Ruth Davidson’s pregnancy has clearly so upset Richard Lucas (letters, April 30) that he even hits out at her for not going ahead with an intention to marry her same-sex partner, which, in the light of his past opposition to same-sex marriage, I find hilarious.
Indeed, now that parenting by same-sex couples is such a familiar and widely accepted arrangement that it hardly needs to be normalised by Ruth Davidson, I find that amusement, not irritation, is my main response to Mr Lucas’s unsubstantiated claims about negative outcomes.
He asks how one replies when young people express the wish to have been parented by a man and a woman.
I would reply that parents cannot be expected to grant every wish their children might express.
They can, however, be expected to do their best to make their children happy people, and that is most easily done when parents are happy together.
In Ruth Davidson’s case, marriage to a man would be far less likely to provide such an environment as the arrangement she has made, without which her child would probably never have been brought into existence at all.
Robert Canning.
Cal-na-Sith,
Stoneybrae,
Bridge of Earn.
High praise for health minister
Sir, – Your columnist Jenny Hjul attacks Scottish Health Minister Shona Robison for the failings of Tayside Health Board, which has been having financial problems in recent years, particularly since 2012, coincidentally around the time when UK Tory Government austerity was being ramped up.
Ms Robison is not in direct control of THB, but has stepped in to replace those who were in charge and, contrary to Ms Hjul’s accusations of “incompetence” and presiding over “crumbling health care”, she actually has a very impressive track record during her period in charge of the Scottish NHS.
For example, under Ms Robison’s capable stewardship, NHS Scotland has maintained very high performance levels, close to their rigorous targets, and patient satisfaction is at an all-time high.
In comparison with the NHS in England, Scotland has performed to a high standard: A&E performance is more than 10% better than England; kidney transplants are up 27% in Scotland, whereas in England they are at an eight-year low; bed blocking in Scotland fell by 10% in one year, whereas in England it rose.
There are countless other examples.
Ms Robison has been involved, more or less continuously, in the running of the Scottish health service since 2003, and the benefits of her long experience can be seen in the high quality service provided, as exampled above.
In contrast, the UK Health Minister Stephen Barclay, with no previous experience in health, has been in post for four months, transferred from the treasury, presumably to implement further cuts.
Les Mackay.
5 Carmichael Gardens,
Dundee.
Time for the truth to out
Sir, – In any modern democracy it was always taken for granted that those using public funds like the National Health Service and Police Scotland would be accountable for how the money we allocated them was spent.
How come, therefore, a member of the public, Sheku Bayoh, can die on a Scottish street three years ago this week when in the presence of police officers and yet we, the tax-payers, have been given no information regarding the manner of this man’s death?
It’s shocking for so many reasons, so none of us can be surprised that the family of the man is now taking legal action against the current police chief, not only to gain information but to be compensated for years of receiving only minimal information on the case.
Don’t hold your breath, but maybe at long last we might all find out what really did take place in Kirkcaldy in early May 2015.
Archibald A Lawrie.
5 Church Wynd,
Kingskettle.
Several sides to the story
Sir, – I read the half page article by Chris Packham regarding the raven cull in the north of Scotland.
There are three sides to the debate: the conservationist on all species, the antis who are against all interference with nature, and the farmer/shepherd who ultimately has to make a living.
I am most concerned for the lambs the ravens destroy.
They stalk young lambs in pairs, while one distracts the mother the other picks out the eyes and tongue while the lamb is still alive.
Forty years ago a lambing shepherd carried a small bore rifle in his vehicle and shot crows and ravens if they were in the lambing field.
The ravens are smart and soon moved to other areas.
I believe this was the correct method of keeping a predator under control but not exterminating the species.
Please let us hear all sides of the debate not just the biased ramblings of the Packham and Jim Crumley brigade.
George Sangster.
Woodlands,
Logie,
Montrose.
Don’t spoil an iconic view
Sir, – With regard to the new V&A building, I cannot underdstand why the people of Dundee are allowing an office block to be built in front of such an iconic structure.
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the new block and it is quite right that questions are being asked, although it appears to have come too late.
A building such as this must, like the famous Sydney Opera House, have unobstructed viewing.
The vista from both land and water is all important.
J Holt.
40 Lodge Walk,
Elie.
Solution has been missed
Sir, – John Phimister is correct on the shortage of doctors and that more need to be trained (letters, April 28).
The problem could be solved by the UK paying the tuition fees of UK medical students provided that they work in the NHS for a period of five years.
Once the five years are up the doctors may stay but if they leave there are new trainee doctors in the pipeline.
Scotland pays the fees for all Scottish university students, including trainee doctors, but failed to tie them to working in Scotland.
Worse still, the SNP refused to pay the fees for English students but perversely pays for EU students.
This is a situation that is set to continue for four years after Brexit.
The cost to Scotland of this will be £93 million based on 21,000 EU students studying in this country.
Surely this is money that would be better spent on the NHS.
The total cost of free education for EU students could have built new hospitals, employed more nurses, more police and even filled a few potholes.
Clark Cross.
138 Springfield Road,
Linlithgow.
