THE revelation of the 2000 Covid deaths in private care homes has been labelled a crisis by some. But the crisis has been going on for a lot longer. Abuse, abandonment, neglect and unnecessary death are the shameful consequence of entrusting the dignity of thousands of vulnerable lives to the hands of profit.
The scandalous pay care workers receive is just the icing on this tiered cake of death and pound notes. The sexism of expecting those in a field dominated by female workers to not only accept but expect less than a living wage reeks with the audacity of a 1950s husband eyeing up his secretary.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon urges Scots to 'stick with it' over fears Covid will rise at Christmas
This not only affects those who are attempting to make careers as carers but also those for whom it is their life: unpaid carers. Family members who tirelessly work and sacrifice in order to provide their loved ones with the care they need for a grand total of naught. This outdated expectation that people in the care sector should be labouring purely out of love is so recklessly capitalised on by the state and private care homes for whom profit is beginning-middle-end, that not only is an unnecessary burden placed on carers but older, sick and disabled people are put at risk of inadequate care.
The Scottish Socialist Party proposes implementing a National Care Service with the intention of bringing care homes under a greater level of necessary scrutiny, to ensure not only the avoidance of abuse and neglect but also that the highest quality of life is being provided. The SSP also wishes to introduce a wage of £15/hour for all care workers aged 16 years and over as well as scrapping exploitative zero-hour contracts, finally affording care workers the respect and gratitude they deserve.
Sophie Amkhan
Scottish Socialist Party, Edinburgh
WITH the prospect of a Cod War on the horizon, its worth while remembering why the Icelandic Coast Guard prevailed at the expense of the Royal Navy.
Essentially it comes down to the fact that the Icelanders had a modicum of geopolitical self-confidence, something that in some quarters appears to be sadly lacking in the discourses around future Scottish membership of Nato.
From time to time one is left with the impression that some who should know better, when presented with the prospect of Nato “abandoning” Scotland, fall on their metaphorical knees and plead the Unionist line that Scotland is indeed too wee, to weak and too isolated.
READ MORE: To get a Brexit deal, the UK will have to abandon its sovereignty windmills
The last Cod War took place in the height of the actual Cold War. Iceland won by threatening Nato. The Icelandic offer to Nato, which of course really means the USA, was get the Royal Navy out of their waters or Nato could close Naval Keflavik Air Station.
The United States, through Whitehall, gave the Royal Navy its sailing orders. The rest is in the incontrovertible historical record.
The lesson for an independent Scotland is clear – we should take a leaf out of the Icelandic book. If Nato wants an independent Scotland to join, then an independent Scotland should consider it. But we should only consider Nato membership (as laid out in the SNP CND paper Road Map for Trident Removal) after the nuclear fleet gets its sailing orders to leave the Clyde permanently.
Bill Ramsay
Convener SNP CND
HOW far can this Prime Minister descend into infancy? The latest attempt to get the EU to surrender by calling out the Navy can only lead to actions like French fishermen blockading the ports along the French north coast. Does Johnson remember who won the last cod war? It wasn’t the UK.
One can only interpret all the stupid and embarrassing moves that have been made since Johnson became PM as being designed to keep him in No 10, ignoring the damage being done to the UK.
Mike Underwood
Linlithgow
JUST where has the Great in Great Britain gone? When the Empire still saw the world atlas predominantly resplendent in British pink, those born and bred to guide the fortunes of our glorious country and the wider world really knew how to deploy a gunboat.
Patrol the Channel in the hope of dissuading encroaching freebooters from sneaking over from the continent to plunder our fishing grounds? Fiddlesticks! I say park a gunboat outside Boulogne, Vigo and Bremerhaven and make sure the bounders know the futility of even starting their engines. Let them eat their cake, paella or Bratwurst if they wish, but Johnny Foreigner must know he has no right to our great British cod. That will see Britannia once again rule the waves, and the old, natural order restored.
Col B Limp, Rtd
(aka Ian Duff, Inverness)
I AM so reassured by David Duguid MP telling us that we might not be able to get the shape of pasta we want in the event of a No-Deal. Oh well, just have to be linguine instead of spaghetti.
Watson Crawford
Melrose
WAS Spike Milligan being prophetic when he sang “I’m walking backwards to Christmas, across The Irish Sea"? Feels quite prescient.
Richard Easson
Dornoch
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