TWO words sprang to mind when I first heard of Cameron’s letter to our FM – brass neck.
As one of the many Tory ex-PMs in recent years, he should be aware that Scotland PAYS for the use of Foreign Office services and premises abroad since a sum, decided by Westminster, is one of the many deductions applied to the putative total proportion of our taxes returned to us annually as our budget. If Westminster therefore decides to withdraw our right to use these services, can we expect the billion or two thus deducted at source to be automatically refunded? Aye, right!
READ MORE: Labour address David Cameron's threat to shut Scottish offices abroad
And the “protocol of devolution”. Was anyone aware that this particular protocol existed, before Alister Jack and the rather misnamed Cleverly came up with the bright idea of insisting that a UK minion arranges and is present at all meetings of our elected leader and other elected ministers with their opposite numbers from abroad, to ensure they do not discuss anything to do with independence or of particular benefit to Scotland?
Does devolution now mean, by Westminster diktat, that Scotland’s elected government is allowed to do and say only what Westminster has approved?
They are making it absolutely clear that they are terrified of losing control of Scotland and of our valuable resources which they desperately need and which for decades we have, as with renewable energy, paid to supply.
Perhaps, though, we should not worry too much about this, as every restrictive imposition further alienates more Scots and brings independence nearer.
P Davidson
Falkirk
WHILE the UK abstains from backing a ceasefire in the attempted annihilation of Gaza’s people, via weapons supplied by the US and the UK, most countries around the world endorse the words of Burns that some peoples’ lives are not more important than the lives of others.
While Westminster seeks ways to expel some of the world’s most desperate refugees to an unsafe far-off country, even if they have legitimate reasons for staying in the UK, Holyrood struggles to find ways to counter the forced reduction in immigration following an unwanted and catastrophic Brexit.
READ MORE: PMQs: Rishi Sunak challenged as UK abstains on UN Gaza vote
While the “partnership of equals” boasted by Prime Minister Cameron has proven to be a duplicitous illusion, the Sewell Convention (“the Parliament of the United Kingdom will not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the consent of the Scottish Parliament”) confirmed in the 2016 Scotland Act has now effectively been binned with the adoption of the UK Internal Market Act 2020 and the initiation of Section 35 orders by Scotland’s de facto governor general.
While UK Government ministers still strut the world stage in the manner of previous colonial masters, our Scottish ministers are now effectively told they cannot visit a public toilet while abroad without a Foreign & Commonwealth Office official present in case they happen to accidentally meet a foreign dignitary (even if a formal meeting with that dignitary has already been advised well in advance).
While the UK descends further into the black hole of authoritarian, self-serving and heartless depravity, encouraged by both the UK Tory and the UK Labour parties, will those wishing a different future for Scotland’s children finally be joined by thoughtful persons whose genuine egalitarian aspirations have one by one been incinerated on the altar of compassionless personal greed?
Stan Grodynski
Longniddry, East Lothian
HAVING once again endured a rerouted journey home from London on the poorly maintained, privatised English rail service, I was glad to see that protocol is being maintained in the shape of “Lord” Cameron’s indignant missive to Angus Robertson regarding the First Minister’s meeting with Turkish President Erdogan.
What does Cameron think might have been discussed without the presence of an FCO minion? Perhaps the First Minister told him the majority of Scots favour a permanent ceasefire in Gaza –something that wouldn’t be difficult to find out by talking to Turkish diplomats based in London.
READ MORE: 'Absolutely no': Israeli ambassador to UK denies Palestinians a right to a state
Or heaven forbid is it that two Muslim politicians met? I only ask this because I remember attending an Eid reception at the US Ambassador’s residence in Regent’s Park in 2011 or 2012 where officials told me that the US Ambassador Louis Susman, an Obama appointee who happened to be Jewish, was doing more outreach to Muslim groups around Britain than the British government was.
That government was led by David Cameron.
Marjorie Ellis Thompson
Edinburgh
NICK Rodger’s excellent article on the latest big-name defection to LIV Golf (Dec 12) highlighted the greed shown by those involved.
A few days earlier we read of some “sportsman” in the US signing up to a reported $7 million deal.
Although this certainly is greed on a scale hardly credible, as ever in our so-called democracies these deals take place in a financial world dominated by immensely wealthy individuals and corporations.
Who knows if these power brokers have any interest in sport – but they do have an interest in ensuring that the public somehow accept these deals as “normal”, and therefore remain supine in the face of staggering global inequality.
Look at the money that professional golfers, footballers etc are handed (nobody can “earn” these sums) then consider the living wage here. Politicians and establishment figures use “sport”, with its connotations of endeavour and commitment, as yet another litmus test of public gullibility. They’ve been at it for years and are smart people.
They know exactly how far they can push us. In the case of the UK in general, that is a very long way indeed.
Jim Butchart
via email
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