NELSON Mandela famously said that history will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of our children and it serves as a sober reminder of the treatment of children at present both in the UK and internationally.
As an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech calling for an end to the heinous Tory two-child benefit cap failed, with 36 out of 37 Scottish Labour MPs voting against it, it is transparently clear that the new Labour government, led by the insubstantial Keir Starmer, does not have tackling child poverty as a priority in its new administration.
Yet the same government finds no issue with sanctioning a £45 million pay rise for the archaic and ridiculous King Charles, a massive increase in the sovereign grant which takes it to £132m by 2025.
The iniquitous amount of money lavished on the continuation of the ongoing royal pantomime is immoral and grossly unethical as families do their best to scrape by and many children suffer material deprivation.
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The whole indefensible charade would not be out of place in pre-revolutionary France or Russia and it’s a stark reminder of yet another blatant tumour at the heart of the UK state and government.
In the same instance, we are treated to the Prime Minister of Israel being invited to address Congress in order to bolster support for his country’s appalling genocide of the Palestinian people.
House speaker Mike Johnson’s invitation to a man who is no more than a war criminal is a reminder of the part Western nations like the US, the UK and Germany continue to play in the wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people – 39,000 killed by the IDF so far with at least 40% of that number being children under the age of 16.
The Masters of War from Western nations who supply the weaponry and expertise to Israel are trapped in their own narrative that the nation of Israel has the right of self-defence since the outrageous actions of Hamas last October but they conveniently forget the ongoing massacre of defenceless children and families as well as the treatment of the Palestinian people since 1948.
We are indeed in a dark and disturbing place when Palestinian childrens’ lives appear worth less than others and when a continuation of the outrageous and improvident funds handed to an anachronistic and unproductive royal family carries on unabated, impervious to child poverty and the consequences for families who find themselves trapped therein. Keir Hardie, among others, will be spinning in his grave.
Owen Kelly
Stirling
“WE’RE all doomed” – “I told you so”!
The words of our resident “clairvoyant”, Brian Lawson (Letters July 24), again appear to echo the fatalist premonitions of Private Frazer in Dad’s Army!
Of course one did not need special powers to assess that the SNP were headed to a big loss of MPs in the General Election, with potentially negative consequences for Scotland’s progress to independence, but some preferred to attempt to spark some positivity, and hopefully at least limit the “damage”, rather than simply join with many commentators in the UK mainstream media in pouring fuel on a deliberately-set bonfire of self-determination ambitions.
Apart from criticising the SNP leadership (as well as Jack Bell’s logical comment) and expressing the worldwide desire for more competent politicians, Mr Lawson again offers nothing constructive to the debate on taking those ambitions forward, in spite of his considerable time spent as a councillor.
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All political parties in government make mistakes, and the SNP as a party certainly have their shortcomings (many of which were seemingly exacerbated by the huge increase in membership following the 2014 referendum), but dwelling on mistakes made within the confines of a regime dictated by another country will not take the cause of independence forward.
Hopefully in the not-too-distant future. those that seemingly have become fixated on SNP deficiencies (personal gripes aside which should be aired within the party) will see beyond the perceived failings of others and focus on what they themselves can positively contribute to Scotland regaining its independence.
Stan Grodynski
Longniddry
THIS is not a rhetorical question: Is there any constitutional reason why the seven Labour MPs who actually care about child poverty and defied Keir Starmer should not join the SNP despite representing English constituencies?
They may also be happy with a leader who does not boast about pressing the nuclear button, fail to take a moral stance on Gaza, support free care for the elderly and treat their own MPs appallingly (ref Diane Abbott).
We can assure them Stephen Flynn is definitely not the son of a toolmaker…
Come on in – the water ain’t full of sewage.
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh
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