Government deserves criticism but so too does Scottish Labour

The Scottish Government must impose a wealth tax on the super-rich! As well as raising much-needed revenue for local services, this is the type of bold and radical measure which will put Labour on the back foot and give the SNP a real chance of retaining power in 2026.

Roz is correct to criticise John Swinney and Shona Robison for their timidity on this issue, but why is she not slating Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie for their silence as Labour deliver devastating Tory austerity despite their promises to the contrary? Why is she not holding them to account?

The staggering hypocrisy of the Scottish Labour leadership since the election fully justifies their former colleague Neil Findlay’s description of them in his book Hope & Despair as a “bunch of snakes”!

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The context for his comment was that apparently there was a meeting between Jackie Baillie, Ian Murray, Angela Rayner, Lord Willie Haughey and other wealthy donors who said they would not donate to Scottish Labour unless Richard Leonard was replaced by Anas Sarwar.

Richard was then called by Starmer, who asked him to stand down. Sarwar and his supporters never accepted his defeat in the leadership contest and did everything to make sure Richard failed. Like Corbyn, a decent, honourable man has been deposed by a bunch of snakes.

Alan Woodcock

Dundee

I AM getting really tired reading the reactionary and negative letters regarding the SNP conference. I had friends attend it and their take was upbeat and positive. The only downside was not having Nicola Sturgeon there as leader.

The elderly lost the referendum for us and the reactionary right-wingers who voted Alba or supported the negativity surrounding the transgender policy contributed to us losing the General Election.

Added to that was the sad, shocking demise of Nicola Sturgeon. She led us into so many successful elections and we lost the one she didn’t lead. Let us be honest and admit it! We underestimate the following she had, particularly among the younger electorate. They will be the independence generation, so let’s have more progressive policies, not fewer.

PS it would be interesting if those writing letters gave their ages as well as their names and residence areas. Why not?

Kate Reid (aged 78)

Edinburgh

LYING awake in early hours the stark truth crossed my mind – united we rise, divided we fall. Those allegedly seeking independence who are quick and vociferous to disparage others in the movement might well be divisive individuals seeking failure of the independence movement.

In fact even more so than the openly declared supporters of Unionist parties.

Roddy MacPherson in Tuesday’s edition raised the prospect that there might well be fifth columnists within the movement. I do not doubt he is correct!

Recent years have seen a steady fall in newspaper readership alongside a rapid rise in social media use and influence. It would surely therefore be logical to find those same devious individuals lurking and adding their influence at every opportunity on social media pages.

Tom Gray

Braco

TONY Blair took office just eight years after Thatcher’s water privatisation. Labour then had nearly two decades to reverse this most heinous and damaging of political treacheries.

But Blair was rather busy taking us into an illegal invasion in the Middle East. Not to mention opening doors to the private sector in both the NHS and schools infrastructure.

Selling off arguably our most vital natural resource into the hands of those only interested in profit was only ever going to have the outcome we see (smell) clearly today.

And here we are, just a few short weeks after Labour was eased into their very large majority by a despised, dysfunctional Tory Party, and Labour’s idea for sorting out the horrors of mass waterway despoilment in England and Wales is to be “tough on bonuses of water bosses”.

Let’s be clear. The Tories, whose high priestess of privatisation gave away this resource for profit, already had wrist-slapping over bonuses in the pipeline – no pun intended.

So, it’s no change on keeping children in poverty with the two-child benefit cap. It’s no change on the failed approach to Gaza or any attempt to mend the UK’s horribly damaged international reputation.

It’s no change on curbing bankers’ bonuses and – in reality – it’s no change on dealing with England and Wales’s devastating and embarrassing water crisis.

Regarding muttered background noise about potential jail time for the profiteers – we’ll believe it when we see it. But mainly – and pun intended here – just more shaping the turd.

Amanda Baker

Edinburgh

SOME Unionists, when attacking the stated aim of independence supporters, often like to use the emotive term “separation” rather than “independence”.

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However, they never tell us where they would find the money to pay the enormous cost of cutting a deep, wide channel across Britain from the Solway Firth to the North Sea – the only way that Scotland could be physically “separated” from the rest of Britain.

What large numbers of Scots wish to see is economic and political “independence” from the rest of Britain – by no means the same as “separation”. They wish to remain on good terms with their closest neighbours but to have the freedom to organise their own lives in their own way without this being controlled by someone else.

Peter Swain

Dunbar

APROPOS of P Davidson of Falkirk’s letter concerning the tale of the cold wee boy and his jaikit, I was reminded of a story an elderly retired schoolteacher which an aunt of mine used to tell.

Wee Jimmy had written a story for his teacher containing the line: “Ah wish ah hudny goed.”. The teacher’s response was: “Poor grammar, Jimmy! What should it be?” After some consideration, Jimmy’s resourceful reply was, “Ah wish tae goad ah hudny went!”

Chris Foster

Kelso