Scotsman Letters: Does no one in government ever take a breath and think?

They have blown £766,498 in legal costs after losing the gender case – which every legal eagle and their dogs had forecast – as well as the perfectly proper compensation to the group involved, For Women Scotland.

Does no-one in that party ever stop and hesitate and say, “No, hang on, this is not right, not with taxpayers’ money''? If they do, they are certainly ignored. And the carrot of a fantasy break-up of the UK keeps enough of their ultra-gullible punters on board; the splurging of our cash will continue until that is settled.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Wrong focus

Emma Cooper’s defence of Liam McArthur’s so-called Assisted Dying Bill (Perspective, 12 February) is blind to the obvious dangers of the Bill. Legalising lethal medication, months or even years in advance of a natural death occurring, is not a compassionate act, and flies in the face of societal efforts to reduce suicide.

It is unquestionably the case that our most vulnerable and isolated fellow Scots, on hearing they have a terminal diagnosis (itself a hugely broad category), may opt to end their lives prematurely due to a lack of family support or for fear that they would be a burden on others.

No Scot should be made to feel that they would be better off dead, but that is the message this Bill sends. Instead, our MSPs should be focusing efforts on increasing the number of specialist palliative care doctors in every health board area, which would be a far more effective means of supporting people nearing the end of life.

Michael Veitch, Scotland Policy Officer, CARE, Glasgow

Just wait

You have to feel sorry for Anas Sarwar. He took the obvious route to distance Scottish Labour from the horror story coming out of Westminster as Sir Keir Starmer tries to wriggle out of the mess orchestrated by his own incompetence.

However, at present the story being spun is that Labour heavyweights are standing firm behind Sir Keir, ensuring that for the present he remains in post, leaving Anas looking rather out on the proverbial limb.

However, the saying "a week is a long time in politics” has to be borne in mind, and before the knives come out for the Scottish Labour leader we should be aware that he may well be on the right side of the story in the longer term.

Not, I hasten to add, that this will help in the forthcoming Scottish elections as the ongoing Peter Mandelson mess continues to reverberate in the media, which will surely colour voters’ mind when voting, and unfortunately for Mr Sarwar this will not be good for Scottish Labour.

Tony Lewis, Coylton, Ayrshire

Good news

Despite the depute chair of Peterhead Community Council being former Fife Labour MSP Jayne Baxter, the Scottish Labour Party is pretty anonymous in this area. So whether Sir Keir Starmer resigns or not and whether Anas Sarwar was right to demand he resigned does not really make headline news.

The main question is when, or indeed if, it will stop raining and depressing folk, and the sun will make an appearance.

Aberdeen FC have already had a league match and cup match postponed, and Wednesday night’s visit Dundee United FC also fell victim to the weather. At least if they can progress from the cup tie, the next tie is in Dunfermline, a former Labour heartland, and surely to goodness things are not quite as rainy there, are they?

In a spot of good news it seems, regardless of the weather or Labour Party fallout, Heart of Midlothian FC are still at the summit of the Scottish Premiership. That is surely good news, even for supporters of Hibernian FC, to see a club that is not the Old Firm at the top of Scottish Premiership, is it not?

Peter Ovenstone, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire

Economic failure

Labour was elected in July 2024 with an overriding promise to accelerate UK economic growth. The record for its first full calendar year is now available, and it does not make for great reading. In Quarter 1 of 2025, economic growth was 0.7 per cent; in Q2, 0.2 per cent; in Q3, 0.1 per cent; and in Q4, the same.

This hardly demonstrates accelerated economic growth, with the increased tax burden on businesses firing a broadside into the economy. Key sectors of the UK economy are stagnating, with construction, identified as a key driver of growth, in its worst state for over four years.

Additionally, GDP per capita fell for the second quarter in a row, so on this basis we’re effectively in a GDP per capita recession.

The Labour government’s desire to deliver economic growth has failed miserably, strangled by the increased regulatory and tax burden on businesses, key drivers of this growth.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

Indefensible cut?

One item that never gets addressed prior to the May election is the Westminster plan to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. That implies an £80 billion cut to Westminster budgets and hence an £8bn reduction In the Scottish block grant.

Why are there no indications from politicians campaigning for a seat at Holyrood as to how large a cut will be made to the NHS/Social; Welfare budget to meet the reduction in income?

Ian Moir, Dumfries & Galloway

In agreement

Brian Forsyth (Letters, 11 February) has responded to my letter of 7 February regarding the story on Fife Flyers and the Pride jerseys. He makes as assumption that I subscribe to gender identity ideology, which I do not.

My position on gender identity ideology, as it is currently being promoted, is that it is both homophobic and misogynistic. My statement that “some personal beliefs are more equal than others” was entirely aimed at the overreach of gender identity ideology which has been pervasively and dogmatically spread into our institutions, to the detriment of women and critics in the LGB community. My understanding is that some LGB groups have been excluded from some Pride events because of their lack of adherence to said ideology.

So to reassure Mr Forsyth, I do have concerns for same sex-attracted people, especially those who are under pressure to accept relationships with trans-identifying people of the opposite sex. Sex is real, biology is real, if it is not then same-sex attraction doesn’t exist and sexism can’t be defined.

Rona McCall, Gairloch, Highland

A clear thanks

Thank you, Scotsman, for Glenn Carter’s great article “How speech therapy can help thousands of school children manage emotions, make friends and learn” (3 February) as it strongly conveyed the importance of early speech therapy for children. Also, it was a strong voice for the need for more speech and language therapists. The lives of children who have the various speech problems could be so much better if there were more speech therapy and speech therapists available for them at an early age, which the article strongly argued for.

The most common speech issue facing children is stammering, which affects 5 per cent of children at some point during their development. The public should know there are helpful, free resources available from STAMMA, formerly the British Stammering Association, (www.STAMMA.org).

The article was totally accurate in calling for more funding for speech therapy for schoolchildren. I hope that the article was read by politicians and government officials.

Ana Park, London

Road block

Dr Gordon Scott (Letters, 12 February) uses a straight equation of cost per life saved on dualling the A9 against the cost per life of the road money being spent on the care services to relieve the pressure on A&E. It’s very much an oversimplification as dualling of the A9 brings many economic benefits which can translate into a stronger economy, more jobs and the tax revenue that comes with them. In any case, the NHS alone already consumes significant amounts of our hard-earned money, costing about £3,500 per person per year, making up almost 40 per cent of all Scottish government spending. Despite the cash thrown at it, the NHS delivers less output than was the case before Covid, undoing the hard work of those actually “doing the job”.

According to the SNP, we have more doctors and more nurses, and more money being spent on the NHS than ever before. It would be really interesting to hear how Dr Scott thinks the NHS and care services could make better use of the money they have, rather than a never-ending plea for more cash. As 50 per cent of the NHS budget goes on staff costs, and the employer pension contribution is roughly one quarter of that, perhaps reducing the pension contributions for high-earners would be a good place to start?

Some areas of the NHS perform exceptionally well, others less so. I have a hip problem, and been told that it will be up to 73 weeks before I see a consultant. That is completely unacceptable and at my age, I might be one of those cleansed from the waiting list by popping my clogs before then. However, that reduction in waiting lists would then be deemed a success by those in power. Not by me, it wouldn’t

Brian Barbour, Haddington, East Lothian

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