No such right exists in Scotland. In 1707, the Scottish Parliament was bribed and bullied into accepting section 26 of the proposed Act, which made no mention of the right of the Scottish people to vote to repeal the Act. So my question is: why should people in one part of the UK be denied the constitutional rights afforded to another part of the UK?
Eric Melvin Edinburgh.
Read more: It is Labor’s duty to represent the centrists
Where is the real swamp?
I have already said that Michael Matheson should have resigned over the iPad bill, but I was surprised by the abuse directed at him on the Letters page (February 10th).
Alan Thompson claims the Scottish Government has descended into sleaze and secrecy and it is time to close Holyrood and “drain the swamp”. Let us remember that Westminster is a real “swamp” full of decades of vulgarity, corruption and sexual misconduct (examples from expenses scandals to PFI procurement are available).
“Imagine… if this riot was Conservative…” Thompson wrote. Well, because the public spent £245,000 on lawyers for Boris Johnson’s Partygate investigation. He resigned from Congress before being suspended, so a lawyer was never used. Did the millionaire pay for it? When Liz Truss was Foreign Secretary, it cost taxpayers £500,000 to fly to Australia on a private plane rather than using a scheduled airline. When she found out, she hadn’t paid a penny for this.
These two former prime ministers were entitled to a tax-funded “subsidy” when they first took office, and thereafter received large sums of public funds annually (for the rest of their lives, including Mr. Truss, who was in office for just 44 days). There were rights, but they were both embarrassing and expensive failures in government. There is even talk that Mr Sunak could revive Mr Johnson’s political career.
Mr Thompson can own land in Westminster, but I will choose the Scottish Borough.
GR weir, Ochil tree.
the biggest failure of all
Reading Brian Wilson’s latest letter (“Sutherland is becoming a desert thanks to environmental elites”, Herald, February 10), his proposal for Labor to be elected to Westminster I can’t help but raise my voice (or maybe I’m choking). People here should vote Labor for Holyrood Island. This will clearly ensure the kind of integrated thinking in government that we allegedly had in the past.
I’m sorry, but I remember the leader of the Scottish Labor Party stepping down from office and telling those who would listen that Scottish Labor was merely being treated as a branch by his colleagues in Westminster. It seems there is. The recent clash between Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer over the Gaza ceasefire suggests that nothing has changed. The obsession with maintaining power at the center will continue to exist.
But what really got me was his rant about the SNP procurement fiasco. Wasn’t Mr Wilson the Minister in the Labor government responsible for building the new Scottish Parliament House, which cost between £74 million and £817 million (in today’s prices)? In fact, I think it will cover the excess expenditure on ferries. Furthermore, wasn’t it Donald Dewar who persuaded the committee to award the design contract to a Spanish architect rather than using a Scottish architect, claiming to have Scottish interests at heart? That’s about it.
If Mr Wilson wants party credibility, who are the Labor ministers responsible for the biggest failure in Scottish procurement history and, more importantly, how many of them resigned as a result? You may be able to fill in the blanks by reminding yourself of the
robert menzies Falkirk.
unhealthy attitude
Humza Yousaf’s refusal to give Kate Forbes a ministerial post and his near-total denial of Michael Matheson’s innocence shows that no matter what happens, he will punish his perceived enemies and support his allies. It betrays determination, and the attitude does not suggest the ability to make balanced judgments.
Duncan McIntyre Greenock.
Read more: Shameless Matheson seriously injures Yousaf
Labor’s nasty dog whistle
Mark McJogan (“Sunak’s trans comments epitomize Tory tactics”, Herald, February 10) was right to criticize Rishi Sunak on trans issues, but last Wednesday’s PMQs This was once again an expression of politics on the ground.
Mr Sunak’s attack on Sir Keir Starmer is about policy reversals, differences of opinion within the frontbench team – some hidden, some overt – and the Labor government. The idea was that something is legitimate. Many comrades are holding on by their nails. Sir Keir deliberately and mischievously sold us puppies during the election. Some might say he lied.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sunak crossed a line that should not be crossed. Our politicians need to grow up and act professionally when discussing transgender issues. The life of a beautiful young woman, Brianna Gee, was lost due to the actions of a murderer whom Judge Yip described as transphobic, sadistic, and a man who did no ifs or buts. This should not be a political issue; it is a human rights issue. Trans women’s rights are equal to the rights of all women, and in turn, are equal to basic human rights.
Mr. Sunak is not alone. A poorly worded and poorly motivated motion will be debated at Scottish Labor’s annual conference this weekend. The bill was passed by the Scottish Labor and Women’s Congress. Its text and interpretation are published on the Scottish Labor Women’s Declaration webpage, where LGBT+ (T is for trans) activists fighting for the rights of all women are accused of engaging in oppression. That’s their distorted view/I wonder what Judge Yip thinks of it.
The motion pitches party members against Labor Party MSPs, who overwhelmingly support self-recognition. Its call for “women’s gender-based rights” sounds innocuous enough. it’s not. This is a terrible dog whistle against trans rights aimed at making trans women’s lives worse.
Thankfully, Labour, which represents more than 550,000 women members across Scotland, has no such problems. They should have voted against it, but they abstained. At the STUC meeting in May 2023, we held up the colors of the rainbow in support of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, and General Secretary Roz Feuer said: “The trade union movement stands for equality, combats injustice and ends all forms of discrimination and harassment. STUC supports the ambition to eradicate transphobia. We make no apologies for STUC’s clear support for the Reform (Scotland) Bill and our solidarity with the trans community.”
Will it take another merciless murder to bring people back to their senses? Although it may be offensive to some, women can obtain gender recognition certificates without vaginoplasty or other invasive surgeries, and trans men can retain their reproductive organs and have children.
Douglas McBean Edinburgh.
we must stand up for gaza
Early in my life, Hitler committed ethnic cleansing in an attempt to exterminate the Jews of Germany and Britain, and the Allies fought to defeat Hitler and then led a plan to give the Jews their own state. was doing.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now pushing Palestinians out of both Gaza and the West Bank by carrying out his avowed goal of occupying what he considers “all the land that God gave to the Jewish people.” , a very clear practice of ethnic cleansing. But this time, our Westminster colonial masters and their allies, the United States, are supporting and arming the invaders, refusing calls for an end to collective punishment, cutting off aid, and supporting ethnic cleansing. Wouldn’t that make them complicit in this crime against humanity?
This certainly goes far beyond the level of hypocrisy and double standards we have come to expect. It is time for our Scottish Government to stand up and be counted, to publicly declare that this is not in the name of the Scottish people, and to join forces with the countries that will take Israel to the ICJ for war crimes.
P. Davidson Falkirk.