Surely everyone in the West should be supporting the UN-approved NATO effort to modernise and decriminalise Afghanistan?
Any enterprise so complex and on such a large scale will show up the imperfections in the concepts, planning and conduct of civil and military operations revealed in the 9100 leaked documents, although every civilian Afghan death or injury at NATO hands is shameful. (The Herald, Letters, July 29 and 30). The release of all this information is stirring up mischief between the West and Pakistan and undermining the brave Western service personnel who are risking their lives and limbs in a situation that they did not create and over which they have no individual control.
There is no such source of information about all the cruelty and atrocities committed on a far greater scale by the Taliban. The world is being shown only one side of the coin.
Support for NATO withdrawal, forced by Taliban determination and bravery, and increasingly demanded by Western public opinion, is accelerated by the release of this sensitive information. Wikileaks is helping the insurgents and drug barons to get away with it. Once the West pulls out, who will be able to stem the tide of heroin that will flood south Asia, eastern Asia, including China which has an increasing drug dependency problem, and the west?
If in the future China were to lose patience with Afghanistan’s drug exports and were to invade, no international media would be admitted to Afghanistan and anyone who is or who might remotely be a drug producer or trader would survive only a few weeks. China is quite capable of moving in some of its excess population from similar terrain and climate and turning Afghanistan into a well-disciplined Chinese province. The West would not be able to stop that and would huff and puff while silently grateful to see the end of the Afghan drugs trade.
Michael Hamilton, Kelso.
Unlike Chris Parton and Michael Hamilton I do not have any military experience. However, I can understand where Major Hamilton is coming from with regard to soldiering methods.
In Chris Parton’s case, he fails to make the distinction between outright war as in 1939-1945 and the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The latter conflicts appear to create a no-win situation for both the occupying forces and the innocent members of the indigenous populations with there being no clear outcome in sight.
Gordon Evans, Glasgow.
Public bodies cannot be short-sighted when making cuts
The report of the Independent Budget Review (IBR) confirms the need for new ways of delivering public services in Scotland (“50,000 public sector jobs in the firing line”, The Herald, July 30). Nowhere is this more vital than in relation to long-term conditions. At least 40% of Scotland’s population live with long-term conditions and prevalence is rising sharply. People with long-term conditions already face greater risk of poverty, debt and unemployment and are likely to be among those hardest hit by the worsening economic climate.
There is consensus that resources are most effective when focused on early intervention and indeed the IBR report recommends supporting such programmes across the public sector.
However, this is not currently reflected in spending decisions. Already there are examples of local authorities narrowing criteria for services so that people must reach crisis point before being eligible for support.
If people, and unpaid carers, are not properly supported, the costs to individuals and to the public purse will be far higher.
There is a risk that we cling to traditional approaches to meeting need and merely cut the level of support available. Instead we must use this opportunity to sharpen our focus and concentrate on achieving good quality outcomes for people. This will mean unlocking the capacity of individuals and communities along with far better joining up across policy and services.
The voluntary sector has a strong track record of developing and delivering this kind of joined-up, personalised support and its role is recognised as increasingly pivotal. On the ground the sector is already experiencing significant cuts and some services have been lost.
In pursuing savings we urge public bodies to avoid short-termism and make decisions informed by principles of early intervention, high quality outcomes and human rights.
Ian Welsh, Chief executive, Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland, Venlaw Building, 349 Bath Street, Glasgow.
I am very pleased that Crawford Beveridge’s Independent Budget Review recognises the crucial role of capital expenditure in creating jobs and driving economic growth. The report also highlights the significant pressure this area of spending will come under over the next five years, with the Scottish Government’s capital budget projected to fall by £1.6bn or 40% in real terms between 2009/10 and 2014/15.
In this context, I wholeheartedly support an urgent review of the status of Scottish Water with a view to freeing up capital for re-investment in other projects. This was something the Scottish Building Federation argued for strongly in its own submission to the review.
The report rightly highlights the significant cost of meeting emission reduction targets under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act -- as much as £8bn by 2020. Investment in greening the built environment would also help the construction sector in terms of sustaining jobs, skills and capacity. I also support enhancing the role of the Scottish Futures Trust. However, sadly missing from the report and urgently needed is an increased focus on setting up mechanisms to mobilise private capital to help sustain capital investment during this challenging period.
Michael Levack, Chief executive, Scottish Building Federation, Crichton House, 4 Crichton’s Close, Holyrood, Edinburgh.
As yesterday’s Independent Budget Review set out, the Scottish Government has tough decisions to make. Cuts are unavoidable but the most vulnerable in our society must be protected.
With 50,000 public sector jobs set to be slashed, plus 10,000 as a consequence of Westminster-controlled cuts, these additional job losses will mean thousands more families struggling to pay their rent or mortgages while local authority funded support services face a bleak future.
Add to this the 156,000 households already stuck on house waiting lists, and it is clear more affordable homes must be one of the key national priorities the Review supports as an ongoing area of capital investment.
As well as providing desperately needed homes for families, making house building a national priority will create construction jobs and ultimately help keep our struggling economy afloat.
Gordon MacRae, Head of communications and policy, Shelter Scotland, 6 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh.
It is impossible to understand why a mother would suffocate her newborn babies
“Nurse killed babies as she did not want more children” (The Herald, July 30) highlights a small but important part of ante-natal care, the psychological state of the pregnant woman. Even although this French nurse may or may not have been trained as a midwife, her nursing training should have made her aware of her psychological problems in relation to her pregnancies; perhaps little attention was paid to the major psychological impact a pregnancy has on a woman.
Was the initial bad experience she suffered due to problems related to the pregnancy itself, or was it due to a poor obstetrician/patient relationship?
Undoubtedly such a relationship has a major influence on the course of the pregnancy.
Perhaps one of the most important needs arising from this tragedy is for the obstetrician to home in on the patient’s psychological requirements during and after pregnancy. Still, it is hard to believe that her husband was unaware of any minor changes in her character during the eight pregnancies, for these changes nearly always occur.
It is also hard to understand why a nurse who had experienced a difficult pregnancy (apparently her third pregnancy) failed to use preventive measures, such as oral contraceptives, barrier methods of contraception, the “safe period” and total abstinence during her monthly fertile period, while her husband could have used condoms, coitus interruptus and as a last resort had a vasectomy or she could have had her Fallopian tubes tied.
There is another factor which may have had an influence and that is a religious belief, but that would certainly not have condoned destroying the newborn under any circumstances.
Whatever her reasons for these acts, it is now obvious that they may occur on a much wider front as shown by similar occurrences in South Korea and Germany. It is a tragic and sad path for any woman to take and they need proper care and attention.
Ian FM Saint-Yves, Isle of Arran.
US inquiry is a cover for a BP witch hunt
From the tone of his interviews it seems clear that Senator Robert Menendez has little interest in exposing all of the facts about the Lockerbie bombing in order to bring closure to relatives of the victims (“US to try again with Megrahi hearing in September”, The Herald, July 30). The inquiry is simply a witch hunt targeted on BP.
How many of the Libyans who took part in the oil contract negotiations with BP and UK representatives have been summoned to appear?
Perhaps it is as result of David Cameron’s attack on the Scottish Government at the US Presidential press conference that the senator is also failing to give the respect to our Government that we extend to his.
I hope that our London and Scottish governments will now officially make it crystal clear to the senator and his like-minded colleagues that there are no circumstances, places or times under which any of our ministers or officials would ever appear under summons before an inquiry instigated by a foreign government.
The Scottish Government has published all the documents that it has permission to release and has said that it is willing to provide more help and clarification should that be necessary. What more can it be expected to do?
Maggie Jamieson, West Lothian.
And end to bullfighting shows that people power is still alive and well in Catalonia
The ban on bullfighting by the Catalan Parliament is to be applauded and highlights the strength of people power in having important issues debated and voted on by Parliament (“Barbarism is banned at last”, The Herald, July 29). In Spain the Initial Legislative Popular requires a minimum of 50,000 signatures on a petition to have an issue debated. In the end 180,000 signatures were collected to ban bullfighting.
In the UK the Conservative-Lib Dem Coalition Agreement gives residents the power to instigate local referendums on any local issue and that any petition with 100,000 signatures will be eligible for formal debate in Parliament, with the petition with the most signatures enabling members of the public to table a bill to be voted in Parliament. In addition, the power of recall is to be introduced, allowing a by-election where an MP is found to have engaged in serious wrongdoing and having had a petition signed by 10% constituents.
While much of this is relevant on a UK level, we should be looking at similar powers to be introduced as a minimum for the Scottish Parliament, engaging the public more effectively in the political process.
Alex Orr, Edinburgh.
What a sad and misinformed person Ian Black must be if he gains enjoyment from watching the disgusting outdated barbaric spectacle of bullfighting.
He also says that he has run with the bulls at Pamplona and has been hooked ever since.
Here’s hoping he does get hooked -- by a bull’s horn.
Stuart Cameron, Angus.
The fight against cancer is not terminal
I was interested to read that Marie Curie Cancer Care intend to use the Pope’s forthcoming visit as a spring-board for their campaign (“Pope’s visit to boost cancer charity aid”, The Herald, July 29).
But I was disappointed to read the phrase “cancer and other terminal illnesses”.
This is a strange message to send out in an era when advances in medical treatment and associated medicines leave us better placed than ever to fight and win the battle against cancer.
Morale is a key element of this fight and comments of this type are less than helpful.
Dr James Cant, Dunblane.
School closures can be necessary
Michael Russell, Education Secretary, points out that it was the Labour Leader on East Ayrshire Council who moved the closure of Crossroads Primary School (Letters, July 29). So what?
My late father (1918-2004) started his education at Haining School (off the Largs/Kilbirnie Road) while my mother-in-law started at Den School (on the Dalry/Beith Road).
Both buildings were derelict when I went to Dalry Primary in 1956 and nobody under 60 would probably be able to say where they were.
It would be great if all the children could go to a local school but it isn’t feasible nowadays.
Council budgets are limited and we should be demanding value for money rather than pandering to the most articulate and vociferous.
John F Crawford, Lytham St Annes.
While it may be the wish of the SNP led administration to ring fence the NHS, there may be scope for considering the potential savings which could be made from reducing the number of health boards from 14 to perhaps around five without this having a direct effect on the delivery of patient care.
Malcolm Allan, Glasgow.
