Saturday, 26 December 2009

As the SNP, and Plaid Cymru for Wales, are significant bona-fide participants at Westminster, they are entitled to take part in the televised debates, indeed, they are duty-bound to have a presence to put forward the views of the countries they represent, which can be contrary to the Unionist parties’ views about Scotland and Wales, and they deserve to be heard also by the English.

We cannot anticipate the result of the forthcoming General Election, but the parties of the establishment have been so sullied by the expenses row that they cannot guarantee normal traditional support.

Furthermore, were there to be a hung parliament, with the nationalist parties holding the balance of power, then they could determine the policies that were enactable without regard to what is proposed in the TV debates.

The Unionist parties just do not seem to get it. We are entitled to ask about who were involved, and what factors were considered in the negotiations that decided to exclude the nationalist

parties – or did they simply forget about their existence?

But no-one should be surprised if, in Scotland, support for the SNP, if not for independence itself, soars on account of this injustice. Matters of this ­constitutional importance should not be decided by the political parties or by politicians, but by experts who are concerned only with natural justice.

Douglas R Mayer, Currie.

Ten years with not one but two genius Prime Ministers saw a Scotland with so-called devolved powers over all of which Westminster has ultimate authority, retaining the power to legislate on Scottish devolved matters although it agreed not to do so without the consent of the Scottish Parliament, an agreement that can be revoked under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998, ss 28(7) and 35(1).

The Iraq war, of doubtful legality, was opposed in the streets by millions. British forces were sent to Afghanistan, initially for three years’ reconstruction “without a shot being fired”. For much of the time they were without an agreed mission and strategy, dangerously ill-equipped and sustaining heavy casualties from day one.

Public debt spiralled as Treasury-unsupervised regulation failed in a way not experienced by properly run countries; 125% house mortgages granted at the top of the house price boom presaged a crash that was clearly seen as unavoidable by the man in the street; gold reserves were sold at a historically low price.

The UK population was projected to increase by 4.3 million by 2018 and to reach 71.6 million by 2033, making the current unfunded programme to build only two million new homes by 2016 look like a Goon Show episode.

Two-thirds of MPs will be leaving the Commons. The self-confessed Leader of the Western World will soon require voting for membership of the House of Lords, the one parliamentary body with experienced appointed members; only they are capable and trusted to revise hot-potch draft legislation slung along the corridor by the appropriately named Commons – a Commons that lacks parliamentary time because of its long recesses; a Commons that lacks probity, lacks the trust and lacks the respect of the people.

Select Committees, the Arbuthnott Commission, the Justice Committee, the Power Commission, the Calman Commission, the Kelly Report and the Scottish Constitution Commission produced rolls of sticking plaster to try to stop the body politic falling apart. The recent Scottish Constitution Commission proposed a Joint Committee of the Westminster and Scottish parliaments to take control of unified financial and defence management; it mentioned the Navy and the Army but bizarrely forgot about the RAF.

The year 2010 should start with the appointment of a Fiddler Royale to play the violin while our country burns.

Michael Hamilton, Kelso.

The real threat of care budget cuts

Your editorial highlights the concern regarding the provision of integrated healthcare (“Tragedies provide lessons for providers of services: Ombudsman’s report highlights fateful shortcomings”, The Herald, December 24).

Some years ago I attended planning meetings regarding the Integrated Care Pathway for mental-health-services patients. The concept of local authorities, the NHS and agencies working together to provide the care was exciting, dynamic and innovative. That vision is now under serious threat as budget cuts within all the organisations involved see not just the care diminish but the quality of that care devalued, as cheaper options involve mental-health charities and organisations forced to withdraw or reduce services.

The original vision of an integrated care pathway for the mentally ill may be under threat but it is nothing compared to the stark and potentially fatal threat that faces those for whom it was designed to care.

Jean Johnston, The Cairn Team, Brincliffe, West Dhuhill Drive, Helensburgh.

If we want to make student loans more efficient, technology offers the answer

It is unfortunate for the Student Loans Company (SLC) and its customers that there have been delays in payments to tens of thousands of students (“Top officials at Student Loans Company resign after fiasco”, The Herald, December 23). The opportunity should be taken to improve the efficiency and performance of the SLC.

There is a simple and proven solution: prepaid cards. These are used for disbursing government payments worldwide in countries including the United States, Italy and Poland.

Paying the student loan onto a prepaid card can assist in more effective and efficient service delivery. The card can be topped up electronically from the SLC offices at regular intervals over the duration of a student’s degree course. There is also greater transparency, auditability and security.

Becta, the Westminster Government agency that promotes the use of technology in learning, has recently implemented a major prepaid programme disbursing £300m to disadvantaged youngsters while hitting targets in a tight timeframe from the start of the programme. Prepaid cards are 35% more efficient as a payment mechanism than cheque payment and other payment methods.

The opportunity should be taken by the new management team to take forward the SLC as a leading international e-payments and smart payments organisation whilst exceeding Government efficiency targets.

Tom Wilson, Appropriate Procurement and e-payments, 29 Holmwood Park, Crossford.

Airport subsidies

A simple question for Amanda ­McMillan: how much was the cancelled Glasgow Airport Rail Link to cost (“Sky’s the limit for Glasgow Airport”, The Herald, December 24)? I think it was around £395m. Rather a lot of public subsidy there, I’d say.

Lots of rail journeys to Glasgow Prestwick Airport could take place with such an unfair subsidy.

Brian H Donohoe MP, Labour MP, Central Ayrshire, 17 Townhead, Irvine.

The practicalities of having a disability

While I sympathize with the lady who complained about a school trip that her daughter could not have gone on because of her disability, I do not agree with the decision to cancel the whole trip for all the other children (“Parents’ fury after school trip axed because of mother’s legal threat”, The Herald, December 24).

While it is difficult not to be able always to do things other people do, it is unfair to penalise everyone else. It is important that people have a better understanding of people with disabilities and, indeed, of the law in disability discrimination legislation. However, causing possible resentment towards disabled people will not help anyone.

While people have been very helpful to me, almost without exception, since I became disabled some years ago, there is still some way to go with regard to the attitude of business and public services.

A large part of being disabled is learning what you can do and not about what you can’t do.

Donald C Fergusson, Ross-Shire.

Listen to the experts on alcohol pricing

I am delighted to learn that 17 directors of public health authorities in Scotland have written a letter to MSPs of all parties, calling on them to support the proposals for minimum pricing of alcohol (“Health chiefs back minimum alcohol pricing”, The Herald, December 24).

I hope and trust that the members of the three opposition parties who have voted against this bill will take notice of the advice of these experts. Their negative attitude so far is hard to understand and goes against almost all medical, police and social care advice.

The minimum-pricing scheme is aimed primarily at supermarket chains which continue to sell strong alcoholic drinks at or below cost as a marketing exercise, without any concern for the social consequences.

Ending this practice will not cure all of Scotland’s problems with heavy binge drinking, particularly by the younger generation, but it is an important step in tackling the national scourge of alcohol abuse and its resultant health problems.

Minimum pricing, if set at the correct level, will have little effect on the sale of spirits and the Scotch Whisky Association’s concern is unfounded, while the Scottish licensed trade may actually benefit by a reduction in the volume of alcohol consumed other than in public houses.

Minimum pricing has attracted strong support from those at the sharp end who have to deal with the effects of alcohol abuse. If the three opposition parties have the best interests of Scotland at heart, they should pay attention to the advice of the health trust directors and give this non-party political bill their wholehearted support. In doing so they will not lose face but, instead, will gain public support and gratitude for making the right decision for the right reasons.

Iain A D Mann, Glasgow.

An infra-red camera to go on the moon

I would agree that the role of CO2 in the atmosphere is ill-understood (Letters, December 24).

Carbon dioxide is one of the great recycling success stories of our planet. Each year, fauna and flora consume each other’s waste gas products, in excess of the equivalent of 200 billion tons of CO2. Carbon dioxide, along with oxygen and nitrogen, is a vital atmospheric gas without which all life would cease. Plants do not get the best deal, for atmospheric CO2 is barely rich enough, which is why horticulturists add it to their greenhouse air.

Chris Anderson’s other point is that we are not sure of the pre-industrial- revolution temperature. I would add that we are not sure of the present mean surface global temperature – hardly surprising, since our estimate is made by attempting to average that in different places, tropics, temperate and polar regions, mountain and plain, winter and summer, day and night, land and sea.

Had we an infra-red camera that could see a terrestrial hemisphere, we would in a snapshot get the infra-red radiation corresponding to the mean surface temperature. Of course, it would still need calibration because we are unsure of the true mean temperature, which is why we get wild estimates of global warming varying by as much as 6°C. Such equivocation does not inspire confidence in me but politicians seem to accept it.

Even without calibration, the rate of increase or decrease would cease to be a matter of guesswork. Such a camera would not be cheap, for it would have to be placed far out in space. The moon would be a suitable platform.

It is nonsense to cite seasonal or even annual changes in temperature over a decade or so as evidence of long-term global warming. The scientific answer is not to rush to conclusions – but those whose extraordinary vision enables them to see the imminence of the end of the world will seek precipitate action.

Chris Parton, Uddingston.