What can you do to reverse the Doomsday Clock?

Two years ago, the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was opened for ratification. This will join other international treaties protecting our planet. But the Doomsday Clock, set by a group of eminent scientists, now stands closer than ever at two minutes to apocalypse. The combined threats of nuclear Armageddon and climate change are the reasons given for this alarming warning.

So what can be done?

1: The nine nuclear powers must renounce their weapons. The entire Southern Hemisphere, except for Australia which prioritises trade with the US, backed the framing of the TPNW. South Africa gave up its nuclear arms and, as far as I know, none of the nuclear free south is living in fear of “the bomb”.

We are a sitting target in Scotland for whoever panics first. We must either become independent from Westminster or convince them of the danger and outdated concept of these weapons and get them to ratify this vital new TPNW.

2: When the nuclear-armed countries renounce their weapons they can stop bankrupting themselves and instead spend these billions on combatting climate change. A win-win policy.

The advanced scientific and engineering talents of those designing atomic weapons could be turned to methods of storing and developing renewable energy, with no loss of jobs. In the UK, just imagine how our lives could be transformed by the £206 billion being spent to renew our nuclear arsenal, and the fortunes spent annually to store nuclear submarines until a method can found to dispose of them safely.

Our regular armed forces could use their skills to give emergency assistance for areas affected by fire, flood, tsunamis, war etc. Humanitarian actions could keep the UK as an important player in the world rather than harking back to old and not very pleasant days of glory.

3: Everyone can do something, however small, to stop the destruction of our environment. This planet and all its parts are worth saving. So what can you do to help? I hope to see lots of positive suggestions in this paper on July 14. “Great oaks from little acorns grow.”

Sandra Phelps

Glasgow

I found Rev Dr John Cameron’s views (Letters, June 30) most confusing. He seems to find it unfortunate that “human beings are swayed by deep-seated belief rather than hard evidence”. This is an odd view for a minister of religion to hold, since surely that sentence is a pretty good definition of religious faith.

Let me assure him Feynman’s definition of science still holds (“A method for finding things out ... based on the principle that observation is the judge of whether something is so or not”). Why he believes otherwise is unclear, except he is clearly in denial about anthropogenic global warming, and goes so far as to state, or at least imply, that his “scientific colleagues” agree with him. Whoever these colleagues may be, they are in a very small minority.

Hard evidence abounds for global warming – what Dr Cameron presumably doubts is that it is due to human activity. Here’s a hard fact: the UK Met Office has stated that the recent heatwave was made 30 times more likely due to human-induced climate change.

Your readers may also be interested to know that our weather forecasts will soon contain information as to whether or not weather events can be put down to human-made climate change. The move follows work by the World Weather Attribution Group, made up of leading climate scientists from around the world.

H Shearer BSc

Cumbernauld

NHS crisis? Problem solved

Students living in Scotland who want to study medicine at university will be given priority over those from other parts of the UK in an attempt to relieve the NHS staffing crisis since data suggests that students already living in Scotland are more likely to stay after graduation. Yes, and there are fairies at the bottom of my garden.

Wait a minute – it takes over five years for a doctor to qualify and the NHS crisis is now. All students living in Scotland and those from the EU get free tuition whereas those from the rest of the UK have to pay. Free education for EU students alone has cost more than £2 billion.

If they want doctors and others to stay, including EU students, then politicians should state that since Scottish taxpayers are funding them they must legally agree to work in Scotland for five years. No agreement, no free tuition. NHS and skilled workforce – problem solved.

Clark Cross

Linlithgow

Reform EU, don’t reject it

When they surveyed the devastated landscape of Europe after the Second World War, visionaries were resolved on one thing: never again. No more war. So the European Union was formed. Its primary function was to prevent war, and in this it has succeeded. War as a means of solving inter-state disputes has been abolished over a significant part of the world. A huge achievement for humankind.

Thus, historically, it was not a capitalist cabal created to oppress the working class, as claimed by doctrinaire Marxists. On the contrary, it has enacted rafts of legislation to enshrined workers’ rights in law. Admittedly, the rebarbative neoliberalism of Thatcher (“there is no such thing as society”) has lately seeped into its thinking. The treatment of Greece was appalling, as was its silence during Spanish brutality in Catalonia.

It urgently needs renewal and reformation – not rejection.

Brian Quail

Glasgow

Where does the responsibility lie?

Reader Allan Sutherland highlights problems in Scottish Government IT (Letters, June 30.) The problems he highlights are, in fact, widespread across the UK public sector and, in my opinion, outsourcing is a major factor in this.

Outsourcing IT can be justifiable, but whereas activity can be outsourced, responsibility cannot. Whenever an IT system development or IT infrastructure maintenance is outsourced, the “customer” organisation needs to manage the contract. This requires having staff who understand the technical and contractual issues. Unfortunately, in the UK, most such staff now work for the contractor organisations – which can “run rings around” the customer. Sadly, most public-sector organisations are out of their depth when it comes to managing IT and the contractors take full advantage.

It could make an interesting article if The Herald on Sunday contacted every public-sector organisation, local and national, asked who was responsible for IT, and ascertained what real IT experience existed within the organisation. I suspect you would find them “evasive”.

Incidentally, although Mr Sutherland’s letter is written from a Scottish Government IT perspective, he mentions “undelivered broadband promises”. The rollout of broadband is a UK Government responsibility. Their policy is to leave it to commercial companies to make the required investment. However, where there may be no prospect of a return on any investment, eg in rural areas, they may consider government funding. They have no objection to the Scottish Government, local government or community groups funding the rollout, but responsibility remains at Westminster.

Douglas Morton

Lanark

Dystopia in tartan?

The First Minister claims, loftily, that Theresa May’s legacy will be the destruction of the UK.

Her and her own party’s legacy will be much worse, whatever the future constitutional situation may be.

She will have presided over the descent of Scotland into a nationalist-run, paranoia-ridden, country, with the people split asunder, where flag-waving zealots parading the streets of our major cities are now a regular feature and where those daring to disagree with the ruling party are pilloried by the ‘’believers".

Nineteen Eighty-Four in tartan.

Alexander McKay

Edinburgh

I am sure Boris Johnson will be chortling with glee at the praise from Martin Redfern, if he ever reads it (Time is the enemy for SNP, The Herald on Sunday, June 30).

Judging from Mr Redfern’s comments, he regards Brexit as a good thing and betrays a “London knows best” attitude as the UK, as it is at present, ignores the dire warnings of economic chaos for Britain, including Scotland, with the idea “it will be all right on the night”.

He reserves his venom for Nicola Sturgeon, saying she is making hay while the sun shines, when in fact she is looking for a solution in a crowded sector of incompetence; the performance of Theresa May’s Cabinet was dire – £50 million for a company with no ships in a port with no facilities, was just one example.

Mr Redfern is further mocked by Johnson’s declaration that Westminster is England’s Parliament, a fact I noted when I joined the SNP over 50 years ago.

Jim Lynch

Edinburgh