EVERY evening at 6pm I watch Lyse Doucet and her colleagues from BBC News describing, from Ukraine, the Ukrainian people’s anguish. I despair and yet I cannot stop watching. To do so would be to turn my back on the suffering and fear of fellow humans.

And yet I feel guilty. Probably every day of my 77 years there has been suffering somewhere in the world and yet when, in my adult life, was I ever affected to this degree? Presumably part of the answer is the extent of the coverage. Furthermore the distance between Glasgow and Kyiv is a mere 1,500 miles. These events are happening on our doorstep.

I pray that the relentless exposure to the daily and nightly suffering in Ukraine will sensitise us to all human suffering (for example, five million Afghan children on the brink of starvation) no matter where, no matter their ethnicity.

We are witnessing, alongside Vladimir Putin’s barbaric inhumanity, a display of humanity at its best, the outpouring of practical sympathy for the Ukrainians. “Practical” being the operative word, a supreme example being the way the peoples of the European Union (and Moldova) have rallied around Ukraine, welcoming traumatised refugees into their very homes.

In comparison the UK Government’s response to the refugee crisis has been slow, shambolic and chaotic. Or is it possible that this approach is a consequence of the inhumane Conservative attitudes on immigration following Brexit?

John Milne, Uddingston.

CONCENTRATE ON THE DAY JOB

DEALING with international affairs is not one of Nicola Sturgeon's strong points nor one of her responsibilities, so I am surprised that she advocates keeping a no-fly zone in Ukraine on the table for possible future use. Military experts throughout the West have cautioned against the idea, predicting that it could result in conflict between Nato and Russian forces, hastening escalation towards the use of nuclear weapons. No one knows what Vladimir Putin is thinking or how he will react to any situation. Signs are that he is goading the West into taking retaliatory action to justify him ratcheting up his own brutal measures being taken to counter a brave Ukrainian opposition.

A red line may eventually be crossed but distressing as it is, the ball seems to be in President Putin's court for the present and all the West can do is to keep a united front and continue to supply small arms and humanitarian aid. Ms Sturgeon should concentrate on her day job as there are plenty of things needing her attention in Scotland.

Bob MacDougall, Kippen.

GET THE MESSAGE TO THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE

THE free world needs urgently to get real information through to people living under dictatorships.

Thousands of Russian citizens have protested against Vladimir Putin’s war and been punished for it.

Yet most Russian citizens still believe state propaganda about Ukrainian "nazism" and persecution of Russian speakers, and about a Ukrainian threat to Russia itself.

If Russian citizens all knew the truth, President Putin and and his lieutenants would be swept from power in months despite the violent policing stranglehold under which Russians live.

Ukraine’s Russian speakers are fleeing their liberators in millions. Liberation from freedom into chains doesn’t attract them.

Tim Cox, Bern, Switzerland.

UKRAINE SHOULD HAVE BEEN NEUTRAL

MUCH as we admire the Ukrainians' resistance to Vladimir Putin's putrid war, Ukraine would have been better off as a disarmed "buffer state", if policed by the United Nations. Meanwhile, half the world is cynical about the West and Nato's concern for the war, being complicit in Yemen, Iraq, Gaza,and many more.

Bob Philip, Falkirk.

COULD THERE BE FUEL RATIONING?

IAIN Macwhirter's point that ending reliance on Russian gas and oil would remove Vladimir Putin's life support was very timely (“It’s the sum of all fears as Russian tsar threatens nuclear war”, March 6).

Caroline Lucas will speak in Parliament about the urgency of the move to alternative energy sources. Mr Macwhirter talks about heat pump installation, but solar, wind and wave need to be stepped up and Government support for households needs to be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, what about rationing? If there were a full-scale war, our sacrifices would be far more ghastly than cutting, or eliminating, the comforts of gas heating and frequent car travel. Look at the enormous response for humanitarian aid from the British people. This is not echoed by our Government, imposing visa requirements when Ukraine's neighbours open their borders to all who flee, without questioning if it affects their "growth".

"Growth" is the mantra by which UK governments lure voters. Why? It has not helped the poorest and most vulnerable, but has increased debt and pushed the priority of compassion out of the way. But people know better in their hearts. Listen, Boris Johnson and co.

Patricia Bryden, Edinburgh.

WE NEED CONTROL OF OUR ENERGY

MICHAEL Settle (“UK powerless to stop winter energy crisis”, March 6) points to the lesser dependence of the UK on gas from Russia (only four per cent of our consumption) compared to many other European countries, such as Latvia (93%) and Bulgaria (77%), though until 30 years ago they were subject to very significant Russian influence. Others, such as Germany (49%) and Italy (46%) will have to find their own excuses.

However, should we not ask how much good the UK’s abstinence from Russian gas has done us? Gas produced in the UK sector of the North Sea is the property of its producers and they will sell it on the international market at the same price as to Latvia, Bulgaria, Germany and Italy. The only way to prevent this would have been a UK Energy Company, responsible for the production and distribution of gas produced in the UK sector, but that has been anathema to successive UK governments even before Margaret Thatcher.

The strategic folly of our dependence on an international energy market with the dominance enjoyed by Russia is now apparent. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says, as though this had always been an obvious truth, “we simply cannot rely so much on a supplier that explicitly threatens us”. Yet over-reliance on a single supplier is always a strategic weakness. That supplier does not have to be an active threat. It is enough that they could be, and given the history of east-west tensions, it is hardly a great insight that allowing the present level of dependence on Russia was always risky.

Alasdair Galloway, Dumbarton.

POSTURING OVER POWER MUST CHANGE

A GREATER awareness of the ever-growing danger to the efforts of our governments to keep the peoples of the world who inhabit colder climes provided with warmth and light may, sadly, be one of the benefits from the present crisis in Ukraine. Germany for example has been entirely dependent on its pipeline from Russia for oil and gas, so much so it does not even have the facilities to land LNG from tankers. The present and worsening situation in Ukraine merely heightens the dangers.

Meanwhile the powers that be now running Scotland are going helter-skelter in a somewhat ludicrous fashion to attempt to shut down or shut off all our own nature-endowed supplies of ample oil and gas. And nuclear power is not even considered. It is scarcely believable that supposedly educated people could believe that, in the breathing space these gifts give us before tragedy strikes, some mythical wind-fairy fantasy will keep us alive in the depths of winter.

It means of course that the dogma so precious to the Greens and the SNP, the posturing and who’s got the toughest method of making the people suffer style of politics, may have to be altered or abandoned, or at least the time frame adjusted to better suit reality. Every sane person wants climate change tackled. But the adjustment time will clearly have to be lengthened.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

THE HORRENDOUS COST OF NET ZERO

ENERGY Secretary Michael Matheson claimed in Holyrood that Scotland's energy supply was secure and said unlimited extraction of fossil fuels was not consistent with climate obligations. Would that be reducing, at a horrendous cost to taxpayers, Scotland's miniscule 0.13 per cent of global emissions to net zero by 2045?

Meanwhile, Mr Matheson has not noticed from his well-paid green ivory tower that there is a war going on and China, Russia, India and many other countries have already broken the promises they made in December 2021 at COP26 and are increasing their consumption of fossil fuels and escalating their emissions, not reducing them?

Clark Cross, Linlithgow.

STURGEON'S STRANGE PRIORITIES

SCOTLAND'S health service is in a trough. Scotland's justice system either doesn't want to jail criminals or wants to release them early. Scotland's education system is failing its pupils. Scotland's islands are crying out for reliable ferry services. Scotland's energy needs are daily getting more expensive due to political posturing by the SNP and Greens fighting over who is more environmentally friendly.

Nicola Sturgeon's 2023 independence bid looks as if it is about to disappear. But along with all of these problems Ms Sturgeon is hugely concerned that "witches" should be pardoned. Few can not be in sympathy with this viewpoint but given all of the above it certainly is not a priority, is it?

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.