AS the author of The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump should advise us through his London ambassador what he received in exchange for giving Vladimir Putin carte blanche in the Middle East; and also what US troops will all do when brought home from “overseas military adventures”.

But this latest debacle for the democratic West began with Ed Miliband’s win in the House of Commons in August 2013, when the vote prevented military action after Syria’s use of chemical weapons. It also enabled the sadistic Islamic State hordes to swarm over a much greater area of the whole region. Mr Miliband too has much to answer for.

John Birkett, St Andrews.

Power struggle

GR Weir (Letters, October 15) asks about the huge quantities of energy that Scotland currently exports to England without asking why the Norway/UK subsea link does make landfall at Peterhead. It carries on under the North Sea for a further 250 miles before coming ashore in the North of England which is a higher-risk project in the event of cable faults over the life of the project. However it does ensure cheap hydro power for England in the event of independence.

A further series of links from France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark are either operational, being commissioned or are at the planning stage bringing in over 8,000 MW to England, thus negating the demand for expensive renewable energy from Scottish wind farms.

The pledge by the First Minister to ban gas by 2026 means there will be no such product to export from Scotland to ensure the environment is protected from CO2 emissions Note also that Holyrood will have to ban the import of fracking gas to Grangemouth from the US to tackle the Climate Emergency, which will result in the jobs being transferred across the North Sea,

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas.

Our challenge

AMANDA Baker (Letters, October 16) neatly highlights a scenario all too prevalent in present-day British society. We do not require to travel furth of our own country to encounter demeaning selectivity and hypocrisy.

Challenging these odious attitudes not only to colour but class, creed and gender must be a priority if our nation is to flourish as a truly integrated society.

Allan C Steele, Giffnock.

Hogging the limelight

SOME weeks ago the Saturday edition of The Herald had a clue in the general knowledge crossword about the name of the author of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Having been totally unaware of James Hogg (although I had heard of someone called "the Ettrick Shepherd") and this story, I ordered a copy and find myself in agreement with the opinion that this might be "the greatest novel of Scotland". It is a fascinating read.

Given that this is a very dramatic story of childhood religious manipulation, psychological envy, murder and lots of other aspects of mental possession and ultimately a peculiar "suicide", I wonder why the BBC or STV – or Netflix – have not created a fascinating serialised drama of Confessions. The only attempt that I could find was a Polish film adaptation that does not have English subtitles or dubbing.

A project for the new Scottish broadcasting investment perhaps? It should be much wider known and it is thanks to the Herald that, now in my mid-70s, I have not missed this story.

Ian Gray, Croftamie.

Courtesy counts

MY heart always lifts when I see a letter from Thelma Edwards on your pages (Letters, October 15). I would like to add another word, from a different angle, oft quoted, as I remember, by my old headmistress: the love of God is in courtesy. Needed so much nowadays in all aspects of life.

Fiona Gordon, Cupar.

Clothes comfort

I DRIVE a car, enjoy a warm home, and still holiday abroad, but on reading that studies show that emissions would be 44 per cent lower if we could double the number of times a garment could be worn ("Time to clean up our act and recycle more of our clothes, October 16"), I now enjoy a happy glow of satisfaction, knowing that much of my wardrobe has doubled many times past its natural sell-by date over the decades.

R Russell Smith, Kilbirnie.

Simple lesson

IN perusing all the articles concerning the future of the planet I cannot but recall the message from Christian Aid some years ago: "We must learn to live more simply that others might simply live".

Ron Lavalette, Ardrossan.