IF there is one thing that we have learned during the culture war, it is that progressives will never stop spending other people’s money to flaunt their own, self-proclaimed virtues.
In reply to Andy Stenton (letters, December 11): as young Scots struggle to get on the housing ladder, those who entered the country illegally are put up in comfort, for free.
As the sick languish on never-ending waiting lists, those who entered the country illegally get free, priority healthcare. As those pensioners unfortunate enough to be just above the breadline keep a wary eye on the thermostat, those who entered the country illegally get free electricity and gas heating in their taxpayer-funded, cosy hotel accommodation. As we pay for less and worse, they unfairly receive more and more.
So Russell Findlay is unquestionably right to draw attention to the scandalous proposal to now let them gallivant around the country for free. The young, the sick and the frail must suffer the consequences as the SNP administration virtue-signals their largesse.
Read more:
Drug money is 'contaminating' swathes of society, says new Tory leader
Letters: Scots Tories' arrogance over asylum-seekers' plight
'Left wing parties' out of touch with public on asylum say Tories
The usual suspects from the cosy socialist consensus have predictably sought to portray Findlay’s criticism as an attempt to out-Reform reform. If that were the motivation it would be an extremely dubious one. Reform will undoubtedly continue to welcome disenchanted Conservatives, but there is no doubt that the Conservative Party, perhaps justifiably, is despised by much of Reform’s base. And if truth be told, most of the current problems regarding immigration levels are the fault of consecutive UK Conservative governments. Reform votes are not coming back; if indeed they were ever ours to begin with.
Findlay is therefore right to frame his criticism in terms of fiscal prudence. His namesake, the political philosopher Russell Kirk, would approve: prudence being Kirk’s fourth principle of conservatism.
More recently, the Hungarian political philosopher Ferenc Hörcher considers prudence as the first of virtues because that which is prudent is in keeping with reality); and reality is the point from which all politics should start. It is precisely a revival to this true, principled conservatism that the Conservative Party requires in order to recover from its current circumstance.
Findlay’s criticism of the policy is also consistent with his other statements on freebie culture. And when one considers the billions of pounds wasted on an inexhaustible list that includes the Deposit Return Scheme, ferries that don’t sail, and the National Care Service, it is also consistent with his criticism of the SNP’s profligacy.
Of course John Swinney is troubled by the criticism; he is out of touch with the lives of ordinary Scots.
Russell Findlay’s criticism is neither an attack on anyone’s race, their ethnic origin, nor the principle of asylum. It is a principled and justified attack on the fiscal degeneracy of an SNP administration that consistently wastes money on all the wrong priorities.
Graeme Arnott, Stewarton.
No escape from drab reality
AS I sit here looking out my window on another dreary, drab, grey day, in our miserable land, I am drawn to the permanently sunny and golden land inhabited by Catriona Clark (“Benefits of an SNP government”, December 12). Then I read the other excellent letters and articles, such as those of Brian Wilson, and realise that I am still in this dreary, drab, grey land, no matter what planet others may reside on!
Gregor Mckenzie, East Kilbride.
* I READ Catriona Clark’s letter (December 12) espousing the benefits of an SNP government. I was only surprised it was such a long letter.
Richard Hunter, Cupar, Fife.
Ethnic cleansing in Gaza
WHEN I started reading the letter from Dr Edwards (December 11) concerning the dreadful situation in Syria, I thought that for once I was going to agree with the thrust of his comments.
This changed abruptly when I read that when comparing the situation in Syria with Gaza he wrote that ‘Far fewer people [in Gaza] have been killed, many are combatants’. He then claims that Israel is being unfairly treated with ‘unbridled fury’ for its actions. This is an astonishing claim. The actual casualty figures are stark.
The latest UN calculation is that over 46,000 civilians have been killed by the Israeli armed forces and that, shockingly, 70% of these are women and children. In addition, thousands more civilians have been injured, maimed and blinded by the brutality of Israel. These are not ‘combatants’ but innocent civilians. This Israeli campaign is not self -defence but rather a war crime for which there should be consequences for those responsible.
Furthermore, this is not just an aggressive campaign of ethnic cleansing on an appalling scale but it is clearly a campaign to take yet more Palestinian land under Israeli control.
To compound the tragedy, Israel has now carried out an intensive bombing campaign against a Syria struggling to emerge from the horrors of the Assad regime and seized sovereign Syrian territory to add yet more land to its illegal acquisitions.
So to quote Dr Edwards, ‘Where is the justice in this’?
Eric Melvin, Edinburgh.
Israel has become a rogue state
DOUG Maughan (letters, December 10) describes Israel’s merciless bombing of Gaza as a massacre of the innocents.
I agree but would go further and describe Israel as a rogue state under its present leadership which, thanks to the military support of the Biden administration, has repeatedly ordered the bombing not just of Gaza but of Lebanon, Syria and Iran over the past few months, causing immense damage to civilian infrastructure and thousands of casualties.
Not only that, but Netanyahu’s decision to severely restrict supplies, medicine and water entering Gaza has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe there. According to the UN, “food, water, and healthcare are in short supply and famine is imminent. Hospitals and ambulances have been attacked...” And all this has been counter-productive in Israel’s aim of eliminating terrorism. It has sown the seeds of terrorism for decades to come.
Israel is a democracy which has been taken over by extreme right-wing extremists, who have generated hate against Israel worldwide.
William Loneskie, Lauder, Berwickshire.
* STEPH Johnson (letters, December 11) conveniently forgets that the conflict between Israel and Gaza did not begin in 2023. It began decades ago when Israel began its occupation and slaughter on Palestinian land, and continues unabated to this day.
Kevin Orr, Bishopbriggs.
The something-for-nothing culture
LEAH Gunn Barrett is right to describe the City of London as “parasitic” (letters, December 12); ‘rent-seeking’ generally is at the expense of people’s work. If someone gets something for nothing, someone else gets nothing for something.
Yet almost all of us engage directly or indirectly in this economically damaging activity, from speculative house-purchasers hoping for a rise in site values, to investors whose dividends consist in part of land rent.
We must recognise the damage it causes through reducing our propensity to work, and through emigration to more favourable tax climes.
It is also socially damaging in that it leads to justifiable resentment on the part of the exploited, disconnecting them from governance (especially when the fat cats are high in politics).
Enlightened finance ministers (sadly few and far between) recognise this and adjust fiscal policy accordingly, ignoring the howls from enraged rent-seekers. They increase the recovery of publicly-created site values and lower taxation of work, plus work-based capital and wealth.
George Morton, Rosyth.
Share