The Scottish Conservatives are back – or are they?

It could be argued that the first genuine Conservative was Glasgow University graduate, Adam Smith, whose book The Wealth of Nations revolutionised our understanding of free trade.

Though his other great work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, argues, some would say, from a more left wing perspective.

So are the Tories back, long-term?

I doubt it. Which makes me sad, for I am of that tribe. This is more about the SNP’s many failures, not a love for Kemi Badenoch’s party.

Alexander Briggs, Ballater.

More letters...

• Kemi Badenoch one of the world's most inspiring women? Really?
• Sir Billy fails to take account of Scotland's different culture
• Labour can only win power here after independence

Burnham won – but did the UK?

Andy Burnham’s victory in Makerfield may change Labour’s leadership arithmetic, but it does not change the country’s economic arithmetic (“Andy Burnham victory triggers crises for Keir Starmer”, heraldscotland.com, June 19).

Britain does not need Labour to swap one manager of decline for another; it needs a government willing to change course.

The most revealing detail of the campaign was not simply the result, but the branding. Labour’s newest star appeared to campaign far more as ‘Andy’ than as Labour. When a party’s leading alternative to Sir Keir Starmer has to put a personal brand ahead of the party brand, it tells us something serious about the state of Labour.

First, the same policy instincts remain. Labour under Sir Keir has delivered high taxes, expensive energy, weak delivery and a government increasingly absorbed by its own internal quarrels.

A Burnham premiership would not automatically mean discipline, competence or restraint. It could simply mean a new face on the same old project: more spending, more borrowing, more state control and more promises paid for by someone else.

Second, the spending promises do not add up. Social housing, social care reform, bus fare caps, HS2-style ambitions, WASPI concessions and greater public control of utilities may all sound attractive in isolation.

But the bill lands somewhere. It lands on taxpayers, businesses, savers, borrowers and future generations. If Labour cannot explain clearly how its promises are funded, voters are entitled to conclude that they will be funded through higher taxes, higher debt or both.

Third, this matters to Scotland. Households in Dunblane, Dundee, Stirling, Perth and Glasgow do not need more Westminster theatre.

They need cheaper energy, better roads, secure borders, stronger defence, decent public services and a leaner state that does fewer things better. People generally spend their hard-earned money better than the state does, because they know their own needs, families and responsibilities.

There is a better path. Britain can grow again if government backs work, rewards enterprise, controls spending, cuts waste, lowers the tax burden and stops treating ordinary people as problems to be managed.

That requires seriousness and resolve, not another round of Labour factional manoeuvring.

Some will say Mr Burnham deserves credit for winning convincingly. Fair enough. Elections matter, and voters should always be respected. But winning a by-election is not the same as governing a debt-heavy country with weak growth and stretched services.

The question is not whether Mr Burnham can beat Sir Keir Starmer. It is whether he can beat arithmetic.

Britain can recover, but only through competence, affordable energy, controlled spending and trust in ordinary people to build better lives.

Alastair Majury, Dunblane.

No fresh start under independence

Catriona Clark (Letters, June 18) wishes to enlighten readers about a ‘fresh start for Scotland’, the SNP’s slogan du jour.

This includes particularly Scotland having ‘a sterling monetary union with the rest of the UK [which Scotland is entitled to use]’.

I have no idea where she got that idea from, but it was explicitly and emphatically ruled out in February 2014 by George Osborne, then Chancellor, by Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and by Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls.

That is, a change of government from Conservative/Liberal Democrat to Labour would not alter the UK’s government stance on such an arrangement. There has been no change of UK policy since then.

On the contrary, even the SNP has accepted that there would be no currency union and that an independent Scotland could use the pound informally, thus incurring various disadvantages.

First, Scotland would have no currency of its own, no central bank, no control of its own monetary policy and no lender of last resort. Second, as a result of all that, Scotland would be disqualified from applying to the EU for membership, since it would be using what, in EU parlance, was a third country’s currency, which it prohibits.

On tax, Ms Clark appears to regard it as ‘progressive’ that any Scot earning over £30,000 should pay more income tax than those earning an equivalent amount in the rest of the UK. There, as here, repeated rises in the personal allowance have meant that the lowest earners are exempt from taxation.

Ms Clark deplores the fact that Scotland’s borrowing powers are limited. Given the profligacy of SNP governments in financial affairs - recklessly spending far more than we earn, every year - it is a mercy that the borrowing powers are limited.

As for ‘a seat at the UK’s negotiation table on this matter’, she presumably means the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on which Scots serve individually as experts, just like the other members of the MPC.

If Scotland had a ‘complete overhaul of immigration policy’, as Ms Clark wishes, the UK would terminate Scotland’s membership of the Common Travel Area, of which Ireland is a member.

Ms Clark’s ‘fresh start’ is entirely pie in the sky with no relationship with reality.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

Masking bad behaviour

Neil Mackay nails it yet again ('Want to clamp down on racist thugs rampaging in the streets? Then we must ban all face masks”, The Herald June 18).

He’s right. It’s a no brainer. The cowardly mob of far-right and neo-Nazi extremists who ran riot in Glasgow recently, terrorising people because of the colour of their skin, are scared to show their faces.

They don’t want friends to know… other than the idiots alongside them, work colleagues (if they have any) or family who describe the individuals in question as ‘a lovely boy who would do anything for anyone’.

Round them up next time, take off the masks, expose their identities, and let us see the scum. Then lock them up.

Andy Stenton, Glasgow.

Feisty First Minister is poor show

Watching First Minister's Questions (FMQs), both on a Tuesday and a Thursday, is a complete waste of time.

When he took office, John Swinney promised greater civility.

However, he now appears to believe that responding to questions loudly and aggressively is an appropriate way to behave, while blaming everyone else for shortcomings in his own governance.

Lashing out alienates, and causes reputational damage to the individual in question, and only serves to display loss of control and gravitas.

Isobel Hunter, Lenzie.

AI may free us from tedium

With more AI advances on the horizon, many jobs will disappear.

The great number of redundancies will save costs, though reduce the amount of people who will be able to take advantage of the financial savings occurring elsewhere in the economy.

So a big battle is now on the cards.

On one side, costs of production will be lowered as manpower is replaced by AI.

On the other side, there is the need to preserve human dignity, instead of seeing individuals as disposable cogs in the economic cycle.

Today, universities are finding themselves in decline, shedding jobs to keep bloated institutions functioning, while protecting the inflated salaries of those in the most senior positions.

AI will play its part in making universities both leaner and meaner.

There will be a contraction in the number of universities, caused by a stringent process of amalgamation.

For too long, now, universities have restricted their endeavours to feeding the economic demands of the nation, with the skilled ‘products’ they roll out for employment after graduation. Universities have become factories, churning out cogs in a machine; cogs that are necessary to maintain the country's economy.

However, these days are coming to an end.

Universities will be compelled to revert to their original function.

They will once again open students' minds, expose them to areas which challenge the opinions and prejudices that have been instilled by their backgrounds.

Graduates will be freed from the banausic tedium of being treated as mere cogs, whose only value is contributing to the nations' GDP. The wholesale involvement of AI will, instead, determine GDP, with the economic exclusion of what are now described inhumanely as ‘low value humans’.

However, a new hell may await us if we do not find the remedies to overcome the potential ills of AI, and its dominance of the economic cycle.

AI must become our slave, and not rule us, meaning that dignity will be restored to the individual, who will be liberated from the mind-numbing requirements of soul destroying daily tedium.

Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.

Balls and LOLs

While having no interest in sport, it has been somewhat bemusing to me that those who regard themselves as guardians of the public conscience were active in criticism of the Qatar World Cup, but have been silent on FIFA's current competition, where one of the host nations is the USA.

However, nothing has amused me more than hearing the multiple US news reports stating that the beer shortage in Boston is likely due to the presence of large numbers of Scottish football fans.

Take your LOLs where you can.

Amanda Baker, Edinburgh.

Bertie’s boozy journey

Reading Gordon Fisher’s reminiscences of Scottish footballer Bertie Auld (Letters, June 17), I was reminded of my brother Brian, who was doing his National Service as a military policeman (and was indeed the last national serviceman to serve in that capacity).

On one occasion he was returning down south on the train, after spending his leave at home, and met the inimitable Bertie, against whom he had played at Junior level.

Bertie had just signed for Birmingham City and his idea of a refreshment to make the journey bearable was a half bottle of Scotch, and six tins of Tennent’s.

Needless to say, the journey was passed in quiet contemplation...

Brendan Keenan, Glasgow.

Mobile phones: They aren't just for big kids. Little ones can enjoy them, too. (Image: PA)

Phone fear

I thought I would share another milestone on my young grandson's journey of development (Letters, June 5).

He recently got hold of my phone, and his first instinct was to shake it vigorously. With no sounds forthcoming he resorted to toddler default and tried chewing it.

At this point I intervened and removed the phone from him and opened the photo gallery and showed him pictures, mainly of him with various family members, and the in-laws' dog.

He was delighted with this and within seconds had worked out how to swipe and press the photo to make it larger Now I have a dilemma.

Should I express my delight, telling him he is such a clever boy, or should I be afraid...very afraid?

Keith Swinley, Ayr.