Letters

Letters

Just what are the real issues facing the voters of Rutherglen and Hamilton West?

Food banks and children freezing: who will rescue Rutherglen?
RE Kathleen Nutt's piece on the upcoming Rutherglen by-election, there is only one issue: who can we trust to listen to us and speak up for us and work for us and be accountable to us?

The state pension triple lock is on the political agenda

Letters We need fairer and more transparent pensions

8

Our writer Daniella Theis stated that we need to change the language and tone when discussing immigration

Letters There’s still a long way to go on immigration

9

Former Conservative minister Rory Stewart said earlier this month that he's often thought about standing for Holyrood - but is he too much of a 'wet'?

Letters Conservatives must stand up and fight for their principles

11

Is a tax based on the house you live in fair?

Letters A property tax is the fairest way of financing our local authorities

2

The original contract for Edinburgh trams was signed when Labour held power

Letters The real blame for the disastrous trams project does not lie with the SNP

13

Trams and other traffic on Princes Street, Edinburgh

Letters The reaction to the trams inquiry is arrogant and unacceptable

5

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech on the plans for net-zero commitments in the briefing room at 10 Downing Street, London

Letters The young will live with the consequences of climate backsliding

8

Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park

Letters The joy of parks reminds us of dehumanising effect of cars

2

Letters: Put genuine participation at the heart of our democracy

Letters Put genuine participation at the heart of our democracy

4

Is a lack of enforcement of the law the real problem with dangerous dogs?

Letters The real issue with dangerous dogs is our failure to enforce the law

1

Letters The SNP has still not addressed the basics of independence

10

The Scottish Parliament could change the system of local government taxation if it so wished

Letters SNP has the power to change council tax, so why won't it?

26

Teachers say they are overworked due to short staffing

Letters: We need to get back to national standards for teacher numbers

3

Pensioners have been hit with huge cost of living increases like everyone else

Letters Pensioners need and deserve the triple lock increase

1

Rishi Sunak says he will ban American Bully XL dogs

Letters Banning breeds does not stop attacks. We should be punishing bad owners

Humza Yousaf said this week that an SNP General Election win could usher in independence talks

Letters Yousaf's latest Indyref ploy betrays his utter desperation

19

LibDem MSP Liam McArthur signing a pledge card in support of his Assisted Dying Bill at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood

Letters No higher power has the right to dictate the terms of our death

A legal drug consumption room in Berlin. A similar facility is planned for Glasgow

Letters Why would anyone be against reducing harm?

2

Should a limited form of corporal punishment be reintroduced in our schools?

Letters: School violence: we must either punish the pupils or punish the parents

4

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by the RNLI

Letters We must do all we can to halt the boats, including stopping the RNLI

1

The Scottish Government is backing plans to set up a pilot drug consumption room in Glasgow

Letters There is no such thing as the safe consumption of hard drugs

5

Do enough parents step up to the plate when it comes to preparing their children for education?

Letters Stop picking on teachers and put pressure on the parents

5

Is the proposed assisted dying legislation a step too far? (Picture posed by models)

LETTERS Legalising assisted suicide will put vulnerable people at risk

2

No new offshore wind projects will be supported by the UK Government after the latest Contracts for Difference (CFD) round

Letters UK Government has got its priorities wrong when it comes to offshore wind

Will the SNP be trounced at the next UK and Scottish elections?

Letters Reports of the death of the SNP are greatly exaggerated

5

The Scottish Government is proposing a ban on single-use vapes

Letters: Vaping industry is using our children as nicotine mules. We must fight back

Should we reform the tax system to invest more in education and skills?

Letters It is a tragedy that the UK refuses to invest in its people

1

A young boy watches a fly-past of Concorde and the Red Arrows to mark the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999

Letters: Holyrood has greatly improved the lives of the people of Scotland

7

The Scottish Government is proposing to outlaw the sale of single-use vapes

Letters It would be an act of utter folly to ban single-use vapes

Neil Oliver has resigned from the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Letters Letters: Neil Oliver talks sense. He should not be cancelled

18

There will be a ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars from 2030

Letters: At this rate, 1984 will be with us by 2050

2

There is little public support for low emission zones

Letters Take criminality away from the LEZ zones and let people purchase permits

1

Humza Yousaf delivering his Programme for Government speech in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday

Letters Yousaf missed a golden chance to be bold, honest and brave

19

Has Edinburgh Airport declined since it was taken out of the hands of BAA?

Letters The state of Edinburgh Airport shows what a mistake it was to dismantle BAA

1

There are proposals to raise council tax in bands E to H by up to 22.5%

Letters We must get together to stop this council tax madness

2

Should private schools lose their tax advantages?

Letters Why should we give advantages to private schools to perpetuate privilege?

The Believe In Scotland and Yes For EU rally for an independent Scotland proceeds down Edinburgh's Royal Mile on Saturday

Letters Will the SNP ever stop using marches as camouflage?

27

Has damage caused by the austerity policies of George Osborne and David Cameron been underplayed?

Letters: How dare the Tories call out anyone for premature deaths?

3

The SNP conference will hear calls for tax for public schools to be axed

Letters It's pathetic for SNP to want to clamp down on private schools out of spite

21

No such thing as a man's world? A female aircraft engineer

Letters: In a modern society we must stop thinking of some roles being 'women's work'

Firefighters tackle a fire after a Russian rocket attack in Kyiv on Wednesday

Letters Western economies must act to end the slaughter in Ukraine

2

Do we look for scapegoats when it comes to health and social issues?

Letters Stop blaming the politicians for the bad choices we make

12

What is the future for heat pumps?

Letters Stop shaming us into paying a fortune to go green and give us practical help

1

There have been calls to standardise the Scots language

Letters The Scots language is not something you make up as you go along

4

Latest figures from the National Records of Scotland show that alcohol has overtaken drug misuse as a direct cause of death in Scotland

Letters SNP took fatal missteps in the fight against alcohol deaths

5

A court artist sketch of Lucy Letby giving evidence in the dock at Manchester Crown Court

Letters We must examine the evidence and explore why Lucy Letby did what she did

3

First Minister Humza Yousaf this week hit back at criticism of the Regulation of Legal Services Scotland Bill

Letters We must not allow ministers to control our legal profession

5

Campaigners holding up pictures of their deceased relatives outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London when the Cabinet Office brought a challenge over the UK Covid-19 Inquiry's request for materials. The Scottish Covid Inquiry is just beginning.

Letters Public inquiries are a convenient way out for the guilty

1

Should the Government led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt be held to account for the consequences of the continuing austerity policies?

Letters We should be prosecuting this Government for manslaughter

8

The number of foreign language teachers in Scotland is falling

Letters If we were really pro-European, we would not be cutting back on languages

A child pictured in a slum in Jakha, India. Should we stop sending aid to such people because their government is funding a space programme?

Letters We must not abandon the blameless poor people of India

3

Gordon Brown said this week that setting up a separate Scottish benefits body was the result of “a toxic combination of Scottish ultra-go-it-alone nationalism and British gross negligence

Letters Brown is wrong to decry our precious social security system

8

Journalists film the live telecast of spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 landing on the moon at the Indian Space Research Organisation's facility in Bengaluru

Letters: Why are we sending billions in aid to a country with a space programme?