Sir, The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition, a coalition of third and independent sector children’s services, noted with some concern the ticking timebomb that is being created by training posts for psychiatrists going unfilled, according to figures from Health Education Scotland.
This is a view also shared by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland. Our members deal with vulnerable children and young people, many of whom require these services, and yet in the most recent national recruitment round, for jobs starting in August, just five out of 13 higher-specialty training places for doctors in child and adolescent psychiatry were filled. In addition, just one doctor was recruited for nine training slots caring for people with learning disabilities. The situation is even more acute outwith the central belt.
Indeed, since 2011 only 22% of vacancies for doctors caring for those with learning disabilities has been filled (five out of 23) and just more than half (51%) for those dealing with child and adolescent psychiatry (19 out of 37). High-level strategic management is required to get a grip on the situation and we are in the process of writing to the Scottish Government, calling for urgent action to incentivise recruitment into these specialisms and to support and encourage medical schools in training in psychiatry or mental health through a more flexible training regime.
Dr Alastair Cook. Chairman, Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, c/o 13 Hill Street, Edinburgh.
Fix this blot on the Fair City
Sir, Once again, the saga of Perth City Hall is in the headlines. I am a bit tired of hearing the arguments. Every time I go to the shops I have to pass St Paul’s Church.
I have forgotten how many years the scaffolding has been round this building and I think it is about time something is done about the state of this eyesore.
Surely the planners and environmental authorities should be doing something to improve that part of the town. I know St Paul’s is privately owned but surely pressure should be brought to bear on the owners to do something about this blot on our city.
A. Cameron. Market Court, Perth.
A tactic that is in poor taste
Sir, In a lengthy discussion with a Yes campaigner I was told a Yes victory was guaranteed, as all they had to do was get Glasgow to vote Yes, which they were having a last-minute push on. This left me feeling bemused not only at the arrogance of the campaigner but at how they are deliberately targeting the poor and uneducated in order to secure victory.
Almost half of Glasgow’s residents 285,000 people reside in 20% of the most deprived areas in Scotland; with social deprivation comes poor education and many may be tricked into believing things will get better in an independent Scotland. This is a delusion. Things will be far worse for them. The Yes campaign’s tactics are unfair using the poor to get victory because the poor will suffer more in an independent Scotland.
Gordon Kennedy. 117 Simpson Square, Perth.
Confederalism may be way
Sir, The federal diversion put forward by Tory MSP Murdo Fraser is the last throw of the dice for the Better Together campaign. It is a distraction and does nothing for Scotland that independence doesn’t do much better.
As England is 10 times the size of Scotland, it can’t work unless Scotland has the same status as Yorkshire or the West Country. The ancient nation of Scotland reduced to no more than a region of the UK is the logical terminus of the unionist case and those who believe that is the solution are entitled to hold that opinion. They would get more respect if they just said Scotland the nation no longer exists in their future.
There is no evidence of any desire for a federal UK reconstruction in England.
The most significant effect such a plan would have is that it would leave all the major powers in London power to illegally invade other countries, power to keep the nuclear arsenal in Scotland, power over most of Scotland’s revenue and how much of it would be handed back to us.
If the “proud Scots” who came up with this trap were honest and ambitious for Scotland, they could be proposing British Isles confederalism (inviting the Republic of Ireland to take part) a system in which independent countries of varying size come together to freely share services and responsibilities, to mutual benefit, as the Nordic Council of the Scandinavian countries does.
Dave McEwan Hill. 1 Tom Nan Ragh, Sandbank, Argyll.
Elephant and the politicians
Sir, Members of both sides of the independence debate have painted a rosy picture of Scotland’s future, of continued economic growth under their particular form of government, but all the speakers have studiously ignored the elephant in the room. The elephant is the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which lays out starkly the danger of continuing policies of unrestrained economic growth.
The idea being pedalled by politicians of all parties that the key to long-term prosperity is to continue to grow the economy is so absurd it can only be compared to the story of the emperor’s new clothes.
Any school boy could tell them we cannot consume renewable resources faster than they can be replaced or produce pollution faster than it can be safely absorbed, yet that is exactly what the IPCC report tells us we are doing.
Unless we stop we face an irreversible slide into a world that will be inhabitable only by a fraction of our present population, due to rises in sea level and air temperatures.
Our only hope of long-term survival is to shrink our economy to match the natural ability of the Earth’s ecosystem to cope. That means cutting production and waste, reducing populations and redistributing wealth.
Bob Drysdale. Millfield, Star of Markinch.
Why No is not the answer
Sir, A. Kennedy’s independence letter on Monday highlights some of my objections the monarchy, Nato and the EU. I could also add the Bank of England’s control. But these matters will still be there if the result is a No vote.
Only by voting Yes albeit grudgingly can we bring about change in future Scottish general elections.
As things stand, London’s grip on Scotland’s parliament will always be present. Indeed, if the Westminster parliament wishes to ignore the September referendum result, it can do so, for there is only one sovereign parliament in the UK and it is based in London SW1A.
George B. Anderson. 7 Elliothill Street, Dunfermline.
One of life’s big questions
Sir, Never mind the referendum, there are more important decisions to be made. With warmer weather, do I starch my short-sleeved summer shirts, as a dapper man about town, or leave them soft, as a casual, sporty, devil-may-care fellow?
Laurie Richards. 100 Crail Road, Cellardyke.