Sir, – As a committed Conservative I have got to say I viewed the catastrophic demise of the Labour Party (especially in Scotland) with some trepidation.
A one-party state of whatever colour is not good for democracy.
However, when a party continues to go further down a road that’s clearly on the way to electoral oblivion you’ve got to ask what is going on.
The apparent surge in support for Mr Jeremy Corbyn, the veteran far-left Islington North MP, shows little sign of slowing.
Hundreds of supporters, many of them in their 20s and 30s queue round the block to hear him speak at packed public rallies across the country.
And there’s the nub of the problem. People in their 20s and mid 30s cannot remember, nor have experienced, the misery of living in a country dominated by the left between 1950 and the mid 1970s.
Nationalised industries like coal, shipbuilding, transport, telecoms, airlines, gas, electricity, steel and car manufacturing, largely controlled by militant unions, were uselessly uncompetitive, losing out to Far East industries and costing our taxpayers billions of pounds.
Foreigners described strikes as the British disease.
High taxation with runaway inflation caused vast unemployment.
We had a three-day working week and power blackouts. The far left brought Britain to its knees.
The lunacy of Corbynomics has been tried before and failed miserably. The Greeks are currently giving it their best shot with predictable results.
If people under 35 think times are bad now, I suggest they do a little research into the not-too-distant past.
As has been said: “Those who cannot remember the past or know history are doomed to repeat it.”
Iain G Richmond. Guildy House, Monikie.
SNP policy has helped wealthy
Sir, – Your correspondent Donald Lewis is quite correct about the May General Election when he says in his letter (August 6) that 29% of the population in Scotland entitled to vote did not vote at all.
Of the remaining 71%, half voted for the SNP but half did not and Mr Lewis lists various public services in crisis because of this, due to the SNP’s failure to handle the devolved powers it already has and has presided over for these last eight years.
These failings include education and local government and I certainly empathise and agree with him there.
Smaller primary one to three classes was an SNP core commitment as well as some kind of local income tax to replace the council tax.
Instead, the SNP has frozen the council tax in Scotland for these years to the detriment of local authorities.
This decision has disproportionately benefited those who are rich and comfortably off.
It has also been greatly deleterious to the voluntary sector dependent on local authority grants to carry out its vital community work.
Joan McEwen. King James VI Building, Hospital Street, Perth.
Solve Britain’s problems first
Sir, – It never fails to amaze me to listen to the bleeding hearts who think it is our duty to feed and house refugees.
Britain is in debt by trillions of pounds and around 40% of children in Britain are living on the poverty line.
Many people in work depend on food banks.
The population of London is now more than 50% of African/Asian descent. Manchester, Birmingham and Bradford are not far behind. We have done our bit already.
Britain does not have the resources to take in any more refugees until the economy is in a much stronger position and the national debt is reduced.
Many migrants have admitted paying £5,000 to £10,000 to traffickers to get them to Calais.
Poor people living and working here would think they were millionaires to have that kind of money.
Jean Gardner. 3 Nicoll Building, Main Street, Bankfoot.
Salmond should stop blame game
Sir, – We hear the usual pot-stirring comments that we are accustomed to from Alex Salmond concerning illegal immigration.
Does it not occur to him that the great majority of so-called asylum-seekers are young men of African origin who are trying to enter UK illegally because they have heard all the stories of welfare largesse, not available to them in other countries of Europe?
We don’t need yet more unskilled migration into the UK.
We have enough unskilled people as it is, plus these asylum seekers’ command of English and knowledge of the culture into which they wish to integrate is doubtful to say the least.
We cannot forever have an open-door immigration policy and Mr Salmond should cease his tiresome political game-playing and come up with some helpful proposals and actions instead of the perpetuation of the old SNP blame game.
At the moment, the problems at Calais are seriously affecting the Scottish fishing industry that cannot export chilled produce because of the delays at Dover.
Why can’t Mr Salmond devote himself to this close-to-home problem without advocating giving in to the thousands of young men wishing to reside in the UK with neither the credentials nor the skills to make any sort of positive contribution to the UK?
Derek Farmer. Knightsward Farm, Anstruther.
Climate change is real threat
Sir, – If your correspondent Clark Cross doubts the seriousness of the consequences of global warming he need only look at two research documents published in recent months by the US Army.
They reveal the military establishment’s latest thinking in startlingly frank terms.
The research not only lends credence to environmental warnings about how climate change will fuel political instability, but also vindicates concerns about how looming resource shortages could destabilise the global economy.
The report flags up “climate change, rapid technology proliferation and shifts in centres of economic activity” as major forces of change.
It also specifically warns that US energy interests, including the need to regulate the global oil supply and price system, may lead to more US military interventions across the Middle East and Africa.
Clark Cross claims that fossil fuels give developing countries the chance to get themselves out of poverty.
This claim is nonsense. The IMF recently released a report that shows fossil fuel companies globally receive a subsidy of $5 trillion annually or $10 million per second.
So rather than giving money to poorer countries, fossil fuels cost them money. If this subsidy was eliminated it would cut global CO2 emissions by 20%.
A future without fossil fuels is necessary if humanity is too survive.
Mr Cross doesn’t think so because his religion is free-market Thatcherism.
He doesn’t believe that anything should get in the way of the holy doctrine of the invisible hand as preached by Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek.
Mr Cross asks what the solution is. There’s plenty of energy to be taken from wind, wave and solar sources.
Unfortunately, the Russian oligarchs, Middle East petro-dictators and major US oil companies have conspired to sabotage them in order to make more money.
Alan Hinnrichs, 2 Gillespie Terrace, Dundee.