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Wales' marine policy labelled 'rudderless' as MSs call for end to bottom trawling
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The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Snide comment about the SNP's lack of action was factually incorrect
There have been a plethora of similar self-proclaimed 'radical' and 'left' parties and groupings founded over the past 60 or so years, but none of them has gained any significant and/or sustained degree of traction. READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn's new outfit won't back indyref2. No British party will The inescapable fact is that the 'working classes' and the various other target groups identified by those parties simply chose not to support or vote for them! Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana no doubt have noble aims behind their decision to form a new party of the left south of the Border but I fear that they, like some present-day Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, will end up tilting at inanimate windmills, having traversed an arid and inhospitable landscape. In his column Mark Brown also filled up space by having a customary pop at the SNP. I took particular issue with his snide comment that 'The party ... has never so much as broken a window in the cause of independence'. I appreciate that the incident may have taken place before Mark's time, but I recall Jim Sillars nursing a heavily bandaged cut arm and hand sustained while seeking – via a window – to enter and occupy the old Royal High School building in Edinburgh in 1981 as part of the SNP's then civil disobedience campaign. It is not only BBC Scotland that get their 'facts' wrong! Brian McGarry Inverkeithing IAIN K of Dunoon in his Long Letter (Jul 11) makes an important point about the House of Lords, and the iniquity of 'Lords Spiritual', ie, 26 English Anglican bishops, in particular, influencing decisions on Scotland within the British constitution. No Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish Anglican bishop sits in the House of Lords. Neither does any Roman Catholic bishop. It is the Scottish Episcopal Church that continues in communion with the Anglican family of churches, which includes the Episcopal Church in the USA, the first bishop of which was consecrated in Aberdeen by Scottish bishops in 1784. READ MORE: Ian Murray panned for 'disgraceful' U-turns as past motions resurface I recall two examples that The National has covered on English bishops in the House of Lords attempting to influence decisions upon Scotland: 1. 'Archbishop Sentamu to back UK's Brexit power grab on Holyrood' (March 22, 2018). 2. 'Lord [spiritual, Rt Rev, Julian Henderson, Bishop of Blackburn] suggests England should get a vote in 2023 Scottish independence referendum' (June 23, 2022). Another interesting point that Iain K provides is that the Church of England, until as late as 1870, was wary of providing schools for poor children as there was fear that an educated public could 'destabilise the establishment'. The reason I grew up in an Episcopalian family was because my late father, who was Aberdeenshire Liberal before joining with me to vote SNP with me on my first election in the 70s, commenced his education in 1920 at an Episcopal mission school in Peterhead. It was called the Chapel School. James M Aberdeen IT was certainly encouraging to read your article 'Government invests £85m to expand Hospital at Home service' (Jul 10), especially as the First Minister announced this investment while on a visit to Falkirk. However, why did I have to go to page 19 before I read such an important announcement, which ultimately impacts on us all, whether we have cause to use the wonderful services of our NHS or just assured that the service is there for us, free at the point of need? Catriona C Clark Falkirk WHY does Westminster make such a habit of looking at problems from the wrong end? Surely the right place to start looking for savings in the recent shambolic welfare pantomime is where the problems originate, within the management of the system? I saw figures from research some time ago which revealed that only 1% of payments made were fraudulent, but 7% were due to errors made by the department. Whether any of this is due to inefficient or too-complex systems, training of staff, understaffing or human error, it must be possible to reform the system, make it speedy and efficient, make it quick and easy to identify and reclaim any overpayments, and avoid most of them in the first place. Would this not save more than is proposed to be taken from the sick and disabled? P Davidson Falkirk YOUR leader of July 12 covers criticism of BBC Scotland for giving a prime slot to the 'small boats' story. Fair enough, but this never-ending immigration has (a) economic (b) demographic and (c) security repercussions here. READ MORE: BBC slated for pushing small boat crossings as top Scottish story To (a): Scots taxpayers have to stump up for accommodation and other costs; to (b): our population is now in overshoot due to increasing immigration by English folk, some of whom have moved from towns in which they no longer feel at home; and to (c): the security implications of the Channel being a barn door are huge. If I wished to avenge Gaza, I'd be smuggling in my people carrying phials of biotoxins, dirty bombs, etc etc, to be used anywhere in the UK (remember Glasgow Airport?). George Morton Rosyth
Spectator
11 hours ago
- Spectator
Reform is right to reject Liz Truss
Reform UK topping the opinion polls and winning local council elections has prompted several leading Tories to defect. But now Nigel Farage's insurgent party is riding so high that it is getting choosy about which Conservatives it will accept into its swelling ranks. If too many Tories join Reform they will begin to look like a convenient vehicle for rats leaving the sinking Tory ship Sources in the party have told the Mail on Sunday that it would spurn any attempt to defect by former Prime Minister Liz Truss or former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, as both are so unpopular that they would 'damage Reform's public image'. Reform leader Nigel Farage confirmed that any approach by the two women would cause a heated debate in his party over the wisdom of admitting them. Truss became prime minister in September 2022 after being chosen by Tory party members over Rishi Sunak, following the resignation of Boris Johnson. But she was forced to quit herself after just 45 days in No. 10 when world markets reacted negatively to a tax cutting and borrowing budget from her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, causing financial chaos. She was speedily replaced by Sunak. Truss lost her Norfolk seat in the Tory rout in last year's general election, but Braverman is still MP for Fareham in Hampshire. Both have been considered possible future recruits for Reform, especially after Braverman's businessman husband Rael joined the insurgent party in December. It is a measure of Reform's current confidence – or arrogance – that it feels able to reject such senior figures should they contemplate crossing the floor. Last week, it was revealed that former Tory party chairman Sir Jake Berry and former Welsh Secretary Sir David Jones had quit the Tories and joined Reform, becoming the fourth and fifth former MPs to have done so since the election. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch reacted angrily to the defections by saying that the pair had never been real Conservatives anyway. Reform has been topping the opinion polls for months, pushing the Tories into a humiliating third place behind Labour. And the party is winning real elections too. They took control of ten local authorities in May, and in the ten council by-elections held last week, Reform won four and came second in another five. But the spate of Tory defections carries a danger for the populist party: if too many Tories join them they will begin to look like the old Conservatives dressed in new clothes, and become a convenient vehicle for rats leaving the sinking Tory ship who are seeking an easy way of rejoining the Westminster gravy train. Reform's entire USP is that they are not Tories or Labour. They may be untried and untested, but they claim to offer a real alternative to the two old parties who have failed Britain so dismally in government. While recruiting seasoned professional politicians like Berry and Jones adds welcome weight and experience to the party, it also risks tainting Reform with the failures of the past. Critics of Sir Jake's defection, for example, pointed out that as a stalwart Remainer during the Brexit referendum and a staunch supporter of net-zero policies, he was hardly a natural fit for the Brexiteer populists he has joined. Berry's old colleagues accuse him of unprincipled opportunism in signing up to Reform. Nigel Farage's successful strategy has been to target Labour leaning working-class voters in the red wall areas of the north, Midlands and Wales, so he must be very careful not to alienate such people by looking like the Tories who they have so firmly rejected. Disillusioned voters are looking for a real fresh and new alternative – not old wine in new bottles.
Cambrian News
13 hours ago
- Cambrian News
Wales' marine policy labelled 'rudderless' as MSs call for end to bottom trawling
Ms Finch-Saunders told Senedd members: 'Stopping this wicked trawling in MPAs would be one of the most impactful steps that this Welsh Government could take in meeting nature and climate commitments for protecting and effectively managing 30% of our sea by 2030.'
