Snide comment about the SNP's lack of action was factually incorrect
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
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