Latest news with #DougMaughan
The Herald Scotland
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Does anyone believe Starmer will grow a spine like Macron has?
Doug Maughan, Dunblane. In the name of God, go There have been many disturbing and distressing scenes in Gaza showing the effects of the profound upheaval on the people endeavouring to eke out an existence there. One would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by these scenes, particularly those involving women and children. A scene which particularly moved me recently was of a young mother, ill in bed in hospital, saying goodbye to her young daughter, who had already been made ready for her funeral. I am reminded of the words of Oliver Cromwell to the Rump Parliament and later used by Leo Amery to Neville Chamberlain: "In the name of God go." Today I would direct these words to all those responsible for the inhumanity and cruelty being inflicted upon the ill-used people of Gaza. Ian W Thomson, Lenzie. • Just last week, we heard about the gargantuan efforts of mostly working-class musicians, led by the incredibly tenacious Bob Geldof to help people, thousands of miles away, who were starving. All it took was a broadcast by Michael Buerk to make Bob spring into action. With the undoubted help of Midge Ure, they saved thousands of lives. We found out recently that even the normally hard-hearted Tory government contributed. Today, we know that people are being deliberately starved by a so-called democracy by the name of Israel. The governments of the world, with a few exceptions, are allowing this to happen. Shame on them. It is being left, once again, to the people to point out how very wrong this is. Be in no doubt, these are crimes against God and humanity. Jane Porteous, Kinross. The West is complicit In your recent article '[[Israel]] strikes kill at least 20 in [[Gaza]] as Lammy threatens more sanctions' (The Herald, July 23) the Foreign Secretary is quoted as saying he is 'appalled and sickened by [[Israel]]'s actions in [[Gaza]]'. I suggest that Israel's actions with regard to its treatment of the Palestinians will go down in history as an extreme example of the inhumanity of which we as a species are capable. Being halfway through the third decade of the 21st century, we apparently have made little progress in our 'moral evolution'. I wish to pass on some sentences from an article by Rabbi Noa Sattath, Executive Director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel which I read in the liberal/left Israeli newspaper Haaretz (July 22): 'Israelis forget that human beings live in Gaza. If people aren't human beings, they can be starved, beaten and raped. We need to extricate ourselves from the moral abyss into which we have tumbled.' I suggest that the 'we' referred to in the immediately previous paragraph is not just the Israeli government but those countries in the West which have aided and abetted Benjamim Netanyahu in his genocide. One way of our making reparations to the Palestinians would be for the UK to take the lead in working towards the implementation of the two-state solution. John Milne, Uddingston. Read more letters Other dates to remember Disturbingly, much of our media continue to imply that the current conflict in Gaza had its origin on October 7, 2023. Along with "9/11" the date is a shorthand for attacks in which Americans and Israelis died. I challenge you to tell me what September 16 or April 13 or April 9 represent. Significantly, few of your readers will know but it is your duty to remind them of these dates. On April 9, 1948 the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin was attacked by the Irgun and other Zionist terrorists and 107 civilians killed. The rest were driven out in this early attempt at ethnic cleansing. On September 16, 1982 the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon were attacked by Lebanese fascists, assisted by Israeli forces and between 1,500 and 2,000 men, women and children were massacred. On April 13, 1996 Israeli aircraft attacked a village in South Lebanon, Mansouri, after ordering the inhabitants to evacuate. The volunteer ambulance driver packed his own family and his neighbours into the ambulance to flee. The ambulance was rocketed, with the death of all it occupants except the driver. I could go on. The list is endless. So you see that this horror did not begin on October 7, 2023 and, for the Palestinians, it continues and is likely to do so until they are eliminated. Our press could do the right thing and commemorate these anniversaries. unless it is only the lives of Americans and Israelis that matter. I beg you to do so. David Currie, Tarland. But why Troon? Feeling sympathy for the poor residents of Prestwick and Turnberry, we didn't expect that The Donald's visit to Ayrshire would bother us. We were wrong. Our usual walk through Troon this morning (July 25), past Donald Crescent incidentally, was blocked by police, who have set up camp at the local high school, necessitating a detour round its perimeter. Is nowhere immune to the disruption he causes? David Bruce, Troon. 1,000 years? So what? I agree that "we must focus on nuclear" (Letters, July 24) because the closer we look, the more obvious it is to see what a dangerous pig in a poke it is. Your correspondent Peter Wright claims that discarded turbine blades cannot be sent to landfill – and in the next line, tells us that in the USA they are buried. He states that we are a clever species who will be able to reduce the half-life of toxic nuclear waste but he believes that we are incapable of ever recycling turbine blades. He, rightly, points out that concrete bases for turbines produce a lot of CO2 but omits to highlight the megatons of concrete required to build a nuclear power station and even more for waste storage. He tells us that Hitachi is experimenting with a reactor that might be able to reduce the half-life of nuclear waste from 30,000 years to a mere 1,000. I wonder if he can name an institute, government, empire or supervisory body that has ever survived that long, or more importantly, one in the future that could monitor the safe storage for that length of time and even less likely, one to provide that service for the waste we have already produced, with a 30,000 year half-life. David Hay, Minard. A truly sad loss I was truly saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Jamie McGrigor ("Tributes to 'kind and dedicated' former Tory MSP McGrigor who has died at 75", The Herald, July 23). Jamie devoted so much of his life to public service – first as an MSP and later as a councillor for Argyll and Bute. But more than his titles or years of service, it was the way he carried himself that left a lasting impression on so many of us. Thoughtful, kind, and principled, Jamie was someone who brought both wisdom and compassion to everything he did. I had the real honour of working alongside him on Argyll and Bute Council. He was never interested in attention or praise – he simply got on with the job and always kept the people he served at the heart of every decision. In a world where politics can often feel cynical or performative, Jamie was the real thing: steady, sincere, and deeply committed to making life better for others. He will be missed – not just as a public figure, but as a colleague and a good man. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, his friends, and all those across our community who had the privilege of knowing him. Rest in peace, Sir Jamie. Thank you for your service. Councillor Alastair Redman, Kintyre and the Islands ward, Islay. It's economics, not misogyny The lack of common sense, relativity and any basic understanding of how sponsors choose to invest their cash creates a spurious argument about gender injustice ("Fresh funding boost to resolve gender 'injustice' in Scottish golf", The Herald, July 24). All sports sponsorship is based on the value of brand exposure via the media and TV in particular. The whole assessment is based on viewing figures. Gender has nothing to with it. Indeed, the separation of male and female sports is, in itself, based on the belief that female sportswoman would struggle very badly to survive in any male version of a sport. Women's golf has made huge strides forward in the past 20 years, as has women's football. However, I headed along to Irvine this morning (July 24) to play at my course and passed by Dundonald Golf Club at around 9.30am. The Women's Scottish Open is being held there today. No traffic jams, no police directing traffic. Consider that compared to the men's event at the Renaissance Club recently. This is why TV put so much more cash into men's golf. It's economics, not misogyny. It's like trying to say the SPFL teams should be getting the same as English Premier League teams. It's just not possible. In order for women's golf or football to continue to grow it's essential that more women start to actually attend the tournaments and matches. If there were 20k people a day at the Women's Scottish Open then it wouldn't take long for TV to pump more cash in. The big objective for the leaders of women's sports is to increase attendances steadily over the next five years. That's common sense. John Gilligan, Ayr. Charlotte Laffar of England at the Women's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links (Image: PA) Pronoun problems This obsession amongst the vocal minority about which incorrect pronoun they must be referred to, in order to keep their thin skins intact, is becoming ridiculous. As previous contributors have noted, all grammatical sense sometimes goes out of the window. Remember Sam Smith and his aspiration to be a "fisherthem"? That suggests that those he would class as binary would be a "fisherhim" or "fisherher". (I shan't apologise for using the words "his" and "he" in the preceding sentences. To my mind, I'm not misgendering him. He's misgendering himself. In fact, the word "misgender" exists in neither my Chambers nor Oxford dictionaries). Brian Johnston, Torrance. Delayed reaction With the plight of the victims of the infected blood and Post Office scandals being recently highlighted once again, I have to, in my 79th year, agree that you are never past learning. MoD: it actually stands for Masters of Delay. The wretched Establishment at its best. Andrew Liddell, Banknock.
The Herald Scotland
16-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Is it any wonder that the UK is such an unequal society?
Do our imperial masters still consider our country to be part of the British Empire and try to consolidate that status by handing out a few baubles in the hope of keeping the masses happy? No wonder the UK is such an unequal society, led by a Prime Minister who also happens to be a benighted knight of the realm. Dennis Canavan, Bannockburn. Inexcusable indifference I refer to Doug Maughan's letter of June 13, 'Hypocrisy and double standards taint the West's view of Israel'. I suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu believes that as long as he has Donald Trump guarding his back, he has nothing to fear from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Trump administration has already imposed sanctions on four judges at the ICC over the tribunal's investigation into Israel's alleged war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. While the five countries (thankfully including the UK) who are imposing sanctions on two Israeli far-right ministers are members of the ICC, neither Israel nor the US is. Both are countries which believe they are above international law, outwith the bounds of common decency. Mr Maughan's letter ought to be recognised as a call not only to our 'leaders' but to each one of us. We must resist 'the temptation to shrug and look away'. Indifference, silence, on our part to such suffering as the Palestinians are experiencing is inexcusable and makes us allies of Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers. John Milne, Uddingston. * Doug Maughan may also be interested to know that it has been reported that former Labour MP Lord Austin has been sent by the government to Israel 'as a trade envoy to maintain our relationship with Israeli businesses.' Money is also regularly raised by the sale of Israeli government bonds on the London market. Israeli banks involved in the West Bank are also active in London. I'm sure that the Prime Minister, being an ex-lawyer, will be able to explain to this confused member of the public why Israel's activities in Gaza and the West Bank are much less serious than those of Russia in Ukraine and the former South African government, both sanctioned. Ewan Henderson, Haddington. Let's sanction this warfare state History repeats itself with false claims about what a perceived enemy is about to do. On February 3, 2003, British journalists were handed a dossier purporting to show Iraq had weapons of mass destruction ready to be used within days in an attack on the UK. Tony Blair went on television later that month saying Iraq had 'vast quantities of... anthrax, VX nerve agent, and mustard gas' and we had to strike. On June 14, 2025 Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Iran could have produced a nuclear weapon in a very short time' while a henchman averred that 'Iran had enough fission material for 15 nuclear bombs within days'. Yet weeks earlier Tulsi Gabbard, the US National Intelligence Director, stated to Congress that the US 'continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon' and that its leader 'has not authorised a nuclear weapons programme that he suspended in 2003'. Over the past year Israel has mercilessly bombed Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and now Iran, killing thousands and causing chaos and carnage. It is a warfare state. With a population of 10 million it has over 600 warplanes, not far short of the total strength of the RAF. It is led by an extreme right-wing cabal untrusted by 70% of the Israeli people, according to opinion polls. It's time for the UK to place sanctions on this dangerous regime and stop supplying arms, intelligence and material to it. William Loneskie, Lauder, Berwickshire. Spineless attitude towards Iran My, how times change. Under our current Labour party leadership Britain has given away the Chagos Isles, handed the EU a say in the future of Gibraltar and now produces no response to the Iranian threat to our shores if we aid Israel. Where is the spine of the British government? When given a choice of supporting Iran or Israel in the current situation there should be no hesitation yet there is and Labour has been very critical of only Israel. Israel has targeted precise locations for missiles whilst Iran has just fired them off indiscriminately. Where is the harsh criticism of Iran, where the press can only report stories favourable to the regime? Does Labour think the world will really be safer if Iran has a nuclear bomb? Right now that seems to be its position, ably backed up in Scotland by the theoretically anti-nuclear SNP and the Greens. Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow. Nuclear power and renewables Can anyone explain to me how hydro power and nuclear power are equivalent in how they supply electricity to the grid? ('Should Scotland blindly follow England down the nuclear power path?', Rebecca McQuillan, June 12). My understanding is that the amount of energy produced by a nuclear plant is pretty much fixed. It can not easily be modulated to increase or reduce output and the only change comes when it is being serviced (a planned break) or when there is a fault (an unplanned break). Whereas the hydro power system that Rebecca talks about has a reservoir into which water can be pumped at times of excess electricity. Then, at times of high demand for electricity, water can be released from the reservoir to generate power. The hydro power/reservoir system works like a battery that can be switched on and off at times of high or low demand. So nuclear power and the hydro/reservoir system perform fundamentally differently. If we have nuclear power, we need an additional system to deal with the ups and downs of electricity demand and to deal with the times when the nuclear power station closes down, which can happen unexpectedly. This flexible source of energy could be provided by a battery type system (such as the hydro power/reservoir system) or a generator that can be powered up and down easily (such as a gas-fired power station) or a cable from Norway or somewhere. Nuclear power does nothing to offset the ups and downs of renewables. J. Pountain, Glasgow. A fair system of Legal Aid One has to hope that our nation is sufficiently civilised as to enable those of otherwise insufficient means to obtain access to legal representation in our courts ('Scots court chaos looms as solicitors boycott scheme', June 10). At the same time, that seems unlikely to happen when you consider the competing claims on public finances, such as the NHS, the putative care service, dilapidated schools, housing crisis, national defence, winter fuel payments, the two-child benefit cap, ferries and other causes that are more likely than legal aid to appeal to the electorate. Even if the current campaign were to achieve a realistic settlement, for how long would that last? Clearly the government has no long-term will to support an effective legal aid system. I would therefore like to ask the solicitors' profession where lies the constitutional duty to provide public access to justice, whether with the government as the national executive or with the judicial arm of the nation's constitution. Certainly, the government is signed up to international treaties to provide access to justice but that appears to have cut little ice in the last 40 years since the state took over control of the legal aid system from the solicitors' profession. The whole raison d'etre of that profession and of the constitutional monopoly it enjoys in professional legal representation, is that it has a responsibility to the whole nation, whether or not the government provides sufficient financial support. A solicitor's duty to an immediate client may therefore require to be balanced with the responsibility of the profession to the public as a whole. Consideration therefore might need to be given to a system which operates in other jurisdictions. whereby the solicitors' profession provides legal representation for the impecunious, financed equitably across the profession out of fees paid by the financially more fortunate clients of that profession. This would be somewhat along the lines of the legal representation that was made available via the Poor Roll, prior to the formal institution of the legal aid system which has now fallen into substantial disrepair. Michael Sheridan, Scotstoun, Glasgow.
The Herald Scotland
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Hypocrisy and double standards taint the West's view of Israel
The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. The UN and the International Court of Justice have said time and again that the occupation is illegal, but that hasn't stopped Israel from allowing 700,000 of its citizens to settle there, displacing Palestinians by often violent means in the process. The Israeli military have actively assisted in the eviction of ordinary Palestinian families from their homes and land. Yet only now does the West take baby steps to express its displeasure; it's far too little and far too late. Do our leaders not recognise their hypocrisy and double standards? There's no doubt that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a brutal and illegal act, rightly condemned by the West. But Russia hasn't reduced Ukraine to rubble and what it's doing is a recognisable war of imperial conquest. What Benjamin Netanyahu's Israel is doing in the West Bank is ethnic cleansing; in Gaza, there's no war, but there is genocide. The evil of apartheid in South Africa was overturned by a determined campaign of boycott, divestment and sanction. Why on earth are we not doing the same to Israel? Apartheid was a cruel, racist policy, but it didn't involve dropping one-tonne bombs on terrified families in tents, it didn't involve the slaughter of 17,000 children in a little over a year and a half. Yet South African athletes were barred from international competition, while Israel is invited to sing a cheery song at the Eurovision Song Contest; why? The West appears to have lost its moral compass, or maybe we've just become inured to scenes of atrocity on our screens. We see and hear dreadful reports from so many parts of the world and it can be tempting to just shrug and look away. That's a temptation that must be resisted. We should be looking out for our neighbours, doing what we can to help the weak and innocent when they are assailed by violent oppressors. And, in the modern connected world, everybody is a neighbour. Doug Maughan, Dunblane. Why can't London replace Faslane? WHAT a surprise! Rachel Reeves has included a couple of important 'gifts' to Scotland from the large proportion of our Scottish taxes that Westminster keeps, under the pretext of using them to pay for pan-UK projects like Crossrail and HS2. We are, after all, to get the new computer for Edinburgh University that was promised before the general election last year, but cancelled when Labour won a big enough majority not to need Scottish support. We will also get funds for the Acorn carbon capture project in Aberdeenshire, which was ready to establish a world-first pilot more than a decade ago, but was refused funding by Westminster, in spite of support from the oil companies agreeing to the use of their pipelines and depleted wells, and at a time when its success might have saved Longannet. This project site was also bypassed when funding was allocated instead to two sites in England and was left on the back-burner. I wonder, however, if even now, it will actually go ahead. I may be becoming a conspiracy theorist, but I suspect these two funding offers are the bribe to sweeten the pill of Scotland providing the facilities for the Westminster intention to increase the nuclear components of their defence plans and to base them at Faslane, as far from London as possible. I believe that is precisely the purpose of the funding to 'upgrade' to that site and will be the first recipient project to be undertaken. Thereafter, it is not beyond possibility that 'changing fiscal circumstances' might still see the other two cancelled, again. I firmly believe that the majority of Scots already consider that having nuclear capacity so close to our largest city makes us a first-strike target and want them removed. If it is safe enough on that site, then somewhere on the Thames in the periphery of London should be equally safe. Of course, when the upgrade is completed, the redundant submarines et cetera will then quickly be added to the rotting hulks at Rosyth and radioactive material buried somewhere in the north of Scotland. Are we happy to host yet more, more powerful, nukes, attack submarines and such dangerous material anywhere in Scotland? If not, independence is the only way to avoid it, and soon! L. McGregor, Falkirk. Time is up for the nationalists IN the spending allocation Scotland has been given a record £52 billion for its budget and the predicted reaction from the SNP is that it's not enough. The harsh reality is that the SNP have over the last 18 years totally mismanaged funds and wasted millions of pounds through total incompetence and poor commercial judgement such as the ferry fiasco, Prestwick Airport, and pursuing lost causes in the courts. The Hamilton by-election allowed the Scottish voter a say in what they thought about the SNP and gave them a real bloody nose as change is urgently needed in Scotland and the time is now up for the SNP. Dennis Forbes Grattan, Bucksburn, Aberdeen Swinney should lead SNP next May IT is unbelievable that senior SNP figures should be contemplating a change in leader of the party with less than a year to go until the next Scottish Parliamentary Election. Other than appointing Nigel Farage, a change of leader will do nothing for the party's chances next May. The sensible course of action is to fight the next election with John Swinney as leader and then consider changing leader in a controlled and dignified manner. Knee-jerk reactions do no credit to the SNP and if that is the way in which they intend to behave it does not augur well for an independent Scotland. Sandy Gemmill, Edinburgh. WHEN you think of all the things Labour's Joani Reid could have raised with Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions It seems strange that Ms Reid should squander her opportunity by asking whether Sir Keir thought John Swinney 'should stay put' as SNP leader following the Hamilton Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. Ms Reid made no mention of the raft of SNP successes in defeating Labour at recent council by-elections, including a double win in March. So certainly, Mr Swinney should stay put. Ruth Marr, Stirling. Unhealthy competition HEALTH Minister Neil Gray said that 'A&E in Scotland faces similar pressures to those elsewhere in the UK.' May I remind Mr. Gray that running our health service is not a race against England, Wales or Northern Ireland. It's not a competition to see who has the best medical services. You were elected to be part of the Scottish cabinet doing a very important job for Scotland. Unfortunately you're not very good at it. Ian Balloch, Grangemouth. Managing NHS resources YOUR correspondent, David Gilchrist, asks whether the resources of the NHS could be more economically organised (letters, June 11). An important issue, to be sure. Premises and equipment are essential, certainly, but the most important and expensive resource the NHS employs is its workforce. Mr Gilchrist offers three negative portrayals of NHS staff. Firstly, you can see 'a large number of staff milling about, sitting at computers.' Apart from the obvious fact that using a computer is an absolutely essential part of the delivery of patient care, it's a good trick to be able to 'mill about' while sitting at one. Secondly, the staff is described as 'enormous.' Well, yes, look at how much work needs to be done. Thirdly, 'unionised' is used pejoratively. This is insulting. Unions exist to ensure that working people are fairly rewarded for the work that they do. Does anybody think that they shouldn't be? AJ Clarence, Prestwick. English people heading north IN Jane Lax's partly justifiable critique of Scotland under the SNP ('Why on earth would anyone want to come to Scotland?', letters, June 12) she ignores the fact that, as a recent newspaper article elsewhere has highlighted, immigration from England is booming. It also said that those coming to the UK will tend to seek their compatriots already here ('birds of a feather fly together'), most of whom are in England's conurbations. George Morton, Rosyth.
The Herald Scotland
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Do our leaders not care about the children of Gaza?
When things were good, you had ambitions to be a teacher or a doctor but there's no way that can happen now, after 19 months of destruction of homes, schools, universities and hospitals. Every night is torture, as you hear the explosions from bombing and shelling. What hope is there left? Once upon a time, it seems an age ago now, you prayed that somebody would come along and help your family. For a little while they did, and at least you got enough food. But then the bombing and shelling started up once more, worse than ever. Every night you fall asleep wondering if this will be the night you'll be blown to pieces. You've heard that a man called Yair Golan, who used to be an Israeli general and is now leader of a political party, said that 'a sane state… does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set goals for itself like the expulsion of a population' ('Health officials say Israeli strikes across Gaza have killed at least 85 people', The Herald, May 21). If a man with his experience can say that, why do the world's leaders not understand what is happening – or do they just not care? Apparently the UK, which used to rule Israel, has suspended free trade negotiations with Israel. You ask yourself: will that stop the Israeli Defence Force from killing me tonight? Doug Maughan, Dunblane. • The Israeli government has been continuing its heinous campaign of destroying Palestine's future, its children, ever since the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the following press release in April 2024: 'UN experts today expressed grave concern over the pattern of attacks on schools, universities, teachers and students in the Gaza Strip, raising serious alarm over the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system…. It may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as 'scholasticide''….which term refers to 'the systemic obliteration of education through the arrest, detention or killing of teachers, students and staff, and the destruction of educational infrastructure'. It is not unusual for those of us who denounce Israel for its massacre of Palestinian children to be challenged to the effect that all over the world children are suffering and dying, it being antisemitic to censure Israel in particular. Unicef for instance reveals that 'by almost every measure, 2024 was one of the worst years on record for children living in conflict zones in Unicef's history. More than one in six children globally now live in areas affected by conflict, forced to face unthinkable violations'. It is not that Palestinian children deserve more concern than, for instance, Sudanese and Ukrainian children. The issue with Israel is the role that the UK plays in supplying the Israeli government with the means to rain down hell on Palestinian innocents. Certainly not in my name! I acknowledge Unicef's insistence that 'citizens everywhere can begin by refusing to avert our gaze from children's suffering, or not staying silent when attacks on children occur'. No matter where. Including Palestine. John Milne, Uddingston. Read more Support the many decent Israelis George Fergusson ("The right way to protest at Gaza blockade'', May 21) is to be applauded in condemning the endless slaughter, the neglect of the hostages and the very late condemnation of Israel by governments. Of course it was, as he says, a barbarous attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 that began "the current chain of ghastly events". But failure to condemn Hamas without justification, which he criticises, may be associated with the fact that Israel, with adequate foreknowledge of the event, did not take appropriate action. Frontier surveillance had regularly reported the very unusual activity required for such an incursion. "Not or my watch", subsequent resignation reason of the two leading defence generals, and the head of Shin Bet, would seem to point the finger at government level. The fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu was at that time under growing personal and political scrutiny might have increased his temptation to look the other way. Recently he cancelled permanently the long-delayed independent inquiry, required by law, perhaps as reaction to the millions of Israelis protesting at the actions being taken in their name. The current surge indicates continuing lack of interest in release of the hostages; and what is now known of October 7 culpability reveals, even worse, their initial betrayal. That governments have somehow managed to be blind to those horrors perceived by their citizens brings to mind Eyeless in Gaza, Aldous Huxley's novel on the awful horrors of war. There are now hopeful signs of improved perception. As Mr Fergusson says, the time has come to be "in step with millions of decent Israelis". There is indeed an urgent requirement for various forms of all-nation, all-party support, with strong vision to create an enduring peace and restoration of a secure Palestine and Israel. Murdo Grant, Rosemarkie. Has Labour lost the plot? Has the Labour Government completely lost the plot? It is demanding that Israel surrender to the Palestinian cause which wants to eliminate Israel's very existence and replace it with an Islamic state. Whilst doing this it is also giving the Chagos Islands away to Mauritius, an ally of China, without even consulting the inhabitants of these islands who appear to want to stay British. Not only that but the cash-strapped UK will also give Mauritius billions of pounds as well. Is there anybody left in the Labour Government who actually considers the consequences of its actions? Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow. A telling picture President Trump's false attack on South Africa ("Trump uses White House meeting to confront South African president over farmers", heraldscotland, May 22) seems to be based on a video of people calling for attacks on the farmers. If a video is the basis for condemning a country what do the videos of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol building tell us? Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia. Donald Trump with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office on Wednesday (Image: PA) Sneaky tactics against consumers Up from 2.6% in March, headline inflation in April rose to 3.5% annually according to the Office for National Statistics, moving it further away from the Bank of England's 2% target, thereby dampening hopes for more rapid interest rate reductions going forward ("Reeves under fire as inflation rockets to highest level in a year", The Herald, May 22). The remorseless pressure on the household budgets continues: according to the BoE the cumulative effect of general price increases post-Covid has eroded the purchasing power of consumers by 23.5%. This is not the only factor affecting value for money for the consumer. 'Shrinkflation' (where the size or quantity of a product is reduced while the price rises marginally or remains similar) and "skimpflation" (where the quality or quantity of ingredients is reduced while the price rises marginally or remains similar) are now tactics commonly deployed by manufacturers and retailers to pass on rising production and retail costs to unwary customers in more subtle and opaque ways. Consumer watchdogs, such as Which?, continue to highlight this blight described by some as 'exploitative' and 'sneaky'. Ongoing research shows a wide range of well-known branded products are affected: toothpaste, mouthwash, tea, coffee, crisps, confectionery, biscuits, butter, yoghurts, processed meats, ready meals etc. Never has 'caveat emptor' (buyer beware) been more appropriate. Related switching behaviour is now benefitting own-branded products and cheaper retail outlets. Pressure is growing on supermarkets and manufacturers to become much more transparent and to ensure prominent and consistent unit pricing so consumers are better informed to make best choices. So far, the Government has shown little appetite to fight for hard-pressed consumers. Hopefully this changes, as consumers are the largest of all voting constituencies and these issues provide an obvious focus for pro-active policies designed a) to ameliorate the more subtle negative effects of a high and ever-rising cost of living and b) to better protect the value of the pound in the consumer's pocket. Ewen Peters, Newton Mearns.
