Readers' letters: Keir Starmer is a true child of Thatcher

Those of those who lived through Thatcherism know very well that Margaret Thatcher’s ruthless conviction certainly got things done. She tolerated no alternative ideas, no restraint nor opposition; the consequences have been disastrous and are still costing lives.

Keir Starmer said Margaret Thatcher’s set loose Britain’s 'natural entrepreneurialism' (Picture: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Her deregulation of banks and privatisations of mutual building societies and savings banks grew into scandals and bankruptcies. She turned the City of London into a casino where 60 years of oil revenues have been gambled away.

​She came to Scotland and destroyed our steel industry before preaching to the Church of Scotland General Assembly that “greed is good”.

​She privatised the care service and began dismantling the NHS, laying the foundations of the Covid nightmare when one of her monstrous political offspring declared that the bodies could “pile up” in the name of profit. She verbally whipped the Archbishop of Canterbury who pleaded that her brand of conviction politics was destroying social cohesion.

​She was followed by more “conviction” politicians, one of whom invaded Iraq, creating an environmental disaster and costing many thousands of lives.

​Keir Starmer certainly demonstrates Margaret Thatcher's intolerance of alternative ideas. His ghastly refusal to distinguish between antisemitism and condemnation of Israeli persecution of Palestinians is one appalling example. With apparently no intention of declaring his policies in advance of an election his intention of emulating her cold-blooded ruthlessness is simply frightening.

Scotland should have none of it.

​Frances McKie, Evanton, Highland

Tunnel vision

Always eager to flaunt those left-wing credentials, the First Minister criticises Sir Keir Starmer for describing Margaret Thatcher as one of the few UK prime ministers with a clear political vision (Scotsman, 4 December).

Opinion is divided over the Iron Lady’s legacy. But at least she brought decades of economic stability and faced down the Soviet menace, despite demands for unilateral nuclear disarmament from CND and Labour leaders like Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock.

And what exactly has Humza Yousaf achieved, apart from a catalogue of dismal failures? The only vision this FM appears to possess is the tunnel variety.

Martin O’Gorman, Edinburgh

Starmer damaged

It’s not just Sir Keir Starmer’s praise for Margaret Thatcher that is damaging for Labour (Alexander Brown, 5 December) but his policies make Labour appear the Tory continuity party as evidenced by Labour’s shadow minister Steve Reed, who told Sky TV that he “liked the idea” of the Tory £38,000 immigration scheme that will damage the NHS while Labour want to increase health privatisation.

By adopting Tory fiscal rules and remaining outside the EU there will be no economic growth and Labour's plans guarantee that austerity and failing public services in the UK will continue for years to come. After the UK Autumn Statement, the OBR warned that the real value of government departmental spending is being cut by £19.1bn by 2027-28, which has implications for the Barnett consequentials.

On 23 November Labour’s First Minister Mark Drakeford told opposition members in the Senedd “to face the reality” that “there simply isn’t money” and that their budget was being cut year by year in real terms by Westminster. The Labour council in Nottingham that declared bankruptcy blamed Tory underfunding for 13 years, and inflation due to the Liz Truss economic fiasco, but Labour in Scotland pretends these things have had no impact on council funding in Scotland.

However, Keir Starmer’s admiration for Mrs Thatcher explains why Humza Yousaf is more popular than the Labour leader in the most recent Scottish opinion polls.

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh

Pandas’ return

It is heartening news that Tian Tian and Yang Guang have returned to China (Scotsman, 5 December).

It is heartening because it goes against the colonial policy of not returning anything which has landed in Britain, by either hook or crook. This colonial policy is still in practice, as seen by the attitude adopted by Rishi Sunak when cancelling his meeting with the Greek prime minister. This continuing attitude is likely to threaten the relations between two European friends.

Hasan Beg, Kirkcaldy, Fife

Napoleon’s doctor

It was great to see the article from Susan Morrison on the role played by Scots who both fought with and against Napoleon (2 December).

From Etienne Joseph Alexandre Macdonald, the son of a Jacobite refugee who rose to become Marshall of the French Empire, to Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, who took the final surrender of the Emperor on board the HMS Bellerophon, Scots are woven throughout Napoleon’s life.

One should add to that list Dr Archibald Arbuthnott from Ecclefechan, who was Napoleon’s doctor when he was exiled to St Helena. He was the fourth and last of Napoleon’s physicians on the Atlantic island, and reputed to be his most trusted one, serving the Emperor until his death in May 1821.

Indeed, Napoleon gave instructions that should he become insensible, no English physician but Arnott was to touch him. Napoleon died on 5 May, 1821, and Arnott attended his post-mortem examination, the report of which can currently be seen at an exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. In his retirement, Dr Arnott returned to Ecclefechan, where he is buried in the churchyard. So not only did a Scot accept the Emperor’s surrender, but a Scot also tended him at the end of his life.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

Accentuate positive

Yet again we have the SNP girning about the UK Government’s immigration policies which may impact on our health and social care systems by restricting the relatives of immigrant workers and make working here less attractive (Scotsman, 5 December).

Of course that may happen but why doesn’t the Scottish Government try to take any positives from the situation and make these professions more appealing to Scottish workers? The social care sector has been undervalued and underpaid for decades, relying on lower-paid workers from abroad to keep the system stuttering along with little future planning from politicians despite an ageing population making the need for an effective care service more acute.

Covid shone the spotlight on care homes, with government promises to reform the sector and make it worthy of the caring and skilful workers required. This has yet to materialise. If the SNP government can find money to produce ‘independence’ reports to gather dust on shelves, it can fund a better social care sector.

Bob MacDougall, Kippen, Stirling

Panto season

Is the SNP in pantomime mode? Chris Stephens, the SNP immigration spokesman, says the biggest threat to Scotland's NHS is Westminster control.

The Scottish NHS is totally under Scotland’s control and there are lots of unemployed people in Scotland who can fill these spaces. Is this just a cover for Humza Yousaf to keep blaming others for the decline in our NHS in true pantomime fashion? Oh yes it is. The wicked stepmother is always Westminster but the fairy godmother is Westminster too. The difference is that in SNP-speak, fairy godmothers don’t exist here, only in Brussels.

Time for the SNP to grow up and face up to life’s problems otherwise there will never be a happy ending.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Populist politics

Can this awful government stoop any lower in pandering to their ghastly right wing. James Cleverly’s announcement of curbs to legal migration are cruel, heartless and totally misguided.

Let’s shout out loud that we need legal immigrants, we want legal immigrants and we don’t want or need this government!

Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Edinburgh

Livestock farming

Readers should not fall into the trap of equating methane output from livestock with global warming. Global warming is caused by the release of fossil carbon underground being released into the air, thereby adding to the total amount of carbon in the air.

Livestock (and humans) when emitting methane are merely recycling atmospheric carbon, that is they eat grass, and in digesting it, convert some back into atmospheric carbon in the form of methane. They are not adding any new carbon to the air. Certainly methane has a greater warming effect than carbon dioxide, but it does not remain in the atmosphere for long compared to carbon dioxide.

It is therefore an error to equate natural carbon cycling with global warming: natural systems have always emitted methane to the air, whether from grazing animals, peatlands, wetlands or in plant decomposition generally.

Livestock farming gets an unfair press. The low intensity livestock farming of the Scottish uplands, utilising land which could never be used to grow food and with low food miles, is perhaps one of the most environmentally friendly forms of food possible In Scotland.

Dr James Fenton, Oban, Argyll and Bute

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid 'Letters to the Editor/Readers’ Letters' or similar in your subject line – be specific. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.