Readers' letters: Library closures in rural Scotland will harm literacy levels

As a long-term teacher and writer who grew up in a rural area, there is no doubt in my mind that the current situation relating to libraries in small towns and country communities has become both disturbing and alarming.

Last week we saw more threats to their existence. In Argyll and Bute, for instance, areas such as Tarbert and the island of Tiree are experiencing such a phenomenon. This is despite the fact that both areas have a long literary tradition among their people.

Are these places unique? Unfortunately not. Recently I heard a librarian in the Western Isles take part in a public discussion in which she mentioned the possibility of that area no longer having public libraries between the Butt of Lewis and Barra. There have also been closures elsewhere with over 40 coming to a sharp and sudden end, largely in rural areas and small towns throughout Scotland in the past decade. This is something which will undoubtedly have a long-term effect on the literacy levels of young people.

Councillor Graham said: “I know that our libraries have a deep connection within their local community, delivering vital services that make a positive difference in people’s lives.

In contrast, there are small towns on Scotland’s various edges that seem to be both imaginative and innovative in their response to all of this. Locations such as Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway and Mallaig on the west coast of the Highlands not only have annual book festivals but also connect this event with writing competitions for both youngsters and adults. They also have writers visiting local primary and secondary schools to speak about their work and also to encourage individual creativity. They should be congratulated for their endeavour, one – that as I have witnessed in Mallaig – brings parents cramming into the room to see if their offspring wins a prize.

In short, there have been some small areas that have been both original and visionary in their response to the fall in literacy levels among young people. There are others that have kept their eyes clamped shut.

Donald S Murray, Quarff, Shetland

No alternative

In an interesting letter, James Scott, (Scotsman, 29 March) inadvertently makes the case for exactly the opposite of what he wrote about: abandoning our special relationship with the United States.

The USA is not happy, having bailed half of the world out for many years, and can we really blame it?

Mr Scott wants to find another “friend” but Europe is in financial and defensive trouble. He thinks China is no problem but if it invades Taiwan, as it appears to want to, where will that leave the rest of the world? Finally he hits out at Israel. the only middle eastern democracy, but is he proposing to switch allegiance to Iran who is currently holding two British tourists in prison as well as funding all the usual terrorist groups?

There really is no substitute for friendship with America but constant sniping at the Trump administration can only make matters worse.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Labour values

A few days before polling day at the 1983 UK general election Neil Kinnock, then deputy leader of the Labour Party, made his famous “I warn you” speech in which he cautioned voters about the consequences of another Tory victory and the return of Margaret Thatcher. Kinnock’s closing words were “I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to grow old”. After witnessing the actions of Rachel Reeves since the Labour Party came to power, those warning words now ring very hollow. I never thought we would see the day when a Labour Chancellor would take actions to jeopardise the welfare of vulnerable people to extents that even Thatcher herself might have thought were unacceptable.

More interesting, however, have been the reactions of Labour politicians. In Scotland we have their leader at Holyrood, Anas Sarwar, staying silent on the matters concerned – as if trying to pretend that they weren’t happening. Then we have a group of their Scottish MPs, apparently led by former "Better Together” campaign leader Blair McDougall, actually voting in favour of Reeves’ actions at Westminster. For their benefit I would advise them that proposals to withdraw the winter fuel payment from pensioners and then to cut payments to the sick and disabled did not appear on their party’s manifesto.

Finally, we have the other extreme in Scotland where the criticism of Labour's actions from two of their worthies, former MSP Neil Findlay and Brian Leishman MP, has been quite virulent. Findlay has at least had the decency to resign from the Labour Party, if for no other reason than to salve his conscience. Brian Leishman MP, on the other hand, has done plenty of well-publicised moaning from the sidelines, but little else. My question to Mr Leishman would be that if he is so opposed to the harm that his party is doing, why does he continue to remain a part of it?

Jim Finlayson, Banchory, Aberdeenshire

Voted down

Andrew HN Gray suggests, with his usual wit, that despite the way it produces governments with the support of only a minority of the electorate, the UK’s electoral system is as democratic as any other and better than many (Letters, 29 March).

He is particularly scornful of the coalition governments produced by some other systems, ignoring the fact that the two parties that alternate in providing the UK governments are themselves very broad coalitions.

As the current UK administration desires to cut down public expenditure perhaps this would be a good time to get away from having a House of Commons made up of the winners of 650 separate elections and instead have a much smaller number of MPs, all of whom constitute the government. It might not be any more democratic but it would be cheaper.

In any case British governments are all bound to be unpopular as the inhabitants of the UK continue to imagine they can enjoy a standard of living which the country as a whole does not earn.

S Beck, Edinburgh

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