Before his arrival in the South Atlantic, in what is the first visit by a cabinet minister since 2016, Lord Cameron highlighted that the islands’ sovereignty is “not up for discussion” while its residents wish it to remain British.

This is of course intriguing, as Lord Cameron is quite happy to pontificate that these islands should remain British as long as they want to, and yet that rule does not seem to apply to Scotland, where a majority are in favour of independence.

The blatant hypocrisy of the UK Government knows no bounds.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron will visit the Falkland Islands during the first leg of his first visit to the South Atlantic, South America and New York (Picture: Stoyan Nenov/PA Wire)

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

The hole story

William Loneskie (Letters, 19 February) asks: “How deep do potholes have to get before they are filled?”. I carry a card, given to me, when I was an Edinburgh councillor, which has a gauge calibrated to show depths. It reads: “Call Clarence to report defects which exceed the following measurements: Road: 40mm trips or potholes; Pavement: 20mm trips or potholes, gaps, rocking slabs, slippery surfaces; Kerb: 20mm trips in damaged or loose kerbs; ironwork: missing covers. Surrounds breaking up 10mm movement in covers.” I hope that this answers the question.

However, I have found from bitter experience that, unless a pothole has already been reported, the council’s insurers will not pay out, as they were not aware of the problem before the claim was made. How they justify or even prove this is a matter of conjecture.

J Lindsay Walls, Edinburgh

Roadworks misery

Yes, it must be Spring, or at least it is the end of the financial year for West Lothian Council – 31 March.

In Linlithgow, at least three times in as many weeks, the temporary traffic lights have been up, signifying that roadworks are in vogue. Shopkeepers are not happy as footfall is down. Prospective customers either stay at home or bypass the area and any sales are lost forever.

Would it not be better for the council to improve its operations and spread the work over the year?

James Macintyre, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Faux outrage

The off-the-scale irony in all the faux outrage and endless marching and “demands” with regard to a ceasefire in Gaza, is that all the resolutions and demonstrations please only the zealous participants.

In the real world, Hamas and the Israelis will stop fighting when it suits them. Can you imagine Benjamin Netanyahu reeling and changing plans when he hears the SNP are backing a ceasefire in the strongest terms? A new resolution by the SNP – even if anyone in Tel Aviv or in the Hamas strongholds have heard of them – will not warrant the attention given to the latest football results

The truth is that, apart from perhaps the United States, foreign “protests” have as much relevance to the belligerents in the ongoing tragedy in Gaza as the man in the Moon.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Nursing standards

As one of the first nurses to graduate from the University of Edinburgh’s nursing degree course, I then worked as a nurse teacher in the old North Lothian College of Nursing and later in Queen Margaret University. I therefore have extensive knowledge of both educational systems.

In support of a university-based programme for nursing, all I can say is that some of your correspondents should become aware of the body of research that shows that the higher the education of the nurse, the better the outcomes for the patient. I think no more needs to be said on the subject.

Morag MacCormick PhD MSc RGN RM, Edinburgh

Oblivion pandemic

I have always been underwhelmed by the benefits of Holyrood’s Minimum Unit Pricing policy. Dr Alastair MacGilchrist (Letters, 16 February) cites a paper in the “respected” medical journal The Lancet last year as having confirmed the policy has saved lives. Whist I think it important for the public to be fully aware that the quality of medical research literature is increasingly being scrutiised and found wanting as never before due to Big Pharma capture and other vested interests, if it is good enough for Dr MacGilchrist in this instance, a faithful and tireless career-long servant of the sick and despairing alcohol casualty and his/ her family then it should be good enough for all of us.

It is of the utmost importance, however, that he underlines that MUP aims to prevent in a small way the transition from “heavy drinking” to the full-blown dependence syndrome of spiritual, social, psychological and physical suffering. Once this line has been crossed MUP is of zero effect, as indeed are the any attempts by medical doctors to establish enduring sobriety – leaving them the task only of transplanting livers or simply palliating multi-organ damage. I make this assertion from observing poor patients I have tried to help over the years and a decade, several decades ago, when I did some exhaustive personal research of the topic! There is always hope but it is not found in the domain of medical science. I feel sure Dr MacGilchrist would agree.

What is it about the psychosocial milieu of post-modern Scotland that drives so many young and old into the oblivion marketplace whatever the MUP of their drug of choice? 40 years of debt, austerity and a so-called “meritocracy” has surely contributed, with trans-generational existential despair at both poles of the increasing inequality that exists.

The roots of the oblivion pandemic will not tackled by MUP but with a new generation of radical politicians and leaders with a burning imperative to establish the commonweal of the nation as the driver of economic policy and not unsustainable economic growth. This to a large extent precludes the current incumbents north and south of the border.

Dr Andrew Docherty, Melrose, Scottish Borders

Ferry navigation

After suffering ScotRail’s poor website for years, I thought no other travel website could be as bad… but I was wrong.

Calmac’s recently-upgraded website for creating and amending bookings, presumably part of their multi-million pound system upgrade, is truly appalling, with unnecessary clicks (and lots of them), unclear navigation and information having to be re-entered unnecessarily.

The old system was a bit clunky but you could amend your booking easily. Now, this system fails to recognise my car even though it’s been registered nearly two months. Another example of SNP incompetence, I fear.

Geoff Garner, Dunblane, Stirling

Browned off

Mary Thomas (Letters, 16 February) commits the normal separatist error of misinterpreting the 2014 ‘Vow’. It was made not by Gordon Brown, as she states, but by David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband, and its anodyne promises were fulfilled in the Smith Commission, whose report was signed by the SNP representatives as well as those of the other parties, and in the Scotland Act of 2016.

In 2014, Gordon Brown was not Prime Minister or member of a government, which was then the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. Any ‘promises’ he is alleged to have made had no standing.

Ms Thomas demands greater borrowing powers for Holyrood. She does not tell us who would underwrite these, because she does not know.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Sinking ship

The news that the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier missed the current large Nato exercise due to mechanical failure is an apt metaphor for the ailing UK – a once mighty entity now unable to keep up with its neighbours and peers.

It came as no surprise to learn last week that the UK economy entered recession in mid-2023. While this confirms the Conservative government’s legacy of failure, it also highlights the fatal flaw in Labour’s central policy platform: delivering economic growth while also keeping the UK outside the single market. Economic experts of all persuasions have ridiculed this assertion, from the UK Government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility to international investment bank Goldman Sachs, who both forecast a decline in UK GDP of 4-5 per cent as a direct result of Brexit. Labour’s Rachel Reeves is right to state last week that ‘Britain is trapped in a cycle of decline’, but she and her boss Keir Starmer are deluded in their predictions of long-term sustainable growth for the UK outside the European single market.

Ironically the Royal Navy turned to Scotland for help, with HMS Queen Elizabeth diverted to Rosyth for repair. Once again, Scotland’s resources are used to keep ‘greater England’ (aka the UK) literally afloat on the world stage. Starmer’s Labour Party general election prospectus is misleading voters and offers Scotland no material change from the current reality – the theft of Scottish resources to fund England’s chronically ailing/isolated post-Brexit economy.

Cause for alarm

Christine Jardine, a Liberal Democrat, tells us that alarm bells will be ringing in the HQs of UK ruling parties, ie the Tories and the SNP (Scotsman, 19 February). Given the poor Lib Dem results in recent by-elections, alarm bells should be ringing in the their HQ as well!

William Ballantine, Bo’ness, West Lothian

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Readers' letters: Lord Cameron's hypocrisy over sovereignty question is blatant

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