Readers' letters: Tell tourists that riots are not happening in Scotland

As an increasing number of countries issue warnings over travel to the UK due to the far-right riots, it is to be hoped the UK Government is making clear that these relate only to England and Belfast.

Violence has torn through English towns and cities over the past week, as well as Belfast, after three girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport. We have seen riots erupting in Hull, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester, Blackpool, Plymouth, Sunderland and Belfast, leaving police officers and others injured.

Nigeria, the UAE, Malaysia and Indonesia are just some of those now urging citizens travelling to the UK to take precautions.

An anti-migration protester brandishes a flare during a riot outside of the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

As the Edinburgh festivals move into full swing, and many are looking at summer holiday opportunities, the UK and Scottish governments should be making clear that this disorder is confined to England and Belfast, thereby not potentially deterring people travelling to Scotland.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

Scotland spared

UK and foreign media reports refer to “UK uprisings”. But one nation isn’t experiencing these uprisings – Scotland. Why not?

First, is identity. A 2011 survey found that Muslims in Scotland are more likely to identify as Scottish than Muslims in England are to identify as English. A 2005 study noted: “It was widely acknowledged and appreciated that compared with other parts of the country, especially England, Scotland was a tolerant place.”

Second, Scots have consistently demonstrated support for the Palestinian people.

Third, mosques in Scotland don’t have radical preachers. One reason is Scotland’s Muslim community come from more middle class and educated backgrounds than their UK counterparts. 38 per cent of Muslims in Scotland are educated to degree level or above compared to a UK average of 27 per cent. This is also reflected in the Scottish prison population where 1.8 per cent is Muslim, consistent with the 1.45 per cent of Scotland’s Muslim population, whereas 13 per cent of England’s prison population is Muslim, double the 6.5 per cent English Muslim population.

Finally, national governance matters. In 2015 a young Scottish Muslim wrote: “… political grievances at home are a major factor in radicalising young people, from perceived western imperialism and bias towards Israel. While these issues are not exclusive to England, the Scottish government seems more supportive of the Muslim perspective. During the bombing of Gaza [in 2014], Holyrood was quick to condemn Israel, whereas Cameron came to Israel’s defence.”

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh

Wrong agenda

The riots in England by the far right are racist – anti-immigrant, Islamophobic and basically fascist – violent and dismissive of the rule of law. They spread on misinformation and hate.

Unfortunately, many politicians and the media have played their part in legitimising the language and attitudes of the far right. They have not called out Islamophobia and racism

Of the Labour party, Green MSP Ross Greer as said: “The Prime Minister campaigned on the nonsense claim that the last government had ‘lost control of our borders’. He should take his share of responsibility for legitimising what led to this.” Humza Yousaf has called on Mr Starmer to send in the army as the riots are escalating and people are being attacked, including the police. But where is Mr Starmer?

Nigel Farage has a lot to answer for. He has been adept at insinuation and stirring up division but has been feted by the BBC for years. He is undermining the police right now.

Both the Conservative and Labour parties support neoliberalism – involving cuts, austerity, deregulation and de-funding public services in readiness for privatisation. It is these policies which lead people to turn to extreme politics, as the future looks grim. It is easy in these circumstances for people to use scapegoating, especially when they are lied to.

The Labour party needs to invest in people, in their jobs, in public services and in the economy. .

Pol Yates, Edinburgh

Who’s to blame?

I’m as alarmed and disgusted by the outbreaks of arson and riot in England (oddly not (yet?) in Scotland) as any decent person must be; but when politicians point their accusing fingers at the far right, they must remember that the accusing fingers point straight back at themselves.

These apparently mindless thugs and criminals haven’t suddenly arrived from outer space: they are our own people who have been woefully scorned and neglected and failed by insensitive, misguided incompetence from years of ignorant and dismissive management by those elected to take good care of our nation over the past many years. Our country and our under-staffed and over-worked security forces are now reaping what the kack-handed ruling classes have sown.

I agree that the rioters may well be exploited by evil people with their own agendas, but I’m willing to bet that many of us share some of the same fears and worries about our helplessness over the carelessness which has for some time been changing Britain, and rarely for the better. I fear that things will only get worse. At 87 I shall soon be out of it but, barring a miracle, for the first time I regret having produced a family.

Tim Flinn, Garvald, East Lothian

Time to leave

The only reason Scots hesitate to demand independence is because they believe that England has all the money and therefore all the power.

However, at present the UK is tearing itself to pieces in a civil war based on colour and religious beliefs that has shocked the rest of the world into telling its holidaymakers to avoid the UK as a destination.

The UK is going to become a whole lot poorer and will borrow more and more to meet its debts, let alone give Scotland the money its owes or the money promised to us in the run-up to the last election.

Leaving the United Kingdom to service its own debts will not be made easy by Westminster. Scotland has been a nice little earner for so long that losing it will cause discomfort. But do we want to be ruled by a country at war with itself? I don't

Statistics suggest that 72 per cent of Scots want to be back in the EU. To do that we need to be an independent country. Now is the time to have a second referendum.

Elizabeth Scott, Edinburgh

Grasp the nettle

At last, the Bank of England has done what it should have done three months ago. Its members have reduced interest rates, but only by the least amount and on a 5/4 vote, which does not give much confidence for further reductions this year.

The election is over, inflation is at the target level, but may increase over the winter, and public sector payroll increases are still on the horizon. GDP growth is estimated to be slightly higher, and the Bank should grasp the opportunity to reduce rate to 4.5 per cent by Christmas this year and then to get it it below 4 per cent by the end of 2025.

This would give mortgage holders and companies with debt some respite from the cost-of-living crisis.

James Macintyre, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Pain relief

David Albert Jones (Letters, August 5) may be right when he says that religious authorities didn’t oppose analgesia. But religious arguments were used against it.

In an 1848 letter about chloroform to one of his opponents, James Young Simpson said: “It looked as if no one were going to oppose the practice in the way that the historical fools Dr Rowley, Lipscomb, etc, opposed vaccination... and as I predicted would occur. I have no fears now on this score.” Rowley had written in 1805 that was it not “impious and profane to wrest out of the hands of the Almighty the divine dispensations of Providence?”.

Simpson’s pamphlet – Answer to the Religious Objections against the Employment of Anaesthetic Agents in Midwifery – was well received. He got many letter of support, including one from someone identified by his biographer as a noble lady: “There is an admirable article upon your pamphlets which I have just been reading in the Scotsman of Saturday. I am rejoiced that you have answered in print the objections which have been raised on religious grounds, for I was very anxious you should do so.”

Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen

Noisy Greens

The Greens in Edinburgh must be congratulating themselves on a small victory – reducing the number of flypasts at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. By the way, the clue is in the name: it’s a spectacle provided by the military, and enjoyed by thousands of Scots as well as by visitors every year.

Pleading net zero concerns as a reason for curtailing the very brief flypasts is disingenuous in a city whose airport has expanded out of all recognition in recent years. Claiming that they affect "a lot of vulnerable people”, as Green councillor Dan Heap does, is little short of desperate.”.

Stand by for the Greens to lobby for the abandonment of the Tattoo as a whole. After all, it does as a whole involve an awful lot of noise.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Fire extinguisher

Amid all the storm and strife now taking over the country, there is at least one comforting thought – no more episodes of House Of The Dragon for an entire year.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

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