Readers' letters: Watching world must step in to try to resolve Middle East crisis

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Zaita (Picture: Mahmoud Zayat/AFP via Getty Images)

The daily news from Gaza, Israel and Lebanon is beyond alarming, with accounts of innocent people on all sides being needlessly killed, with no sign of any settlement. In fact, the opposite is the dire outlook, and to what end?

Meanwhile, the world looks on, apparently helplessly, dangerously sleepwalking into a full-blown Middle East war and possibly worse.

It’s increasingly obvious that this is a conflict that cannot find resolution without deeper involvement from the watching world as, frustratingly, it is in everybody’s interest that a peaceful solution is found.

Is it beyond the wit of, say, the UN, to arrange peace talks among the warring parties? If that sounds pie in the sky, an equally intractable problem, namely apartheid, was resolved in South Africa. The world is crying out for is a leader of the quality and vision of a Nelson Mandela.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Iran holds keys

Iran holds the keys to peace. Israel is just defending itself against those who want only Israel’s total destruction. Withdrawing funding from Israel just aids Iran. What is needed is a stop to the rhetoric of hate coming from the Iranian proxies in the region.

Israel is a democracy and its people can decide the fate of its politicians. Where else in this onslaught is this the case? We all want a lasting peace but it cannot be achieved by simply heaping the blame on one side only.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Misleading poll

Well done to George Herraghty (Letters, 24 September) for highlighting the ludicrous new poll conducted on behalf of developer Fred. Olsen Renewables and presented at the Labour Party Conference, showing overwhelming backing for onshore wind farms.

The public, in general, do not have much confidence in polls as they understand that meaningful unbiased results are dependent on how respondents are selected for the survey and what questions are asked.

Support for wind farms generally comes from people living in cities and towns where their only knowledge of them is based on a distant view as they drive down a motorway. They may enjoy a trip around Whitelee wind farm but they know they can go home when they choose and leave the noise and flicker behind them.

Some rural communities may also support wind farms when they are situated so far away from the site that they receive no impact but are still within the boundary to receive a financial benefit.

It is the opinion of communities and individuals hosting and suffering effects of industrialisation by these wind farms on their environment which should be sought to determine whether there really is support for further expansion of onshore wind.

It is easy to say you support something which you know is never going to affect you.

Aileen Jackson, Scotland Against Spin, Uplawmoor, East Renfrewshire

Heed Burns’ words

I see that Charles Mountbatten-Windsor is planning to make an appearance at the Scottish Parliament when the next session starts.

I wonder by who’s invitation he will be present. Does he expect that he will be welcomed by the Scots he presumes to treat as his subjects? Will he turn up dressed in the kilt in a shameless display of cultural appropriation or will he wear his king’s uniform with its gaudy array of medals?

I think it would be fitting to greet him with a song and what better song than Burns’ A Man’s a Man for a’ That? Let every Scot see him for what he is and echo the words:

“His ribband, star, an’ a’ that,

The man o’ independent mind,

He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.”

“The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,

Is king o’ men for a’ that."

In the 21st century an independent Scotland with a society founded on social justice can have no more place for the inherited wealth and privilege of the monarchy than it has for food banks. “It’s comin yet for a’ that.”

Ni Holmes, St Andrews, Fife

Day of action

“A day of national action” seems a dynamic approach to promoting a lost cause. This bright idea comes from First Minister John Swinney (Scotsman, 21 September), who claims he wants to convince people who don’t yet understand what independence is about. Being patronising towards a large number of Scots wil not help him win friends and influence people.

He apparently wants to make sure that people realise that independence is the solution to day-to-day challenges.How so, Mr Swinney?

Doug Morrison, Tenterden, Kent

Buyer’s remorse

Ian Murray was neatly skewered by Martin Geissler on BBC's The Sunday Show over reports that, as Secretary Of State For Scotland, he had access to a £150m Anti-Poverty Fund which could, at least, mitigate the worst effects of the wretched withdrawal of the winter fuel payment from Scotland’s one million pensioners.

His colleagues, Douglas Alexander MP and Anas Sarwar MSP, have also been roasted on a spit by Laura Maxwell and Gary Robertson on the same issue on BBC Radio Scotland.

Support for Scottish Labour is disappearing like snow off the dyke, an apt analogy as a bleak winter approaches. The Highlands are usually much colder than Sir Keir's cosy London home then.

They have fallen silent criticising Scotland's NHS where our doctors and nurses are better paid and where England's nurses are likely to continue striking.

However, there is a broader question here. Why are Labour so against universal benefits, especially as we recall Sarwar saying “read my lips: no austerity under Labour” before the General Election?

In his Good Morning Scotland interview on Monday his one justification for withdrawing the winter fuel payment was that the handful of Scottish millionaires would otherwise benefit too.

The winter fuel payment was only one of hundreds of billions of cuts Rachel Reeves announced. How safe would our free prescriptions, free personal care for the elderly, the bus passes, free university tuition, the Scottish child payment etc be if Sarwar and his branch office got their hands on the levers of power? Their willingness to maintain the two-child cap and antipathy to the SNP's roll out of free school meals and baby boxes does not fill me with confidence.

John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing, Fife

Black holes

It is quite incredible how quickly Labour have shown themselves to be a complete waste of space. Having roared into power barely a few weeks ago, they have shown that they have exactly the same skill-set as the SNP. They seem to have a knack of spendthrift incompetence which rivals that of Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yosaf and John Swinney and Co.

I shouldn't be surprised if the parties who do well at the next Scottish election turn out to be the Lib Dems and Reform. Why, even the Tories might make a decent showing of it. At least the policies they enacted have started to show economic benefits to the UK as a whole.

As it is, voters will end up in some sort of left-wing hell in which we can't afford even to drown our sorrows. I really don't know how much the hitherto successful UK drinks industry will cope with all the new taxes, especially north of the border. I expect that it will be like private education where the scholarships are being rapidly withdrawn for poorer pupils, thanks to Labour's VAT. Apparently, the cost of raising VAT on private education could be as much as £20 billion to the state education sector. That sounds like another black hole to me, or “ferry” as we call it in Scotland.

Peter Hopkins, Edinburgh

Gifts for opponents

Has Lord Alli bought any influence among ministers? Have expensive gifts to individuals been allowed to steer any ministerial actions since the first week of July?

I would guess the answer is no. Otherwise damage is crouching to spring.

Accepting many desirable gifts is not wise for people at the pinnacle of public life, but nothing is new except the scale of giving and the sudden publicity about it. Perhaps ministers should work to the much more restrictive rules applied to civil servants. That’s how the public mood is sounding.

It was not crazed anti-European policy which forced Johnson out office, not even the dictatorship of the squalid personal adviser. The public boiled over because Downing Street was partying amid restrictions and tragedies with no farewell. That did not show leadership or respect.

Ministers who understand the public and want to offer leadership need to avoid a certain kind of gesture. Too much donated luxury can come across as Herodian and decadent. Some people will hasten to assume it signals habitual corruption.

Tim Cox, Bern, Switzerland

Tax avoidance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised to pursue those who are avoiding paying their fair share of tax.

It is shocking that she doesn't know that “tax avoidance” is legal. It is defined as the action in which an individual or business exploits the existing tax system legally, such as putting money into an ISA. Lumping in “avoidance” with “evasion” as if they are the same thing is careless and misleading.

Steuart Campbell, Edinburgh

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.