Unhealthy ideas

I assume Dr Scott Arthur ­(Letters, 6 January) was being tongue-in-cheek when he claimed Labour would tax mansions in the south-east of England to fund reductions in healthcare inequality in Scotland.

Anyone who believes today’s Labour Party is going to hit the rich in England to pay for better health in Scotland is frankly away with the fairies.

The “party of the working classes” has been dead for 20 years, and Labour is simply terrified that Scots have finally come to their senses and acknowledged it, and will dispose of them as “not fit for purpose” at the next general election.

Mark Boyle

Linn Park Gardens

Johnstone

Present NHS problems, caused by lack of capacity, are hardly ­surprising. People who would have died in their 60s now die in their 80s, and older people need the NHS much more, so that in ­itself creates further demand.

New procedures to prolong life also cost more money, so the NHS is now simply too small and is underfunded.

Some of the £12 billion a year we waste on foreign aid would help the NHS, as would a proper examination of its efficient use of funds. One suspects, for example, that it is grossly over-managed.

Basic attention such as that would surely fix the problem.

Malcolm Parkin

Gamekeepers Road

Kinnesswood, Kinross