Venezuela – a valid concern for MSPs

You seem unduly concerned about the motion that I have lodged at the Scottish Parliament regarding the achievements made in Venezuela (your report, 10 March). Uppermost in these concerns are that I and those of my colleagues who have added their names in support of this motion are distracted from dealing with many of the day-to-day matters affecting people in Scotland.

Let me assure you that we are perfectly capable of dealing with more than one matter at any given time. So it is perfectly possible for us in our capacity as MSPs to act as legislators, deal with the matters referred to us by our constituents and look at what is happening elsewhere in the world, too.

You suggest that my motion "stands little chance of being selected by the Parliamentary Bureau to be heard". I can clarify that it stands no chance whatsoever, as for a motion from a backbencher to be debated it is necessary for that member to mark it for debate. I did not do so with this motion, so you need not fear that any parliamentary debating time will be set aside to consider the merits of it.

There is nothing unreasonable about setting forward a basic proposition that the democratic governments of any part of the world should not be undermined as has so tragically been the case throughout history in Latin America. That was the essence of the motion I laid before parliament and I would have hoped found support across the spectrum.

JAMIE HEPBURN MSP

Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh

Mike Kirby and indeed the whole of Unison need to get a grip if they consider Venezuela some sort of socialist paradise (Letters, 11 March). If all the world are brothers, why is Chavez the major agent provocateur in trying to kick off a second Falklands war with windbag rhetoric about Argentina's duty to oust "imperialists"?

If socialism is still Unison's bag, why have they been so tame over the past 13 years of a government that has put Margaret Thatcher to shame in allowing employers to get away with ignoring "red tape", horrific exploitation of migrant workers and destruction of the welfare state?

MARK BOYLE

Linn Park Gardens

Johnstone