Personal experience truly informs the assisted dying debate
I had only one patient who made use of Dignitas in Switzerland, because she could not stand the smell of her skin secondaries. Her decision was all about dignity.
With the greatest respect to those who have sincerely-held religious or humanitarian views against the Assisted Dying Bill, if you have not had personal experience of a 'bad' death, you really do not know what you are talking about.
John NE Rankin, Bridge of Allan.
It should remain an offence
Your various letters on assisted dying (May 15) are concerned with those facing a period of painful terminal illness, leading to death, so may wish to skip that journey and go directly to the main event.
Many people in that position will be wise enough to have made their own arrangements to leave, and do not require assistance.
There are also disabled people, who have found their painless but limited lives to be unenjoyable, so will simply kill themselves, and some do that every year. So across the spectrum, many will have already dealt with their own situations.
In Scotland at present, helping someone to die is known as murder – and should remain so, as legalising it will open a route to be used by others for their own benefit.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinross.
Read more letters
• I was quite taken aback by the ability of several letter writers to focus on their own opinions rather than addressing the issue at stake. As in a person's trial, it doesn't matter how many witnesses are involved, merely the outcome for one person. As for the circumstances, these are of as much critical importance as the end result. Were it not so, there would be no difference between murder and manslaughter.
George F Campbell, Glasgow.
• Just one point on assisted dying: if legalised, police officers and paramedics would at least be spared having to deal with suicides, botched or successful.
George Morton, Rosyth.
Victimising the exploited
Neil Mackay has today excelled in voicing concerns that I hope many still share ('Island of strangers? No, but I'm now a stranger in my own land', The Herald, May 15). I certainly share them. It brings tears to the eyes to think that people from countries that the UK invaded and exploited for years, people fleeing fear and famine plus anyone who dares through no fault of their own to be seen as "different", are now being victimised and blamed for all that is wrong in the UK.
Patricia Fort, Glasgow.
It's Starmer who is the stranger
Three cheers for Neil Mackay. I agree with every word of his article today. My own previously Highland/island family has been greatly enriched by three granddaughters-in-law, French, Chinese and Indian, and a Lithuanian grandson-in-law. They are not strangers but Keir Starmer and his ilk are.
Dorothy Dennis, Port Ellen, Islay.
Fading hopes of progress
I read Neil Mackay's despairing piece in the middle of writing a short article on the fight to repeal Section 28, the law banning the "promotion of homosexuality", which was won 25 years ago. Section 28 demonised lesbians and gay men in much the same way as immigrants and trans people are demonised now.
Back in 1999 most of Scottish civic society and all political parties other than the Tories stood firm against prejudice and intolerance and proved that devolution had enabled Scotland to take the lead in promoting tolerance and inclusion. With anti-immigrant and trans-hating Reform on the rise, and the enthusiasm of the Westminster Government for anti-foreigner, anti-poor and gender fundamentalist stupidity, the assumption that Scotland could continue to make progress, however inconsistently, does seem to be dying or dead.
Brian Dempsey, Dundee.
This road is a danger to cyclists
I have recently passed through the revised road layout at Woodlands Road heading to the M8 and I am somewhat concerned that this junction is an accident waiting to happen.
From Woodlands Road the road veers slightly to the right towards the city centre then you have to turn to the left almost back on yourself, avoiding the protruding kerb then across a cycle lane which due to the angle you approach the junction at leaves you unsighted for cyclists coming from your left. It is bad enough in a car but it must be worse for commercial vehicles. Yes, I believe there are lights on the cycle lane but those tend to be ignored by a certain faction of cyclists.
There has already been one tragic accident in Glasgow involving a cyclist. I would be interested to see what Glasgow City Council's roads department has to say, as well as the cycling community.
Douglas Jardine, Bishopbriggs.
Keir Starmer (Image: PA)
Perpetual notion
In response to GR Weir's letter of May 13, Brian D Henderson (Letters, May 15) suggests that the alternative to the royal family is a 'certain Mr President'.
There is however one massive difference in the two roles. Like him or loathe him, the President of the USA was voted for by the public. He can only serve a four-year term before re-election and is only allowed to serve two terms.
The 'British' royal family however have been elected by no one and are there for perpetuity.
David Clark, Tarbolton.
Why my brain is buzzing
Mike Flinn (Letters, May 15) rightly draws attention to government buzzwords. The deadline looms for hard-working families, many of whom are now second-class citizens, the result of 14 years of Tory austerity, to benefit from fixing the foundations, balancing the books, and stabilising the economy.
Help is in the pipeline; it is, after all, the right thing to do.
David Miller, Milngavie.
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The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Sarwar and Swinney accused of 'inaction on child poverty'
Mr Swinney will visit her Junior's Charity on Monday as he campaigns in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, despite its funding being stripped in 2023. Scottish Labour leader Mr Sarwar visited the charity on Sunday, accusing the SNP leader of 'political stunts' - but he signalled his own party's position on the Scottish Child Payment has changed. In 2021, he called for the benefit to be increased to £40 per week but he has now told The Herald the welfare approach was "wrong". It comes as the End Child Poverty Coalition revealed 24.7% of children in the Westminster constituency of Hamilton and Clyde Valley lived in relative poverty. That constituency includes Hamilton and Larkhall, while the East Kilbride and Strathaven constituency - which has 19.4% of children in poverty - includes Stonehouse. Ms Robertson told The Herald the "huge" levels of child poverty in Hamilton has only worsened in recent years. Read more: "Our services have grown, and our numbers are sky high - but there is no funding so the impact that has on the charity to be there for the people and make it work, it is incredibly difficult," she said. "It wasn't like this when I was growing up but it is one of the most deprived places and it's absolutely horrendous." She added that both the Scottish and UK Government's were "absolutely not doing enough" to support families in poverty. "It shouldn't get to that. The cost of everything is so high and the payments and the support is not doing enough." The charity supports lone parents and disadvantaged families, offering a weekly food bank, baby bank and other vital services. The Lanarkshire charity learned its Scottish Government funding - issued through the Investing in Communities Fund - had been pulled and has struggled to stay open since. An SNP spokeswoman said SNP councillors in South Lanarkshire had proposed funding for charities in the budget this year but blamed Labour councillors for voting against it. She said the government was "providing certainty to charities through the new multi-year fairer funding pilot" and said grants and food payments had helped 20,855 families in South Lanarkshire. Figures from the End Child Poverty Coalition, calculated using analysis from Loughborough University, found at least one in four children in two-thirds of UK constituencies are still trapped in poverty after housing costs are removed. Members of the coalition are among those who joined with The Herald last month to urge Mr Swinney to increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40, and demand the UK Government scraps the two-child benefit cap as a matter of urgency. Read more: A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) also found Scotland may have to spend £920 million a year in benefits to meet its 2030 targets of reducing child poverty to under 10%. It found increasing the Scottish Child Payment - which is given to low income families for every child under the age of 16 - to £40 per week would have the "best poverty reduction impact per pound". Meanwhile, Mr Sarwar refused to say whether it remained Scottish Labour's position for the Scottish Child Payment to be increased. In 2021, he urged the Scottish Government to "take the urgent action Scotland needs". But speaking exclusively to The Herald on Sunday, Mr Sarwar signalled a shift in position. "The financial conditions have to be right, for me," he said. "If you look at the challenges we've got right now - and I support the Scottish Child Payment, let me emphasise that - but just thinking that increasing welfare payments is going to be the long-term solution to lift families structurally and permanently out of poverty, I think is the wrong approach." Mr Sarwar was asked whether the charities who described the benefit increase as the most important method to reduce poverty were wrong. He said: "No. Look, I respect these charities and I talk to them regularly and I completely understand where they are coming from and I'll continue to work with them but we have to address the structural inequality that exists in our country." Meanwhile, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: 'We are absolutely committed to meeting the 2030 child poverty targets and thanks to the actions we are already taking, families in the poorest 10% of households are estimated to be £2,600 a year better off in 2025-26 and this value is projected to grow to an average of £3,700 a year by 2029-30. 'However our policies are having to work harder in the current economic context and as a result of decisions taken by the UK Government, such as keeping the two-child limit on Universal Credit which are holding back Scotland's progress. 'While the Joseph Rowntree Foundation predict child poverty will rise in other parts of the UK by 2029, they highlight that policies such as our Scottish Child Payment, and our commitment to mitigate the two-child limit, are behind Scotland 'bucking the trend'."
The National
13 hours ago
- The National
Scots aren't having our voices heard – nuclear is one such case study
It was organised by Britain Remade, a lobby group headed by former Tory spad Sam Richards. He described Britain Remade as a 'cross-party campaigning group' that believes in economic growth and building infrastructure. Britain Remade's campaign, 'New Scottish Nuclear Power', aims to reverse Scotland's ban on new nuclear power. Also present were councillor Norman Hampshire, the leader of East Lothian Council (ELC) and chair of the planning committee, and Labour MSP for South Scotland Martin Whitfield. READ MORE: Why the UK media 180 on Gaza is too little, too late Richards boasted about the UK's nuclear power track record. In 1956, the world's first nuclear reactor, Calder Hall, was built in Sellafield, Cumbria. The plant produced plutonium for the UK nuclear weapons programme – electricity for the domestic market was a sideline. Throughout its 47-year life, it exposed workers and the public to higher levels of radiation than comparable reactors and it wasn't economically viable for long periods. Sellafield is the site of Europe's worst nuclear accident – the 1957 Windscale fire, that led to the atmospheric dispersion of radioactive materials throughout England, Wales and northern Europe. Sellafield has been a nuclear waste dump since 1959 and has been called Europe's most toxic nuclear site, a 'bottomless pit of hell, money and despair'. It's a reason Scotland has been dubbed the 'cancer capital of the world'. That's a hell of a track record. Richards blamed high electricity bills on the UK's failure to build more nuclear plants, claiming nuclear was the reason France had lower bills. Wrong. Nuclear power has never been economic. It requires government subsidies and there's no solution for radioactive waste disposal. French energy bills are lower because France didn't privatise its energy and thus retained the ability to cap costs. The French government owns 100% of Électricité de France (EDF), which runs the Torness plant and the UK's four other operating nuclear plants. EDF should be showing far more concern about the safety of its UK plants. The Torness reactor has 46 cracks in its core which the ONR (Office for Nuclear Regulation) said could lead to a reactor meltdown and the release of radiation into the environment. EDF has extended the life of the plant to 2030. Britain Remade's goal is to get the ban on nuclear lifted and to use the Torness site for new nuclear plants. Whitfield trotted out two pro-nuclear talking points, both of which are easily refuted: 1. Nuclear power doesn't increase CO2. Not so. There are carbon emissions from mining, transporting and processing uranium, from constructing power plants and from transporting radioactive waste to places like Sellafield. By contrast, renewable energy doesn't increase CO2, there's no mining required or toxic waste to dispose of, and Scotland is bursting with renewables. 2. Nuclear power creates skilled jobs for life. The renewables industry also creates skilled jobs for life without shortening it – in engineering, project management, data analysis and renewable energy technologies – and doesn't endanger the health of workers or the local community. Councillor Hampshire, who worked at Torness, said that although he 'had to support renewables', nuclear is needed for baseload power, which is the minimum power level on the grid. Wrong again. Baseload power can be provided by any mix of generators, including variable wind and solar, if constant backup sources like tidal are provided. Furthermore, nuclear can't be easily switched off, so when it's present on the grid, much cheaper renewables are limited, which raises costs to the consumer. Nonetheless, councillor Hampshire said he was lobbying hard for more nuclear power. He wants two Rolls-Royce SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) at the Torness site, claiming they're cheaper and quicker to build and said that many SNP MSPs support him. I wrote about SMRs in February, showing they are more expensive than and just as dangerous as large nuclear reactors; will generate more radioactive waste and will turn communities into de facto long-term nuclear waste disposal sites. Only two SMRs are operating in the world – in Russia and China. Both are performing at less than 30% capacity and have been plagued by cost and time overruns. According to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, these problems 'make it even less likely that SMRs will become commercialised.' Despite these facts, councillor Hampshire vows to include SMRs in the next ELC Local Development Plan. We were told that a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to ensure Torness remains an active nuclear site – with the UK having to import energy, otherwise. During the Q&A, Whitfield was asked what it would take to change Scotland's position. He replied 'a change of government' and questioned whether Scotland has the authority to ban nuclear power since energy policy is reserved to the UK. It does because the Scotland Act 1998 devolves planning to Scotland. Nevertheless, Whitfield said this could and would be tested through the courts, although he later clarified there were no definite plans to mount a legal challenge to Scotland's authority to ban new nuclear power. English Labour are pushing for more nuclear because they're funded by the industry. The industry expects a return. Nuclear power is another issue crying out for direct democracy, where the Scottish people – not special interests who are in bed with the politicians – have the power to decide via a referendum whether they want it or not. There are many other issues, local and national, over which the Scottish people have no control – pylons in the Highlands, corporate tax haven 'freeports', the closures of Ardrossan Harbour and Grangemouth, the Loch Lomond Flamingo Land development, to name just a few. If we're to stop special interests always crushing the interests of the people, we must demand our international human rights. That's why Respect Scottish Sovereignty (RSS) is urging as many as possible to sign PE2135, to enact the Direct Democracy/Self-Determination Covenant (ICCPR) into Scots law. Leah Gunn Barrett Edinburgh
North Wales Chronicle
18 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Healey slams ‘shocking' scenes of smugglers picking up migrants ‘like a taxi'
Hundreds of migrants are thought to have crossed the English Channel in small boats on Saturday, with at least six boats spotted leaving beaches in France. French police officers were seen watching as migrants, including children, boarded at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, and authorities were then pictured escorting the boats. French authorities said they rescued 184 people and that numerous boat departures were reported. 'Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday,' John Healey told the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News. 'Truth is, Britain's lost control of its borders over the last five years, and the last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration.' The Defence Secretary said it is a 'really big problem' that French police are unable to intervene to intercept boats in shallow waters. 'We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up,' he added. He said the UK is pressing for the French to put new rules into operation so they can intervene. 'They're not doing it, but, but for the first time for years, for the first time, we've got the level of co-operation needed. 'We've got the agreement that they will change the way they work, and our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.' The highest number of arrivals recorded on a single day so far this year was 825 on May 21. This year is on course to set a record for Channel crossings, with more than 13,000 people having arrived so far, up 30% on this point last year, according to analysis of the data by the PA news agency. Sir Keir Starmer's Government has pledged to crack down on small boat crossings including with measures targeting smuggling gangs. A Home Office source said: 'We have developed strong co-operation with the French and it is important that they have agreed to disrupt these boats once they're in the water – and not just on the shore. 'This vital step now needs to be operationalised to protect border security and save lives.' A Home Office spokesperson pointed to measures to share intelligence internationally, enhance enforcement operations in northern France and introduce tougher rules in its immigration legislation. 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. 'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die as long as they pay, and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice. 'That is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage.'
