THE Tories provided yet another two nails for their coffin, after voting against providing free meals for our poorest children in the holiday periods.
They have denied thousands of drug addicts the health care they need, leading to the police in Scotland acting to close down the mobile safer drug consumption facility provided by volunteers in Glasgow, because they will not devolve drug policies to the Scottish Parliament.
One Tory MP justifies their denial of food to children on the spurious report that free food parcels are being sold by addicts to feed their drug habit.
READ MORE: Scottish hospitals dealing with huge increase in drug-related admissions
Despite decades of denial by the Tories, UK drug policies have failed, and continue to trap thousands in their addictions, because we are still supporting the failed American policies on treating drug addiction as a criminal justice issue rather than a health problem.
The bottom line is that the Conservative Westminster government is led by an elite clique of wealthy public school boys and girls. They have no notion of what poverty is. The Covid pandemic has shown us time and again just how out-of-touch these political leaders are, imagining that people already living on poverty wages or welfare benefits can easily adjust their family budgets to 80% of what they were, and dip into their savings or sell a few of their shares to survive until the pandemic is over.
These same politicians have no understanding of the link between poverty and how people in such circumstances end up depressed and mentally ill. They cannot start to understand people getting so depressed that they will turn to pain-killing drugs to just get through another day of misery. The Tories have not even understood that it is far cheaper to provide appropriate medical help to drug users than to stick them in prison for £40,000 a year. That could buy treatment at the top private clinics in the UK.
The final nail in the coffin will be a No-Deal Brexit, which is predicted to push the cost of food up by as much as 30%.
If anyone is still trying to find reasons why Scotland needs its independence, they need look no further than all the misery that the shambolic Westminster government is continuing to heap on us all in Scotland.
Max Cruickshank
Glasgow
IN crisis situations things may slip under the radar without the scrutiny they deserve. Your article on the Pharmacy First promotion (There’s been a real revolution in community pharmacy care, October 28) draws attention to a development we should be looking at critically.
We are being strongly encouraged to go to pharmacies for medical advice on a range of health issues and not bother general practice. I certainly do not question the competence and commitment of retail pharmacists and their staff. But they work overwhelmingly for large commercial companies, some of which have questionable records.
READ MORE: There's been a revolution in community pharmacy care in Scotland
In many cases their staff have lower benefits than in the NHS and they are under pressure to meet financial targets. So increasing the provision of healthcare by pharmacies is creeping privatisation, which appears set to continue as a matter of policy, not just a temporary response to Covid.
Using the term “community pharmacy” does not alter the fact that they are private profit-making companies – although it is not the staff who get the profits.
It has been difficult to understand the infectious diseases logic in telling people by implication that health centres are high-risk places where most communication has to be remote, but it is safe to go into busy pharmacies, many of which are in shopping malls, and discuss health issues in person, often in confined spaces.
Let’s hope our legislators will keep a sharp eye on this one.
Isobel Lindsay
Biggar
IT is inevitable that the predicted election of Joe Biden as US president next week will lead to a further decline of the UK’s global standing.
Where formerly the UK was seen as Europe’s “centre of gravity” in the eyes of US, a post-Brexit Britain will be replaced by Paris and Berlin in this respect, while the UK will be seen very much as an outlier, sitting on the sidelines.
Both economically and in security terms, the UK has burnt its bridges through Brexit and will not have the same prominence as it used to in Washington.
READ MORE: David Pratt: Healing a deeply wounded USA not easy with such an entrenched divide
It is no wonder that commentators have pointed to the fact that Prime Minister Johnson is willing on a Trump victory to decide on whether to leave the European Union with or without a trade deal.
The British Government will face a major challenge in building relations with Biden’s team, who view Brexit as a risk to the EU’s stability. Biden already sent a warning shot last month, when he tweeted that “the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland” cannot become “a casualty of Brexit.” The UK must therefore prepare for a Biden administration that keeps a particularly close eye on how Brexit affects Ireland, given the Irish influence in the Democratic party and Biden’s own Irish background.
Through the foolishness of Brexit, the UK has put itself out of an influential position in the EU and delivered a further blow to its standing on the global stage.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
DOES the Church of Scotland remember Jim Wallace was a member of the “we are all in it together” coalition government? That government supported huge decreases in benefits to pay for the mess caused by banks and those decisions helped cause the poverty we see today.
Not a suitable moderator.
Liza Russell
Landshut, Germany
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel