THE religious beliefs of the new First Minister and Deputy First Minister seem to have become something of an issue.
I hesitate to continue the theme but I was reminded of a passage from Matthew Chapter 7 which is just about the only passage from the Bible that has stuck in my mind since my enforced attendance at Sunday school more than 50 years ago.
In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads: “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” It is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This chapter also includes the warning against false prophets – how very appropriate.
In some versions it is translated as: “You will know these people by what they do. Grapes don’t come from thorn bushes, and figs don’t come from thorny weeds.”
I was waiting with interest to see what the priorities of the new First Minister would be. Would he meet with our council leaders to try to re-establish good relations with them after they were so badly damaged by his predecessor’s surprise announcement of a council tax freeze? Perhaps his first port of call would be a meeting with the leaders of Scotland’s business community, farming leaders, the hospitality trade or even the board of CalMac.
Sadly his first priority was to hold a private meeting with the leaders of Out For Indy, a minority group within the SNP. The outcome of this meeting appears to be a reassurance given to them that the deeply contentious gender legislation is all ready and waiting to be enacted just as soon as an incoming Labour government at Westminster can be persuaded to allow it.
Last week’s council by-election result in Kilwinning saw the SNP vote fall below 23%. Politics is all about priorities and performance. Opinion polls continue to show Labour’s lead over the SNP being maintained and perhaps even widening. There is little point in changing the two faces at the top of the Cabinet unless the policies also change and the performance greatly improves.
Brian Lawson
Paisley
WHILE I oppose Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s repression of the Turkish and Kurdish people, I applaud the decision to stop trading with Israel because of the mass murder of Palestinians. While a few million pounds or dollars of trade might not of itself make a huge difference to Israel given the billions of dollars of US support, it is an example of what is possible.
Other national economies (even Germany perhaps) or the EU, if seriously opposing genocide could follow this practical and effective example.
If other countries did the same, it would soon be a significant consideration for the Israeli government when exterminating the children of Gaza, especially if it included the supply of bombs, bombers, guns and munitions and the purchase of weapons and other goods [agricultural] produced in Israel and the illegally occupied territories.
Norman Lockhart
Innerleithen
WHY is the UK Government, specifically the DWP, attacking benefit claimants who are working fewer than 18 hours per week?
On Monday the radio bugled out comments from an HMRC statement that would represent a possible annual saving of £4 billion.
Let’s restate that. Benefit claimants could possibly have £4bn removed from their collective purses, if they cannot get another job – putting the boot in when the claimant is already on the ground and bloodied.
Will Sir Keir Starmer support this Conservative policy, as he has in the recent past with others, or will he promise a U-turn, when he gets into power? And can you trust Sir Keir to follow through with his policies?
Alistair Ballantyne
Angus
IT’S a long time since I played rugby but, thanks to a digital subscription, I watch it most evenings. I am pleased to see high tackles being penalised and punished, but there are still a lot of them which are not.
Red card each and every one of them and they will stop. The flow and excitement of the game are interrupted by the taking of penalties at goal, a practice which has allowed some of the most boring and talentless teams (not pointing any fingers of course) to win consistently because they had one guy who was a great kicker.
All penalties should be to touch except for the most heinous of offences when the penalty should be a try. Maybe that would also help to eliminate dangerous tackles.
The referees have a part to play here. I thought the TMO was able to advise the ref that he had missed something. That’s easy to do with off-the-ball incidents in the melee of a game but some of them seem to be as unobservant as some of the referees themselves.
Most referees are fair and competent but the benefit of off-the-park observation via the gogglebox reveals too many of them as either visually or psychologically impaired.
Les Hunter
Lanark
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