Corbyn win will end all hopes of a Labour victory
The best hope of reversing the unrelenting momentum of the SNP appears to lie with a party that is in disarray.
As Labour select new leaders for the UK and Scotland – a process that should have highlighted the very best they have to offer – attention has shifted almost entirely to the candidate amongst them with the least chance of eventual electoral success.
Some unions seem content with that – indeed they might well have largely orchestrated it as their members flocked to register to take part in the UK vote. Perhaps they are happy at the thought of a return to the eighties.
As much as the young bloods and hard-Left faithful might enjoy this time in the spotlight, they must pace themselves for the challenges to come.
If they succeed i n delivering to Jeremy Corbyn the leadership, they will have gifted Labour’s opponents and destined their party to years in the political wilderness.
There they can contemplate the frustrations of principle without power, until once again the Labour party is ready to transform itself, jettisoning Corbynism for policies that the mass of the electorate are prepared to vote for.
Keith howell, west linton, Peeblesshire.
New branch manager
KEZIA Dugdale should savour winning the vote to become Scottish Labour leader. It will be her first and last win as Labour’s Scottish leader if Blair and Brown keep interfering in Labour politics.
lionel McMillan, Falkirk.
A taxing question
how much longer must we wait until Nicola Sturgeon informs us when she’s going to vary Scottish income tax above present UK rates – and by how much?
Prior to the general election, Miss Sturgeon repeatedly told us she was going to save Scotland from austerity. But since then, all we’ve seen from the SNP i s tedious game- playing at westminster and daily demands for a second independence referendum.
The Smith Commission grants the First Minister extensive new powers over income tax: this is the perfect opportunity for her to generate additional revenue from us to tackle austerity.
But perhaps all that welfare rhetoric is long forgotten, now the SNP has 95 per cent of Scottish westminster seats? Maybe Scots won’t have to pay higher income tax after all?
hitherto, the SNP has merely spent money and moaned about the Barnett Formula. The Nationalists have long since had the opportunity to vary income tax, though never done so.
The First Minister may be about to find out raising taxes is as unpopular as anti- austerity rhetoric is popular.
Martin Redfern, edinburgh.
NHS fiasco for expats
The Mail’s investigation into the abuse of the National health Service has uncovered abuses that continue to amaze British expats.
My husband and I worked from the day we left school until we retired ten years ago, paying full taxes and national i nsurance contributions for the whole of our working lives.
My husband, like many others in our position, continues to pay UK tax on his private pension.
Like many others, we chose to retire abroad and, with the exception of our state pensions, have claimed nothing from the welfare services of Britain.
however, the current thinking of the British government is that, should we return to Britain, we would not be entitled to free NHS treatment until we are domiciled for at least six months.
I am sure you will appreciate our concern and disgust to read of the abuse of the system by people who have contributed absolutely nothing to the country and for it to be, in your words, ‘covered up’ by the powers that be.
Should we decide to return to Britain at some point, this whole situation seems to be extremely unfair and balanced against people who have contributed to the UK all their working lives.
Brenda Plant, cyprus.
Cultural ambassador
I had a night in the pub where I met a few foreign tourists.
I was thinking of repeating the visit next weekend and I wondered – since this is clearly an event of cultural significance – if the Scottish Government would give me a grant to pay for the drinks.
After all, they gave £150,000 to T in the Park – run by a commercial organisation making a healthy profit – because of its cultural significance.
c. Black, dumfries.
Alarming development
INTERESTING suggestion (Letters) about fitting alarms to the rear doors of lorries crossing the Channel to deter il l egal immigrants.
I fear that this would lead to the immigrants suing the lorry owners for hearing loss.
Think that this is unlikely? Think again, for – as richard Littlejohn reported – a serving police officer is taking legal action claiming that his hearing was impaired by a loud alarm.
I’ll bet that the human rights lawyers have already thought about this and are rubbing their hands.
John carson, Glenrothes, Fife.
Cut to the bone
AMIDST all the usual shroudwaving from local authorities about cutbacks, let’s not forget that most of our council tax goes to pay for council pension funds.
And also remember the next time your council is threatening to cut this or that vital service that Alex Salmond – in what you might call an act of unpardonable folly – effectively wrote off millions in poll tax debts.
K. Higgins, Paisley, renfrewshire.
A dog’s life
I AM always so impressed with the Mail’s coverage of awful situations and how the newspaper’s input influences sensible change. This desperate trade in sick dogs (Mail) really has to be stopped.
however, much of this awful trade is fuelled by the ‘I want it now’ ethic. how true it is that a dog is not just for Christmas.
Do these buyers really do their homework? The breed clubs fall over themselves to provide a list of reliable established breeders who will give advice and information as to suitability, care, availability and price.
The Kennel Club has lists of assured breeders, whom it has approved and who fulfil stringent standards, available in most areas.
how can it be impressed forcefully enough that this live, sentient creature is a responsibility that begins when the decision is made to acquire it?
Pat Noujaim, Bierton, aylesbury.
Bordering on the insane
Has the country gone completely mad? The American wife and daughter of an Afghanistan war veteran from hereford have been deported a week after arriving in the UK.
Yet the immigration service allows thousands of migrants, mainly illegal, to enter and settle in Britain — many from countries that have no connection with us and are even infiltrated by people who want to destroy us.
susan SEAMAN, cranbourne, herefordshire.