LETTERS

Pipe down over Brexit

TONY BLAIR, Michael Heseltine, Ken Clarke — political has-beens who can’t accept they no longer have any clout in the world, but insist on trying to have their voices heard.

Could they all be rich and insulated from the real world, too?

M. SOUTHON, Ferndown, Dorset. ONCE democracy prevails and Brexit takes effect, is there any chance that Tony Blair, Nick Clegg and Vince Cable will emigrate to the EU?

DAVID WHITE, Herne Bay, Kent. WE sHOULd listen to Tony Blair when he says leaving the EU is like buying a house without seeing it first. After all, he is something of an expert at buying houses.

M. STACEY, Bakewell, Derbys. IT sEEMs Tony Blair has forgotten that david Cameron asked for immigration concessions from Brussels and got absolutely nothing.

DAVID EDWARDS, Leighton Buzzard, Beds.

Great power-gripe

THE sNP is angry that Westminster is taking powers from the EU when it wants them for Holyrood.

But isn’t the sNP’s pro-EU plan to get the powers from Westminster and then hand them to Brussels?

TOM HENDERSON, Glasgow. sO much for the sNP getting back to business.

It spent about half a day of ‘the day job’ with the programme for government and then it was back to moaning about an imagined power-grab by Westminster over the repatriation of powers from the EU.

JULIE LAWSON, Glasgow.

Corbyn IS for turning

JEREMY CORBYN has flip-flopped since the General Election. He has managed to backstab students by going back on his pledge to abolish university fees, and now he has done the same over the EU.

His party’s position has gone from leaving the EU, the customs union and single market to ignoring the referendum vote in order to stay in the EU. I hope the fools who voted for him are ashamed they let themselves be ignored again.

JOHN BOWYER, Lincoln.

Long live Henry VIII

IT Is strange that the people who are moaning about the Government’s use of ‘unprecedented’ Henry VIII powers to repatriate the EU legislation accumulated over the past 44 years did not complain when these powers were used to incorporate EU directives and regulations into UK law.

Around 20,000 Brussels laws have been incorporated into UK law since 1973 using powers in section two of the 1972 Act now being repealed.

Bills passing through Parliament averaged 150 to 200 a year in the post-war period. But by the early Nineties, due to the EU, they were down to 41.

statutory instruments — which allow the provisions of an Act to be brought into force or altered without Parliament having to pass new legislation — soared from 2,000 in the Eighties to more than 3,500 in the Nineties.

KIT READ, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Pack it in!

PART of our approach to recycling must be to get manufacturers to reduce packaging.

John Cooper (Weekender) isn’t alone trying to pack recyclables down into the bin. In an era when supermarkets sell cucumbers — which come in Mother Nature’s green wrapping already — with both a plastic coating and in a plastic bag, no wonder we’re choking the planet.

ALISON LIVINGSTONE, Aberdeen.

Fat’s the new norm

I AGREE that clothes have been resized not to make people feel overweight. When I was in my 20s, I was a slim size 8. Unfortunately, like Hilary Freeman, I have had thyroid problems, which has seen my weight increase.

I am a ‘modern’ size 14 — this used to be 38in hips, but is now 44in. Being fat is becoming normalised, which isn’t good for us or the NHs.

KATHLEEN CARTER, Cheshire.

Long and short of it

I HAd to laugh at headmaster Tony smith’s concern that school skirts were being rolled up and worn in a way that ‘sexualised’ young women (Mail). It was ever thus.

My school uniform skirt in the sixties had to be no shorter than just above the knee, but as soon as school was out we rolled up the waist until the skirt became a mini. I don’t think any of us suffered any ill-effects. We were simply growing up.

RUTH ADBY, Reading, Berks.

Palace of excess

THE story of the replacement lightbulbs (Mail) for Holyrood’s chamber tells you all you need to know about this palace of excess and entitlement.

I accept the need for decent lights, but £1.75million of taxpayers’ money for fancy new fittings? What a complete waste, part of the ‘because I’m worth it’ attitude of politicians.

Any off-the-shelf commercial lighting would have done but no, our

pampered politicians demand custom-made fittings.

Given the policies they passed have saddled Scots with the highest income tax in the UK, forcing the public to tighten their belts, did no one have the wit to think what signal such excess sends?

Forget ‘we all in it together’. It’s one rule for them and another for the rest of us.

DAVE FERGUSON, Stirling.

Damp squib

IN the 20 years since the devolution vote, Holyrood’s greatest achievement was the smoking ban. It arrived way back in 2006 and was totally based on Ireland’s ban. Not much to boast about, is it?

JESSIE BURNS, Dumfries.

False nostalgia

CHRIS DEERIN (Essay) might come over all nostalgic about the opening of the Scottish parliament.

But the best things about that day were the Red Arrows screaming over Edinburgh and the Queen.

Too many at Holyrood have spent the last 20 years trying to do away with both of those. JIM ALLEN, Edinburgh.

Saving lives

I WOULD like to commend all of the organisations who were involved in suicide prevention day on Sunday.

They are shining a light on this important issue. Sadly, suicide is one of the main causes of death in young people today.

At The Boys’ Brigade, we are committed to not only providing an educational and fun environment for young people, but one which also addresses important issues, such as mental health.

There is still a huge amount of stigma surrounding mental health, especially in males.

At our recent annual conference, we welcomed Young Minds UK, the mental health charity, along to speak to our volunteer leaders, providing them with great insight and advice to help when working with the 17,000 young people we have in Scotland alone.

It is one of our priorities to be able to equip our volunteer leaders to be able to support any of our members who may need it, as well as raise awareness amongst all the young people who are part of The Boys’ Brigade family. JOHN SHARP, Director, The Boys’ Brigade, Carronvale House, Larbert, Stirlingshire.