\n Read more letters<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n Scotland can do better than this<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n It is no great surprise that Martin Redfern (Letters, June 24), in another attempt to denigrate the SNP<\/a>, does not want Humza Yousaf<\/a> or John Swinney<\/a> to openly question UK Government<\/a> foreign policy decisions which do not appear to reflect the views of the people of Scotland.\n<\/p>\n \n At the same time, Douglas Alexander, MP for Lothian East \u2013 who was complicit as a cabinet minister in the UK Government in taking the UK into an illegal war in Iraq and is now complicit in supporting a fanatical Israeli Government regime accused of genocide in Gaza<\/a> and engaged in bombing Syria, Yemen and Iran \u2013 proclaims that Scotland is in a \u201cvoluntary union\u201d but yet he cannot state (as evidenced on BBC Scotland<\/a>‘s Sunday Show) a democratic route for Scotland to leave this failing union.\n<\/p>\n \n It appears to me that not only have Mr Alexander and the Labour Party abandoned democratic principles but they unapologetically have no sense of shame, having apparently learned little from past mistakes and resultant catastrophes.\n<\/p>\n \n We can do better and the parliament we elect next year should have the power, on behalf of the people of Scotland, to conduct a constitutional referendum so that we in Scotland can determine our own future, including our own non-imperialist foreign policy, while furthering support for the poor and most vulnerable in our society.\n<\/p>\n \n Stan Grodynski, Longniddry.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n Pare NHS to its essentials<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n Another day, another article bemoaning the state of the Scottish NHS (“Doctors in warning Scots NHS is \u2018dying in front of us\u2019”. The Herald<\/a>, June 24). I write as one of those fortunate enough to have been able to have hip replacements performed in a private hospital, with a waiting time of weeks rather than years. I have used private medicine for other treatments, too.\n<\/p>\n \n But it is not that the NHS is incapable of excellence. I have twice used the Minor Injuries Clinic at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh<\/a>, for successive injuries to the same elbow. The first time, some six years ago, I simply turned up, was registered by a pleasant receptionist and then waited 20 minutes (yes, 20 minutes) to see a nurse. He treated me and arranged to see me again (continuity of care). The clinic has its own X-ray machine, which is a real advantage. It was a brilliant experience. The second time was slightly marred by having to go through NHS111 to make an appointment, and having to answer questions about what kind of house I live in and whether I have difficulty with household tasks. All I wanted was to book an appointment. Once I got there, the treatment was again excellent.\n<\/p>\n \n Perhaps this is a microcosm of what is wrong with the NHS. The treatment itself is good to excellent, but there are too many extraneous and often politically correct appendages, like the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary\u2019s slavery project.\n<\/p>\n \n Pare down the NHS to its essentials: anything not involving treating the sick and injured \u2013 like NHS Fife\u2019s official who advises on “pronouns” \u2013 should be scrutinised as to its value and, in most cases, jettisoned.\n<\/p>\n \n Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n Unions back on the offensive<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n Peter Wright (Letters, June 24), replying to Eric Melvin (Letters, June 23), who remarked on the origins of the cars waiting at Troon<\/a> to board the Arran ferry, gives a valuable reminder about the power of trade unions using the Rootes Group car manufacturing facility at Linwood<\/a> and its eventual demise and then moves on to the power of the unions’ influence at Ferguson Marine<\/a> and their input on the design via CMAL of the Glens Sannox and Rosa. He might like to extend his knowledge to the power of the unions throughout the UK and to the likes of British Leyland and why it came into being from the British Motor Corporation and the reputation that Britain had in those days for strikes.\n<\/p>\n \n It seems that under this Labour Government the unions think that their time has come again with demands for wages and conditions allied to the threats of strikes that could well change Britain completely; maybe that is what they want.\n<\/p>\n \n Working through these distant days and again now, I wondered then as I do now about what it would be like if all transport services, especially railways and Scottish ferries, were handed over to the unions to manage and run from top management to cleaners and everything in between for a contract period of say 10 years, similar to the time span of the recent CalMac<\/a> service award.\n<\/p>\n \n Could this alternative model of operating these essential services turn out to be a beneficial cooperative or just the establishment of another quango with little or no accountability?\n<\/p>\n \n I note the recent union demand for London’s Tube train drivers to be paid a salary of circa \u00a375000+. I don’t know if this is realistic, maybe it is and is achievable due to it being an essential service for millions of customers, but if there were competition, what then?\n<\/p>\n \n Ian Gray, Croftamie.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n It’s right to ban Palestine Action<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n In criticising the Government\u2019s proposal to proscribe Palestine<\/a> Action, both Chris Ewing and Andy Stenton (Letters, June 24) fail to address the specific reason for that proposal. That reason was the deliberate immobilisation of two aircraft, severely damaging them by spraying paint into their jet engines. Instead they focus on the unrelated matter of their own personal objection to the Government\u2019s support of Israel<\/a>, neither condemning nor condoning that damage, and even in the case of Chris Ewing making light of it.\n<\/p>\n \n I don\u2019t know how long these important aircraft will be out of action, but it is estimated it will cost \u00a350 million to repair them. More seriously, this act by the Palestine Action operatives amounts to a deliberate attack on our national security, which to me amounts to an act of treason which provides ample justification for proscribing the organisation.\n<\/p>\n