By Scotsman Letters

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Closing New Struan School for children with autism in Alloa is not only a profound tragedy for its pupils, parents and dedicated staff, but also tragic for our deteriorating education system (Scotsman, 18 September). The reason given for this closure is “the push to teach all children in mainstream”. In some cases children with complex needs can indeed be supported successfully to attend mainstream schools, but it is by no means a cheap or easy option. There are many others for whom mainstreaming would be completely inappropriate. The physical environment and resources of most non-specialist educational settings are generally inadequate for meeting the needs of the sort of learners currently attending New Struan. It’s not uncommon nowadays for classes to be evacuated to another room or even outside the building because a child who ought to be in alternative provision becomes extremely distressed or (in modern educational parlance) “dysregulated”. Our schools are struggling to cope with huge increases in the number of those diagnosed with additional support for learning needs. Just like the failure of its unworkable Named Person Scheme, the Scottish Government’s arrogant “presumption of mainstreaming” and “inclusion” doctrine is another example of left-wing ideology taking precedence over the welfare of children and young people. Martin O’Gorman, Edinburgh Inconsistent Regarding The Scotsman’s article regarding the Justice Reform Bill and introduction of a two-thirds majority verdict (“‘Momentous’ vote hailed as Not Proven verdict scrapped”, 18 September). Should this criteria not also feed into the decision on any future independence referendum? Ian Macdonald, Edinburgh Don’t blame NHS I don’t understand that when criticising the NHS in Scotland Jane Lax and Anas Sarwar should be obliged to do the same for the NHS in England and Wales, as suggested by Stan Grodynski (Letters,18 September). After all, the NHS in Scotland has always been run independently from Edinburgh. I know, because I used to advise it and negotiate with it when I was Dean of Medicine at Aberdeen. Also puzzling is Mr Grodynski’s suggestion that Scottish councils are struggling because hospitals were built using PFI. Council and NHS budgets are entirely separate and have been ever since the NHS was set up. It is wrong – and unfair – to blame the NHS for potholes and council-run library closures. Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen Safety for all You report (18 September) that the Scottish Government will defend the new legal action brought by For Women Scotland (FWS), who are trying to force the accommodation of trans prisoners to be decided always by the sex they were assigned at birth. There are fewer than 20 trans prisoners in Scotland, out of a prison population of over 8,000. Most are held with men, but a number of trans women are held with other women. Why? Because the policy is based on an individualised assessment of the risks to other prisoners and to the trans prisoner. A trans woman in prison for fraud, for example, with no history of committing abuse or violence, is unlikely to pose a risk to other women prisoners, but would be at significant risk herself if accommodated with men. FWS’s doctrine that trans people are not real, and that everyone is simply the sex originally written on their birth certificate, contradicts decades of evidence about the diversity of gender identity. Who knows how the courts will rule, but a blanket application of FWS’s doctrine to prisons, instead of a pragmatic and detailed risk assessment method, would just lead to more harm. Tim Hopkins, Edinburgh Benefits boon The report from the Auditor General for Scotland details the huge “funding gap” being created by the benefits being paid for those on the Adult Disability Payment (ADP). In the 2023-24 year, the SNP spent £2.4 billion on ADP, which is £141 million more than the funding provided by Westminster. How extraordinary that the SNP can describe this spend as “an investment in people” with c.500,000 people and rising on ADP with what seems “light touch” scrutiny. It is abundantly clear from the Auditor General’s report that this ballooning benefits spend is simply unsustainable and, as Margaret Thatcher once stated of Labour, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money”. Regretfully, it seems the SNP is keen to follow that mantra. Richard Allison, Edinburgh We’re doomed? The wrecking ball that is the SNP is intent on wrecking Scotland – financially, legally and morally. In the first instance, they allow an increase of 160,000 benefit claimers to raise our bill to a projected £2 billion per annum – expensive but a way of securing votes, by proxy, through blackmail. Secondly, by taking away the “not proven” verdict, they open up another can of worms. By deleting this third verdict and changing the jury verdict margins, they open up the probability of cases being dismissed as not guilty – “not proven” allows a retrial should new evidence be procured. Finally, John Swinney, whose nickname is “Honest John”, does a Keir Starmer and U-turns on his dislike of all things USA and “The Donald” and creeps to Windsor for a jamboree he is allegedly against, including in that a distaste for the royal family. It is patently obvious that the only person qualified to run this three-wheeled edition of Only Fools and Horses Reliant Robin of a government is the Auditor General of Scotland. With eight months to go before the Scottish elections, something needs doing now – otherwise we are heading in a direction of irreversible doom. D Millar, Lauder, Scottish Borders False prophets Everyone who believes in democratic values will condemn the brutal murder of Charlie Kirk last week. It was “a profoundly undemocratic act” (Editorial, 13 September). It underlined that the US, not the UK as Vice President JD Vance suggests, has a problem safeguarding free speech. Unlike in the US, the Government don’t send in the military to major cities to crush political protest. Kirk’s murder has been blamed on the Far Left by “friend” Nigel Farage, who has drawn “amazing inspiration” from the Maga Republican ideology that Kirk preached. What The Scotsman’s editorial failed to call out was Kirk’s views against the LGBTQ+ community, non-Christian faiths, civil rights, abortion and women putting work before child raising. He was also an advocate for the right to bear arms. A Reform government would back the right of Maga supporters to influence UK politics as it shares much of its thinking. Farage failed to condemn fellow Maga apologist Elon Musk’s incendiary “fight or die” comments at last weekend’s Tommy Robinson rally, stating they were ambiguous. If Labour MPs don’t have the confidence in their leader then they need to be sure there is someone better. Things are little better than under the Tories but they had 14 years to sort out the mess Labour left and ultimately made things worse after Brexit. A general election now would bring in Reform, setting equality back years and fuelling more civil discontent. To quote from your editorial, it would bring “a society that stops talking and starts fighting”. Perhaps things are going that way but Republican America is already there and Reform would accelerate it here. Neil Anderson, Edinburgh Boom and bust It is common knowledge that the Chinese car making industry has created such overcapacity through various government subsidies that dealers have difficulty in moving stock, to the extent that a grey market to shift new stock has developed under which new cars are being sold as used at a marked-down price! This perverse response of car producers to Chinese government subsidy to increase car manufacture has ended in vast overcapacity, and in the end will result in a write-off of enormous sums of money, just as the Chinese housebuilding bust a few years back demonstrated, with attendant job losses. There are two points to this story, the first is that government subsidy can create jobs and help manufacturing, but unless there are clear objectives and control, the process can spin wildly out of control and end up creating major problems further down the line. The second point is that left without government interference the market will police itself and the financial gains and losses are borne by the manufacturers, not the government, and overcapacity will not be extensive. Therein is the problem facing current UK governments and one where our present Labour leaders lean heavily toward government dictate and control. Obviously, taking Chinese boom and bust by supporting chosen sectors through subsidy, almost regardless, indicates that the Labour way is totally the wrong way for the UK in the short and the long term. Unfortunately, given their huge majority we are stuck with them until the next election. Tony Lewis, Coylton, Ayrshire Write to The Scotsman We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to lettersts@scotsman.com including name, address and phone number – we won’t print full details. 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