Bursaries, Brexit, Trump, food and fossil fuels: Herald on Sunday letters

Those who are care-experienced have some of the poorest outcomes of any group in society. Around half are assessed as having mental health issues and around one-third of those in prison are care-experienced, as are up to half of those who are homeless. Just 4% go on to university.

Most concerning and a damning indictment on us as a society is that those who are care-experienced are 20 times more likely to be dead by the age of 25 compared with those who have not been in care.

Those who are care-experienced must be given the same chance as other young people. This current situation relating to bursaries is clearly not only unfair but also deeply short-sighted. The resultant cost of not adequately supporting these young people, with them potentially becoming unemployed, homeless or suffering poor health, greatly outweighs the financial support provided.

It is vital that the Scottish Government takes immediate action to ensure that local authorities receive clearer guidance on how this bursary money is to be used and what it is to be used for. Ultimately, such funding should be additional to and not an easy substitute for other funding the young person is already receiving and is entitled to.

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition:

Tom McGhee, chairman, Spark of Genius

Duncan Dunlop, chief executive, Who Cares? Scotland

Stuart Jacob, director, Falkland House School

Niall Kelly, managing director, Young Foundations

Lynn Bell, CEO, Love Learning Scotland

You’ve hit the nail on the head, Iain

I agree with Iain Macwhirter (Voices, January 20) – MPs must find a way forward without trying to revoke Article 50 or trying to call another referendum.

The UK’s relationship with continental Europe has always been difficult. Hoping that will change is a fantasy. Ultimately, the EU’s intransigence has led us all here. Now we’re all going to pay the price while eating a wee bit of the cake we wanted. I voted Remain and have no idea what I’d do now if offered a second bite at the cherry. I wish this would all go away; it won’t and we’ve all been living with it since de Gaulle said “non”.

David Shaw

Mugdock

An unhelpful comparison

The assertion by Margaret Forbes (Letters, 20 January) that the food and drink industry behaves like the tobacco industry is unhelpful. Unlike tobacco, food and drink are essential – they provide a source of nutrition as well as being an important part of our culture. A quick visit to the supermarket will confirm that the industry already provides consumers with a wide choice of safe, wholesome and enjoyable food and drink products.

For more than 10 years the food and drink industry has risen to Scotland’s significant obesity challenge. Favourite products have been reformulated to reduce sugar, calories, fat and salt. Portion sizes have been limited. Some of these principles have now been adopted across the UK as part of Public Health England’s own reformulation programmes.

In addition we are working with the Scottish Government to put in place a package of support for smaller businesses, to help them tweak the recipes of their products to make them healthier.

But the Scottish Government’s proposals would mean that these companies could not promote healthier products in the proposed targeted categories. Preventing companies from promoting reformulated, healthier options to consumers doesn’t make sense.

The Scottish Government is looking to legislate the way food and drink is promoted, without any evidence of the effectiveness of these measures in tackling obesity. Iconic Scottish brands which sell more of their products in Scotland will be disproportionately affected by restrictions.

The Scottish Government and other stakeholders must consider the potential impact these restrictions will have on our vital food and drink industry, which makes a significant contribution to the Scottish economy.

David Thomson

CEO, Food and Drink Federation Scotland

Good cop show, bad cop show

I think The Herald on Sunday’s preview of True Detective was unfair (Scottish Life magazine, January 20). It is an excellent US police drama – the story is not bogged down or thin; this is a story to be relished.

It is slow, yes, but this pace is to be enjoyed, as indeed the title suggests this is how true crimes happen and are solved. Sometimes it takes years, evidence is missed or destroyed – as are the lives of the detectives trying to solve the case.

Check out the executive producers of this series – Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. It’s as if they’ve looked at what went right (season one), and what went wrong (season two) and come up with a different but better season three.

I fear your very short preview will have put viewers off, but dear reader don’t be – this is an excellent show and you’ll be missing out if you don’t watch it.

Talking of reviews, oh irony, on the opposite page there was an article on how bad the new Magnum PI show is. Well, at least you got that right; it is rubbish. You should be concentrating your writing on quality TV shows like True Detective, not on drivel like this.

Martin Gallagher

Milngavie

Trump? A good guy? Really?

Ian McNair of Cellardyke thinks Trump deserves credit for bringing Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table (Letters, January 20).

Adolf Hitler had a few good ideas too, like smoking was not good for your health, vegetarianism was good for your health. Does that mean he should be relabelled a good guy? I think NOT.

Margaret Forbes

Kilmacolm

Nicola isn’t the one failing us

Alexander McKay is spot on in his analysis of the woeful leadership provided by Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, but way off in his comments regarding Nicola Sturgeon (Letters, January 20).

At the EU referendum, Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay within the European Union, and ever since, Sturgeon has tried to find a way in which that vote can be honoured. Although she has a mandate to call a second independence referendum, Sturgeon offered to take a second vote off the table if May would agree to Scotland remaining in the single market and customs union.

However, that offer of compromise fell on May’s stony ground and, given the chaos at Westminster, it is becoming clearer by the day the only way Scotland can remain within the EU is by becoming an independent nation, the status enjoyed by the 27 other countries which make up the EU.

Ruth Marr

Stirling

Alexander McKay in his letter “Put Country before Party” saves his most vitriolic remarks for Nicola Sturgeon to the end.

He applauds Theresa May’s courage as she flounders about digging Scotland, and the rest of the UK, deeper into chaos, and accepts Jeremy Corbyn’s dedication to a Marxist paradise, but writes that Nicola Sturgeon “has not a sliver of consideration for the economic damage and paralysis” a referendum on independence would cause.

How strange, we are in the throes of the most damaging economic situation I have seen in my life – only 84 years so far. This has been caused by the hard-right Tory party, and any attempts by Sturgeon to alleviate this situation have been ignored or rebuffed.

Mr McKay ignores that in the EU referendum Scotland voted 62% to 38% for Remain, and also that Northern Ireland voted to Remain – they, of course, are misrepresented by the DUP who are a minority and are slavishly following Theresa May. No doubt the billion pounds of our money given to them allows them to sleep at night.

In the midst of chaos he is using cooked-up scare stories about Scottish independence to cover up the most godawful mess his beloved Westminster has gotten us into.

Even Mr McKay must be aware that Nicola is under pressure from her own party to call a referendum now; she is waiting to let the dust settle to see what we can do. That’s not exactly manic, is it?

And this week we heard May was involving the devolved nations – it seems that went as well as the rest of his broken process.

Mr McKay is critical of both May and Corbyn – I wonder which brand of Unionism he belongs to?

Jim Lynch

Edinburgh