Readers' letters: Drug services are facing financial cuts

What a pity the story that followed it did not live up to the headline (‘£65m boost for drug services’, News, October 21).

Where Art I? Edinburgh Sketcher, 24 October 2022

There is no boost, there is no extra money in addition to the £250m already announced in 2021, SNP spinning as usual, you would think they would have more respect - we are talking about people's lives and sadly deaths.

The £250m announced last year is for a five-year period, it will soon be reduced by the massive rise in inflation courtesy of the current UK government.

There are no outcome evaluations planned; it's just a case of throwing money at the SNP's shame that is Scotland's drug misuse deaths, it bears telling again and again, the worst in Europe, four times that of England.

Nicola Sturgeon and her drugs minister love comparisons, when will they come forward and account for this parlous state of affairs? There really can be no challenge to the independent Audit Scotland and I agree with them, there is a lack of drive and leadership by the Scottish Government - this was reported after announcing the five-year funding.

Douglas McBean, Edinburgh.

Tory leadership race could run and run

So, Boris Johnson resigned because of all his Covid misdemeanours and evasions and a parliamentary committee is looking into whether he is guilty of contempt of Parliament.

Conservative party members voted for Liz Truss amid conspiracy theories that it was somehow arranged that she would win, royally screw up as PM and have to resign.

Boris would then enter the race to replace her. So far this seems to be what is happening, and he might well win.

But what if the Parliamentary enquiry decides he is guilty and he has to resign? And Liz Truss, complete with a policy, personality and brain makeover stands, wins again and is even more catastrophic than the last time.So catastrophic in fact that King Charles abdicates and joins the SNP, Liz calls him an arrention seeker and jas to rwsign again, enabling

Boris to have a Mohammad Ali-like third crack at the title? This could run and run.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.

Interest rate rises are counter-productive

The western world’s central banks, the US Fed, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank have responded to inflation by jacking up interest rates.

This is madness. Inflation is running higher than wage rises, making people poorer. UK energy prices are the highest in Europe and Jeremy Hunt’s reversal of the government’s paltry energy support package will bankrupt households.

The government is shunning cheaper renewables in favour of expensive, climate-busting gas and toxic nuclear and won’t increase the windfall tax on Big Oil. And then there’s Brexit, which has crashed exports.

The Bank of England’s interest rate hikes are only deepening the crisis. Higher rates won’t control inflation, caused by the external shocks of the Ukraine war and the pandemic, not excessive domestic demand.

But they will lead to a mortgage crisis where households will be forced to pay an average of £500 more per month. This will be unaffordable to most, will increase rents because many landlords have mortgages, exacerbate homelessness and fuel a house price crisis.

Together the Bank of England and the Tories are deliberately crushing the life out of an already weak UK economy. They genuinely don’t care about people, just the international financial elites to which they belong.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.

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