Readers' letters: Sunak’s health stats not to be trusted

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appearing on the BBC 1 current affairs programme, Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg

The data shows that in November 2022, 64.1 per cent of admissions to full Scottish A&E departments were seen within 4 hours, and 4.3 per cent waited more than 12 hours.

In the same period, in full English A&E departments, the figures were 54.4 per cent and 10.2 per cent. So, Scotland’s A&E departments were 18 per cent better on the 4-hour target and more than twice as good on the 12-hour target.

Rishi Sunak will claim that the English A&E figure is 68.9 per cent which includes county hospitals that don’t have full A&E departments and that deal with less serious cases. The Tories are expert at distorting the data when they aren’t outright lying.

Finally, there is no acknowledgement that NHS funding is largely controlled by the UK government and Scotland must make do with its limited ‘allowance’ from Westminster.

Scotland isn’t the currency issuer, West-minster is. That’s why restoring our independence is the only way to prevent the collapse of our vital public services and the immiseration of our population.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh

Let’s get our news priorities right

The news may be full of the travails of Harry, Meghan and William “but the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world”, as Humphrey Bogart eloquently put it in the film Casablanca.

Record global warming was revealed last week affecting the future of 8 billion people, the continuing war on Ukrainian civilians and record A&E waiting times - all knocked off top spot in news bulletins as Harry revealed that he was a “spare”.

When I was at school a spare was slang for someone who was anti-social, didn’t mix well and had a high opinion of themselves. This describes the man Harry has become. All this is about spoilt and at times immature people living with a dysfunctional family.

Overwhelmingly people in the UK simply don’t want to know all the intimate details. This story has become a saga peddled by tabloids and royal experts who make a tawdry living out of trashy trivia.

The people who read this stuff need to understand the issues that matter. Let’s get back to the real world even it means debating Scottish independence.

Neil Anderson, Edinburgh

Who cares when Harry met Meghan?

Absurd and divisive arguments about bickering, privileged princes must be replaced with a proper discussion on the problematic institution of monarchy.

Some say Prince Harry is entitled to call out alleged racism within the royal family because he is now self-funded. If he hadn't been a famous royal though, the American media would not have been interested.

It is terrible when your family does not properly accept your partner for reasons of race or religion. When Harry's mother Diana was unhappy about a 'third person' in her marriage to his dad Prince Charles, now King Charles, the royal family behaved inappropriately and thought Diana should have shown discretionary acceptance for the benefit of the royal institution.

This would have been ridiculous and there must be something wrong with people who can't see how these horrible experiences are still having a bad effect on Prince Harry to this very day.

Jack Fraser, Musselburgh

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