Readers' letters: Ukraine gets mixed messages from UK

What message was sent by MPs as they stood united in the House of Commons giving the Ukrainian ambassador a standing ovation?

We didn’t have to wait long for answers! Question after question, challenge after challenge addressed to the PM at PMQs by MPs furious at the UK Government’s inaction regarding sanctions that are going nowhere near far enough, that have too many escape routes!

The EU has opened their hearts by opening their borders to the humanitarian crisis, so what is the UK’s response?

Shockingly we ask ‘do you meet the earnings criteria of £25,600’ or ‘do you qualify to come to the UK on a Seasonal Workers Visa (picking fruit)’? Or ‘if you have family living in the UK, you can come for a year’ - an absolute outrage as war engulfs their country.

Call after call from MPs for the Westminster Government to open up their borders to scrap the need for immediate paperwork, in light of the seriousness of the situation.

So, what message does the Ukrainian ambassador take from the standing ovation and the debates that followed?

Catriona C Clark, Falkirk.

Economic strategy of tired green clichés

The publication of Scotland’s new economic strategy shows only the Scottish Government could think the route to startup growth lies through the appointed of yet another salary souk called “Chief of Entrepreneurship”.

The same government managed to create an Investment Bank that hasn’t funded a single strategic development. The document is stuffed with the usual tired old green cliches of sustainability, just transitioning and climate care.

Europe is facing an energy crisis with Scotland uniquely positioned to supply increased quantities of oil and gas. Any economic strategy that ignores this reality is just a recipe for emigration.

Entrepreneurship can only be increased by pushing cash and resources away from comfy central government and into our communities, where the real risk takers reside. There’s net zero chance of that happening in this land of the brave quangos.

Calum Miller, Prestonpans.

Census hijacked for political purposes

I have just completed the Scottish census and answered questions relating to knowledge of Gaelic, Scots and whether I am trans.

I also had to choose between being Scottish or “Other British”, whatever that is. The impression was of a nationalist tainted census.

I can already imagine the SNP trumpeting the number of people in Scotland who identify as Scottish rather than “Other British”.

Our census has been hijacked by a political party for its own purposes. This is wrong.

Dr Bruce Halliday, Dumfries.

Jedis not wanted

I still have my granny’s rosary beads. They have sentimental and cultural importance, but that doesn’t mean I’m ticking the Catholic box in the 2022 Scottish Census.

A casual declaration of religious affiliation will endorse religion in schools, its exemption from equality and tax laws and its privileged access to governmental bodies.

Please don’t say you’re a Jedi. Though you might snigger at the satire, the laugh will be on you as you will be classed as “other religion”.

If you have no religious beliefs, for god’s sake, the “none” box you must tick.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society.

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