Period poverty win is thanks to Monica Lennon - your views

Period poverty win is thanks to Monica

In reply to Hayley Matthews’ point that Nicola Sturgeon deserves praise for ‘tackling period poverty’ by making sanitary products free for all (News, October 28).

It was Monica Lennon MSP, the Scottish Labour party Health Secretary, who was responsible for bringing the new Bill to the Scottish Chamber. Monica had been interviewed on radio and TVfor months, discussing what was in the Bill and how she proposed to bring it to the Scottish Parliament.

She hoped that she would get enough cross party support to enable it to become law. Ms Lennon persevered, and eventually won enough support to get the legislation passed.

The Labour party has always been a social reforming party and have been responsible for passing Bills through Westminster and the Scottish Parliament for years.

Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister has purported to be focused on the pandemic with her daily TV briefings. However despite the Covid crisis she never seems to miss an opportunity to threaten a second independence referendum.

I somehow think that ‘tackling period poverty’ would have never been on Ms Sturgeon’s horizon.

Bob Marshall, Gilmerton Road, Edinburgh.

Support for single state issues flagging

An SNP spokesperson is reported to consider the idea of branding the Oxford vaccine with the British flag to be “utter desperation”.

We look forward to the SNP having the EU flag removed from signs advertising every project to which any money of ours contributed after passing through Brussels and the SNP abandoning its obsession with plastering saltires on public websites and documents - not to mention schools and other public buildings.

Or else having the honesty to admit that what this betrays is its own pretty obvious “utter desperation”.

Plus explaining where an independent Scotland would get a vaccine from.

Michael Upton, SE Circus Place, Edinburgh.

Murray’s journey on road to Damascus

Reading Ian Murray's opinion piece (News, November 26) I fervently hope Santa does venture out this year and drops a gift of logic down his chimney.

Passionate unionist, Murray waxes lyrical against the Tory government and its spending priorities, yet illogically he would condemn his fellow Scots to perpetual Tory government by maintaining the union, given that even the former Labour heartlands in England are voting Tory and rendering his party's return to power improbable.

Next he turns his flawed logic to the Scottish government, which he exhorts to buck Tory priorities and make the pay increase to key workers anyway, from a fixed budget that takes no allowance for such, and which he would be the first to complain about any switch by the SNP government from other key spending areas.

Then Murray criticises the Scottish government over its position on Bi-Fab, ignoring the fact that the government is bound by strict rules about how it funds businesses.

If Ian Murray is genuinely concerned about helping Scottish business and creating and protecting "green" jobs, then logic dictates that these are only possible through a government with full fiscal control, including borrowing powers, to effect the policies he demands.

Ian must surely already know that only an independent Scotland can satisfy his political aspirations for Scotland. He just hasn't recognised his own apparent Damascene moment yet.

Jim Taylor, The Murrays Brae, Edinburgh.