Letter to the Scotsman

Scottish Opera must be funded properly

I know from several spontaneous remarks to me that many people are grateful for Michael Tumelty's timely piece on Richard Armstrong and Scottish Opera (August 30).

You chuck money at British athletics and get the current pathetic results in Paris. (OK, of course they'll do better next time . . . but . . . ) The public money spent over the years on bailing out Scottish Opera during intermittent crises has produced something world-class for all of us to take pride in. As people do - the atmosphere of mutual self-congratulation at the final Götterdämmerung was as thick and comfortable as clootie dumpling. As Tumelty suggested, good though imported soloists were, it was our very own orchestra which sealed the triumph.

Why don't our parliamentarians get the point? As acting temporary cultural spokesperson for the Scottish Socialist Party in the spring election, I was proud to declare that we are the only party to demand that Scottish Opera is fully and adequately funded, so that it can confidently go on producing world-class musical drama at prices all can afford. (I am not in the least against sport, but cannot forebear to point out that the entire Ring could be had for no more than the price of watching our rugby team getting walloped, once, at Murrayfield.)

The SSP is also in favour of doubling the parliament's overall budget for the arts. People don't live by free school meals alone . . . Pride in our country can also help us get by. We are damned good at music, theatre, and film. And little Belle Elliott in Castlemilk, like her English counterpart Ballet Billy, deserves a world-class opera company worthy of her wonderful voice.

Angus Calder, 15 Spittal Street, Edinburgh.

Letter to the Scotsman

Problem of drugs use is spiralling out of control

So the deputy justice minister, Hugh Henry, thinks the record level of drug deaths in Scotland are "troubling." They are not "troubling"; they are a national disgrace.

Heroin floods our communities at record levels, addiction rates continue to rise worse than anywhere else in western Europe, law enforcement agencies concede they are incapable of intercepting even 5 per cent of the illegal drug market, red tape hampers agencies trying to deliver treatment services, and drug workers don’t have the re-sources or adequate staff levels to deal with a problem that has spiralled out of control.

And as your report implies, it is no use blaming previous administrations either, as drug-related deaths are up 70 per cent since 1997. There has been plenty of time to turn this around but complacency, lack of resources and fear of radical initiatives have stymied any noticeable progress.

Three weeks ago, I met a group of mothers of young heroin addicts in Irvine who told a heart-breaking story of how their youngsters had gone through the required counselling services necessary for a place on a methadone maintenance programme only to be told at the end of that course that it was no longer available - it had been stopped for financial reasons.

This was confirmed to me and Rosemary Byrne, MSP, when we met the director of the Ayrshire Health Board.

Incredibly, one young addict was even offered valium as a stop-gap alternative to the methadone maintenance programme she had put herself forward for. She is now back on heroin and feels betrayed by what happened when she came forward for help.

So what does "Mr Henry have to say about this except, presumably, "we can’t comment on individual cases". If so, could I suggest that he and the health minister, Malcolm Chisholm, who is ultimately responsible for delivering or cutting back such services, meets the likes of the Irvine-based mothers, and the addicts who were duped and abandon-ed by the system. They will all confirm this is what is happening on the ground. It is no surprise that drug deaths are in-creasing when this is the reality of the problem.

Also, only last year, the Scottish Executive blocked implementing a trial of a heroin maintenance programme in Scotland after the Home Office gave it the all clear. Such a programme, if extended nationally to all registered addicts who seek help, could have helped stabilise the lives of addicts while they got their acts together and brought some much-needed respite to communities ravaged by addiction-related crime. No more excuses are acceptable from the Scottish Executive. It is a problem as much of its own making as anyone else’s.

Instead of presenting failure as some sort of phoney success story, let us see a real change in the national drug strategy, with radical, realistic initiatives tried out here that have worked in other countries.

KEVIN WILLIAMSON, Drugs spokesperson, SSP, Robertson Street, Glasgow


'Socialist throat' silences Scotland's voice of protest The Scotsman

Sound of Socialist silenceThe Scotsman