Letters / Hoping for some welcome news come Friday
Many people will be anxious on hearing that, come November, food prices are expected to have risen by 50 per cent from 2021, the start of the last cost of living crisis.
Which political party can be relied on to help most with this? A reliable indication is provided by looking at child poverty.
Thanks to the SNP, child poverty levels in Scotland are far better, far lower, than those in England.
No such thanks can be given to Labour, whose support for Trump and Netanyahu have led to the blockade in the Gulf, which is increasing costs of fuel and fertiliser, and therefore of food, globally.
No such thanks can be given the Conservatives, who brought us the last cost of living crisis with that Prime Minister whose shelf life was less than that of an iceberg lettuce.
No such thanks can be given to the Liberal Democrats. They ushered in over a decade of failed Tory austerity by jumping into bed with Tory MP David Cameron. Those years of austerity did cost lives and shortened others. On the plus side, the Tory/Lib Dem coalition will have likely secured Alastair Carmichael a place in the House of Lords.
The SNP’s determination, if re-elected, to ensure the availability of low cost supermarket staple foods, has attracted predictable criticism. It is, however, an approach that is commonplace in many countries, and many people will be dearly hoping to see it in action.
Hannah Mary Goodlad’s early promise to look out for everyone in Shetland rings true to me. Her evident interest in fishing, crofting and farming, as well as in food security, will be of growing importance to Shetland in the years ahead.
If anyone will be able to find ways to ensure affordable staples can be made available in local shops, on which so many folk in Shetland depend, it is her.
Hopefully those Shetlanders who shop without concern for the cost of a full trolley, and fill up their tanks without fear, will vote with consideration to the needs and concerns of their fellow islanders.
Let us hope they provide them with some welcome news come Friday.
Peter Hamilton
Edinburgh
