We must do more to spread a little kindness this Children's Mental Health Week

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Children's Mental Health Week raises awareness of mental illness in young people (Getty)

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition is pleased to support Children’s Mental Health Week, running from 6-12 February. Hosted by children’s mental health charity Place2Be, the theme this year is “spread a little kindness”.

There are many pressures of modern day life that can affect a child’s mental wellbeing, from struggling in class to falling out with friends, and as we know it is estimated that 50 per cent of all mental health problems are established by the age of 14 and 75 per cent by the age of 24.

A small gesture, such as offering a helping hand, can make a big difference. However, if specialist help is required we must ensure that there is quick access to effective treatment, and children get the help they need, when they need it.

While we are making progress on the issue of waiting times for access to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), there is still a long way to go. Over the last quarter (July to September 2016) half of Scotland’s health boards failed to meet the Scottish Government’s 18 week waiting-time target and almost a quarter (23 per cent) of those referred to CAMHS were not accepted for treatment. We also must ensure that the mental health needs of children with learning disabilities are met and that mental health services for these children are at least equally accessible as they are for other children.

Initiatives such as Children’s Mental Health Week go a long way in raising awareness and in creating an open discussion around mental health. We hope that this week will help to embolden children to open up about problems they may be facing and also encourage people to be a little kinder to each other, because no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition

Trump’s trade plans

One of the first legislative acts under the Trump administration will repeal a regulation on coal companies that dump mine waste into mountain streams and rivers.

Other regulations Trump has targeted for repeal include the so-called “blacklisting” rule for federal contractors. This rule, finalised by the US Department of Labour in August 2016, requires companies bidding on federal contracts to disclose any labour law violations in the previous three years. The Methane and Waste Prevention Rule, which requires oil and gas companies operating on federal or Native American tribal land to reduce methane leaks, is also being targeted.

Trump reportedly blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during a phone call last weekend by saying he “loved Australia as a country” but had “a problem” with the refugee deal.

Trump has also threatened Berkeley University with funding cuts after student protests against a pro-Trump speaker. Anarchist tactics at the protest played into the hands of Trump and the far right, who have seized on the violence to demand a crackdown on opposition to the administration’s policies.

The behaviour of Trump should give cause for concern that Theresa May is banking on him to do a deal. The kind of “trade deal” he will want will be one in which all regulations and environmental standards are abolished.

Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

Trump’s Muslim ban makes no sense

Within hours of Trump’s ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, US State Department officials crafted a dissenting memo which has gone viral. The memo refuses to accept Trump’s justification of the ban. Like a chain letter, the memo has been sent to all US embassies around the world in one of the largest protests against presidential policies. Thus far, the memo carries 1,000 signatures but more and more officials wanted to add their names to voice their fierce opposition to Trump’s misguided policies.

Many commented that the visa ban would surely alienate allies and hurt America economically. Our negotiating wizard seems be unaware that foreign travellers inject nearly $250bn into the American economy and support more than 7.6 million jobs. Furthermore, Trump’s stated claim to keep us safer is hogwash. There hasn’t been a single fatal terrorist attack in America by anyone from the targeted seven countries during the past 40 years. According to the Cato Institute, the risk of an American being victim to a terrorist attack by a refugee in a given year is one in 3.6 billion.

Much like the lasting shame following the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in the 1940s, Trump’s ban has evoked similar outrage. This sentiment was echoed by David Miliband, the head of the International Rescue Committee, who stated “banning indefinitely the arrival of Syrian refugees is a repudiation of fundamental American values, an abandonment of the United States’ role as a humanitarian leader.”

Jagjit Singh
Los Altos, California

A request for one-slice toasters

A vast number of people live alone. Why are there no one-slice toasters?

Ian Turnbull
Cumbria

World Cancer Day tomorrow

The commemoration of World Cancer Day tomorrow offers us a splendid opportunity to do all we can to save lives and alleviate agonising pain. Cancer is as old as humanity itself. It has asserted its resilience and adaptability in reshaping the lives of millions of people with intolerable burdens on health services and societies as a whole.

According to the World Health Organisation, 8.2 million die each year from cancer. Developed and developing countries alike are under immense pressure and are ill equipped to deal with this intractable affliction. However, over half of cancers are preventable.

Prevention remains the most potent weapon in our armoury. We all know that smoking, alcohol, processed food, air, water, noise pollution, deep social and economic divides, lack of exercise, rapid urbanisation, diet and nutrition and certain infections increase the risk of cancer. It is time to translate this knowledge into effective collaborative policies that could be helpful in mitigating the impacts of this human catastrophe.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London, NW2

MPs are supposed to represent the people

The Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling, Tom Tugendhat, owes me an explanation as one of his constituents. In the EU referendum he voted to Remain. In the parliamentary debate on 1 February he voted to back the Brexit bill to give Theresa May as our Prime Minister the go-ahead to trigger Article 50. So I now ask him publicly why he made this latter vote. If he replies that he was following the result of the EU referendum, which gave a 52-48 majority to Leave, then he misunderstands the law and his duties. The referendum was advisory only, as the High Court (backed by the Supreme Court) so ruled. Anyway, he is supposed to be a representative of the people. So this would not be a proper answer.

If he then goes on to say that he was bound by a three-line whip to vote as he did, he should be ashamed of himself. We are talking about a most important constitutional matter and yet here he is sheepishly following Tory party lines controlled by an unelected Prime Minister. So again, not a proper answer. And what is his answer to Kenneth Clarke’s speech, the sole Tory who seems to be guided by principles rather than obsequiousness to the party leader?

David Ashton
Kent

Unpleasant viewing

Increasingly in television shows (especially cop shows), people are shown talking with their mouths full. I don’t know whether this is supposed to add “gritty realism” but it doesn’t add style and it most certainly does nothing to enhance clarity.

I notice also that this obnoxious habit is also becoming increasingly prevalent in real life and I so wish that it would not because it is as far from culture and sophistication as it is possible to get.

As my old headmistress used to say: “If one is talking with one’s mouth full then either one is talking too much or one is eating too much.”

Julian Self
Milton Keynes