There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

IN THE 16 years since I was elected, first as a councillor then MSP for the Lothian region, I have seen a steady and consistent growth in the numbers of people seeking help at my surgeries for mental health problems — and the nature of their problems appear to be ever more acute.
I am not a clinician, but you cannot help but observe reality when it is staring you directly in the face. I regularly see or hear from people doing their very best to keep their heads above water and their families together.
Some are in desperate need of help and don’t know where to turn — or have tried to get help but find it just isn’t there.

From Grangemouth’s closure to Europe’s highest drug deaths, 23 per cent of children in poverty and ferries seven years late, all parties who’ve governed in the last 20 years lack vision or inspiration — we need a new way forward, writes NEIL FINDLAY


