Readers' Letters

Over the past years the Scottish Government has excelled in bringing in clever-dick schemes for things that have not lived up to expectation or have totally failed. This has usually been because of errors in financial planning or failure to see follow-up catastrophes that eventually might take place.

Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme is a source of controversy

I'm sure we all want to see our bottles and tins recycled wisely rather than merely dumped, but certainly in Fife we appear to have an excellent recycling system. The coloured bins that we householders have been supplied with are regularly uplifted and are usually kept on our own property so that we can fill them with our tins and bottles when it's convenient. Larger community skips can be found in most parts of Fife, enabling us to dispose of glass items safely and easily.

The above systems are not only simple but are proven and have worked very well for many years… so why is our Scottish Government considering charging 20p extra when we buy a can or bottle and then giving us it back when we return to the shop for our next purchase? Shops are usually neat and tidy places expressly designed for the sale of goods and the taking in of money: they have no desire to be cluttered up with all sorts of returned tins and bottles and having to dish out 20p for each item returned!

It's total madness !

Archibald A Lawrie, Kingskettle, Fife

Daft idea?

The revelation that the SNP Government and our Circularity Minister took no advice, or learned any lessons, from other countries operating a Deposit Return Scheme shows how they live in their own wee world, divorced from reality. It is pretty obvious that this scheme is but another to add to their long list of failures. In an effort to salvage it, however, let me make a positive suggestion.

There are many ludicrous aspects to their proposals, such as expecting the public to go out of their way to earn a 20p voucher (not even real money – which few people seem to carry nowadays anyway), setting up thousands of DRS return points at huge expense, and potentially fining drinks producers for someone throwing their bottles away. Instead of forcing producers to sign up for this ludicrous scheme, which will require a very high rate of participation by the public, why don’t we ask the public to sign up for the scheme and only allow sales of drinks, etc, to those who agree to return their bottles?

Yes, I know this is a daft idea but the SNP/Green coalition started it, not me!

Ken Currie, Edinburgh

Ammonia ahoy

A switch to hydrogen is a step in the right direction but not far enough (“Green hydrogen critical element in energy mix”, Sustainable Scotland, 9 February). A better fuel would be ammonia, a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen. Surprisingly, ammonia is a better carrier of hydrogen than hydrogen itself; its properties make transportation and storage straightforward. In some ways it makes more sense to transport hydrogen as ammonia and then back to hydrogen.Ammonia may be a missing link in making decarbonisation happen. There are several projects under way involving ammonia, ranging from supply chain entrants to integrated major renewable energy proposals. In the short run ammonia may be well suited for decarbonising, particularly where its use as a liquid carrier for hydrogen can be integrated into a wind farm scheme.

In 2020 US firm Eneus Energy announced it intends to build a green ammonia plant in Orkney. Eneus describes itself as a “project developer and technology integrator for green ammonia”, and this announcement marked the first public disclosure of a site from its portfolio of projects under development.

Steuart Campbell, Edinburgh

Road tripped

The media is full of stories and complaints about the broken pledge by the SNP to dual the A9 at the part which is the worst for accidents. But why is all the furore about that particular stretch of road? I spent a week in Lochcarron in Wester Ross last year and to say the roads in that area need attention is an understatement. The roads in the whole area, stretching as far as Skye and Applecross, are narrow with regular passing places.

That’s common with many roads in the UK but it’s the state of the passing places which are the problem. The Tarmac on the edges is ragged and broken and if you drive off the edge you risk shredding your tyres going back on to the road. What puzzles me is, why do the residents in those areas of Wester Ross keep electing SNP MPs and MSPs? It’s they who are neglecting their own constituents.

Ian Balloch, Grangemouth, Falkirk

Relax on road

To the obvious delight of the Tories and Unionist opposition, the near hysterical reaction of some SNP members and office bearers to the Scottish Government’s delay in dualling the A9, is utterly ludicrous.

Sadly against the tragedy of road deaths, Covid, Brexit, Ukraine and strikes, along with a cost-of-living crisis overseen by corrupt and incompetent UK governments, has drastically reduced the flow of cash to Holyrood.

However, let it be clear that the SNP-led Scottish Government’s commitment to complete the A9 dualling remains absolute. Holyrood Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth announced that contracts are being re-tendered “with pace and urgency”.

In truth however, against all other SNP policy considerations (including GRR) I believe unity of purpose is vital if we are to keep independence, climate change and human rights to the forefront.

Grant Frazer, Newtonmore, Highland

Russian rush hour

SNP Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth has blamed the Russians for the lack of progress on dualing the A9 in the Highlands. Weren’t they also responsible for the low Census return rates last year? I know there was talk of Russian interference in elections, but to be causing this much prolonged chaos at the top of the Scottish Government is quite an achievement.

David Bone, Girvan, South Ayrshire

Name checks

Unlike Allan Garden (Letters, 8 February), I had never heard Holyrood described as “Holy”, rather than “Holly” in my long life until purists decided that that is how it ought to be pronounced, rather than the way it is, which is “Hollyrood”.

However, we say “Bruntsfield” nowadays, not “Burnstfield” as The Scotsman spelled it in the mid-19th century, when Morningside was apparently “Mourningside”. Names do change. This does highlight a number of differing pronunciations which may cause some to blow a gasket. Take, for example Kilconquhar. I only hear “Kill-Conquer” nowadays, whereas it should be “Kinn-Yucchur” Equally, “Drumsheugh” should be “Drum-Shooch”, not “Drum-Shoo”, as most now say.

The BBC insists on pronouncing “Caithness” as “Caithnus”. They tell me that one of their staff hails from there and that is how it is pronounced locally. I maintain that it should be “Caith-NESS”. Then again, of course, there is the well-known English chef, Tom Kerridge, who insists that “scone” rhymes with “cone”, rather than “sconn”, as with “gone”. As a word of Scots derivation, I would say that Scots “sconn"” is correct.

However, in my late father's day, Aberlady was pronounced “Aber-Leddy” and I don't know if anyone says that now. I have heard that Lochwinnoch is (or was) pronounced locally “Lochin-Yuch”. Apparently, one Tam O'Shanter is buried there. On which topic, when did BBC correspondents start pronouncing “bury” as "burry” to rhyme with “curry”? It rhymes with “berry” and always has done. No doubt, others will disagree.

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

Hot air

Apparently, central Edinburgh narrowly escaped a US air strike recently. The Pentagon's security systems had picked up an accumulation of unidentified balloons. Westminster avoided temptation and alerted the Pentagon that no pre-emptive action was required as the accumulation was located in the Holyrood Parliament building.

Fraser MacGregor, Edinburgh

Cunning plan?

Private Baldrick died in the bayonet charge that ended the last episode of Blackadder goes Forth. Let's imagine, however, that many years later he was reincarnated as a Scottish Government Special Advisor. One day he said to his esteemed leader, “I have a cunning plan to deal with those idiots down in Westminster. Why don't we push forward a piece of legislation that is so intrinsically flawed and potentially dangerous that Westminster will be sure to veto it. Then you can take them to court and everyone will see what a bunch of tyrannical so-and-sos they really are and how much better we would be without them.”

No doubt Private Baldrick will ensure there will be more cunning plans in the future.

Even Lieutenant Edmund Blackadder would be impressed.

D Mason, Penicuik, Midlothian

Butey Towers

Nicola Sturgeon's memory has seemingly frequently failed her of late. At the Holyrood inquiry into allegations made against Alex Salmond, when she first knew her husband had lent his employer £108,000 and what gender she'd ascribed to a rapist two minutes earlier, on being questioned by journalists.

So it's fortunate, with speculation rife that Sturgeon won't remain in post for this entire Holyrood term, that an employment opportunity has arisen for her in the form of the revival of Fawlty Towers. Surely we all remember Manuel, who would repeatedly state: “I know nothing”?

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire

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