Oil abasement

What a stushie about oil! In unprecedented circumstances which no-one anticipated and the experts have difficulty understanding, the price has fallen, at the moment, to a level none of the forecasters predicted.

The Secretary of State for Scotland has now (your report, 30 December) joined the chorus demanding that the Scottish Government/SNP prostrate itself in apology for the figures put forward during the referendum.

Remember how Gordon Brown proclaimed “no more boom and bust” and George Osborne promised the disappearance of the deficit by the end of the current parliament. Should these gentlemen and their parties similarly abase themselves now that their predictions have proved false?

The truth is that politicians make broad claims which the wise regard with a considerable degree of scepticism.

Furthermore, is the UK Government sure that the price of oil in 2016-2019 will be what its economists now predict?

Perhaps now would be a good time to hand this wasting asset over to the Scottish Government to see what it can make of it.

S Beck

Craigleith Drive

Edinburgh