Readers' Letters: Anti-Jackdaw protestors can put money where mouth is

I see that the Jackdaw gas field has been approved and the protesters are out with their colourful and artistic signs and banners in a bid to convince someone to reverse the decision.

I would suggest they all sign a petition to gather as many names as possible then, when gas levels start to get dangerously low, we will know exactly who would like to be cut off first so the rest of us can heat our homes throughout the winter.

Their sacrifice will be appreciated, I’m sure,

Demonstrators hold anti-Jackdaw and anti-Rosebank placards outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in London yesterday (Picture: Brook Mitchell / AFP via Getty Images)

Andrew Thorpe, Dunfermline, Fife

Move on, John

John Swinney's attempt at the weekend to revive Scottish independence looked to be doomed within just a few hours. He has failed to read the mood of the country or, more likely, he is ignoring the mood of the country.

Alberta has decisively voted to remain a part of Canada. This result is even more decisive than that of Quebec's attempt years ago and even Catalonia's vote for leaving Spain. The picture is clear.

Independence movements have had their day and people have moved on. It is no longer a popular choice as the majority have come to realise it is a foolhardy venture. John Swinney has backed another loser.

Apart from a dyed-in-the-wool minority, few in Scotland are interested either. Is it time for John Swinney to go?

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Thrawn out

It would seem that the need for independence by a part of the Scottish people is not a unique situation. I’ve been reading about a movement in the province of Alberta, Canada, where the sentiment there is for a separation from Ottawa with exactly the same reasons as the independence movement in Scotland and, similar to the Scots, the basic feeling in the majority of the Albertans is to remain in the Confederation, just as it is here to remain with the United Kingdom.

Makes you wonder if the sense of being thrawn was taken with the Scots when they emigrated to Canada in previous times .

Charles Lowson, Fareham, Hants

E-scooter law

Police Scotland have so far seized 561 e-bikes and 441 e-scooters (“Fresh crackdown on illegal e-scooters and e-bikes”, 20 October).

This is ideal and hopefully there is more to come. For far too long these machines have been tolerated by politicians despite pedestrians being robbed, harassed and injured.

The hired e-scooter trial in England is a complete shambles, with hired e-scooters being left lying all over the place. So why is the Scottish government considering allowing an e-scooter rental company to operate a trial in Scotland? Oh now I remember, it’s so Scotland's politicians can claim to be saving the planet. Why have Scottish and UK politicians not insisted e-bikes are registered and have a number plate, insurance and must pay to use the pavements… sorry, I meant roads.

The companies which sell e-scooters are not doing enough to advise purchasers of their product that e-scooters, as your report says, are “not permitted on public roads, pavements or other public spaces, as they do not meet the necessary legal standards. Their use is only legal on private land with the landowner's consent.” Profit before safety?

Those selling e-scooters should bring these facts to the buyer's attention and record their agreement and signature.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Trains fiasco

Following on from Stephen Jardine’s excellent article on the speed of trains to/from Aberdeen (Perspective, 17 October), and subsequent correspondence, may I add to this? My local station is Broughty Ferry, which is served by a combination of intercity services and a local Dundee/Arbroath shuttle service. The intercity passengers must love these small stops, especially as all passengers must disembark and board through a single door.

Although selective door opening works for LNER trains, and many other Scotrail services, this functionality is not available on these IC125 trains – a cost cutting measure when these trains were refurbished for ScotRail use, I was informed by staff.

As a regular train user, I have seen this stop regularly take several minutes for all of this to occur. Despite signage, you see people press the Door Open buttons at the wrong end, followed by a walk along the length of the train to board, costing everyone time.

The longest delay was close to ten minutes when wheelchair users both disembarked and boarded, alongside a cyclist and a queue of passengers on board and on the platform. This was a real service embarrassment, in addition to any delay annoyance.

I asked ScotRail if this inconvenience would be designed out with the replacement trains, due in 2027. After all, a faster service would encourage greater train use and a lower subsidy.

But obtaining a straight yes/no answer seems impossible, and details of any projects to lengthen platforms in time for the replacement trains are also vague. It is mildly reminiscent of the Ardrossan Harbour fiasco, albeit at a smaller scale.

Sadly, it seems that it is not just Stephen Jardine who is destined to suffer long stops at small stations.

Iain MacDonald, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

Strike out

Bob Sanguinetti (Perspective, 21 October) did not start from first principles with his review of an energy plan for the Scottish economy. He failed to ask thIs question: “Why is the strike price for floating wind farms (£213 per MWhr ) set 300 per cent above that for fixed bed units?”

The only answer is that capital costs to build such new technology is 300 per cent more expensive at £10 billion / GW installed. That implies the total debt for 45GW will be £450bn. However, there is a problem that wind output will never be base load generators as dunkelflaute weather means not an iota of power will be produced to keep the lights on in Scotland.

Hence the SNP plan 25GW of hydrogen plant to act as back-up when the wind fails to blow and the sun fails to shine. Costs for such a project will be at least double those for floating turbines, hence they come with a £500bn debt, making a grand total of just under £1 trillion. Scotsman readers should note just how much the SNP loves such projects.

The power companies raise the £1tn capital costs and electricity consumers repay the debt through green levies. The fact that such a policy raises the unit price of electricity to 40p/unit, making 15,000 units per year a debt of £6,000 per Scottish household, is yet to be addressed by the First Minister!

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway

Kilty pleasures

Alex Orr's mention that Scottish charcoal fuelled the guns at Trafalgar (Letters, 21 October) reminds me, amusingly, that much of Scotland's charcoal production in the 18th century was owned by an Englishman, Thomas Rawlinson.

His Highland workers at first wore the usual over-the-shoulder thick belted plaid, very uncomfortable for the job and often discarded to the embarrassment of the prudish boss, so he invented a cut-down version for them – a sort of belted skirt which in due time became the traditional Scottish kilt!

A McCormick, Terregles, Dumfries

Short-sighted

Correspondent Stan Grodynski asks that the will of the Scottish people be respected (Letters, 21 October).

I have news for him – it was, when Scotland held a once in a generation referendum (the SNP’s words) in which the will of the people was expressed through the ballot box. The result was a comprehensive vote for Scotland to remain in the UK.

The mistakes the UK government made were not to enshrine “once in a generation” in law, and prohibit another referendum for a generation, say 25 years, and secondly to allow the Scottish Parliament to choose a question biased in favour of those who wanted to leave the UK when the question should have been Remain/Leave rather than Yes/No.

In complaining about the use of “myopic” in letters to The Scotsman, Mr Grodynski is perhaps himself being short sighted.

Brian Barbour, Haddington, East Lothian

Easy target

I am disappointed to learn the UK is to send Typhoon fighters to defend Saudi Arabia against Houthi insurgents. If anyone needs and deserves our support it is the Ukrainians, fighting a desperate battle to defend Europe against Putin's invasion. A purely defensive role against incoming missiles and drones in Ukrainian airspace could be defended politically as non-aggressive. Is the UK picking an easy enemy? It certainly looks that way.

Graham M McLeod, Kinross, Perth & Kinross

No tears

Good riddance to BBC Scotland and its tinpot output, for all the good it ever did.

Once a division that produced excellent dramas and comedies such as Chewin' The Fat and Burnistoun, it has been a dripping roast for a self-perpetuating clique within Scotland's Glasgow-centric media for too long.

Complete offal such as football show A View From The Terrace was continually renewed despite successive episodes with little to zero views; to say nothing of the endless series of lazy documentaries about “unsolved mysteries” where the real mystery was why they were commissioned in the first place.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

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