Readers' letters: Doing the Honours for King Charles III

King Charles III has had 58 regal predecessors since Kenneth I, first King of All Alba, and 95 since Fergus, first King of Dalriada (Argyll). Twenty-seven of these monarchs have been direct parent-to-child ancestors, spanning 35 generations as far as Kenneth I, (38 monarchs over 46 generations to Fergus I).

His connections with the Pictish kings extend even further, probably to the 3rd-4th century. Moreover, his senior link to the Anglo-Saxon kings of early England is through the kings of Scotland from 1066 to 1603, via St Margaret, not (by primogeniture) through the kings of England.

Alongside the oldest crown jewels (the Honours) and probably the oldest symbol of enthronement (the Stone of Destiny) in any surviving monarchy in the world it would seem appropriate to highlight also one of the oldest surviving royal lineages, that of Scotland, in the approachingsolemnities.

King Charles will be presented with the Honours of Scotland during the service of dedication and thanksgiving at St Giles’ Cathedral next month

Hamish Allan, Edinburgh

Ewing betrayed

Winnie Ewing was a political giant in a continent of political pigmies. The Eurosceptic who was Britain’s, not merely Scotland’s, greatest European parlimentarian.

That she lived long enough to see the SNP become everything she’d fought against all her days was a monstrous betrayal of a life spent in the service of others.

Scotland will certainly never see her like again.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

Winnie’s win

Former SNP MP Winnie Ewing may have passed on but she has left an indelible footprint on Scottish politics.

Her 1967 stunning election victory propelled the Scottish independence movement on to the national and even the international stage and laid the groundwork for the dominating party we have today.

At that time the party seemed to follow a moral compass with a wide range of views debated and tolerated. That wide church seems to have lost its way, with power apparently shared among and controlled by a small group of individuals. It appears ironic that the SNP brought to prominence by Winnie Ewing’s victory now seems to be jettisoning her son, Fergus.

Bob MacDougall, Kippen, Stirling

Fawning tributes

Readers of these pages will be in no doubt on my views on the Nationalists. That said, I am trying (rather, struggling) to be objective about the passing of Winnie Ewing.

Whilst recognising her devotion and commitment to the cause, the problem for me is that, as someone who sparked the revival of the SNPs fortunes, she set Scotland on the course to becoming the fractured, rancorous country it is now. So forgive me if I don’t join in the fawning tributes to Margaret Ewing.

David Edgar, Biggar, South Lanarkshire

Bigger boats

It’s not often that I find reason to applaud the Government in Westminster, so it gives me great pleasure to do so now.

The government is going to house thousands of refugees on large cruise liners, such as the one currently in Leith docks housing families fleeing the war in Ukraine.

At a stroke, they have solved the perennial problem of asylum-seekers in small boats. They're putting them in big boats instead. Genius!

Mike Watson, Edinburgh

Starmer’s con trick

Well done to former Lord Provost of Aberdeen Barney Crockett for putting his money where his mouth is and resigning from the Labour Party (Scotsman, 22 June).

If Kier Starmer is allowed to con Scots into voting to shut down the North Sea at a time when renewables are far from reliable and the world is slowly tipping into war it will be a massive self-inflicted blow to this country.

I can’t understand why more of his council colleagues didn’t resign with him, especially given the way they were treated by the Scottish Labour leadership during their coalition with the Conservatives.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Religous rights

We welcome that Fife has become the third Scottish council this year to remove voting privileges from unelected religious appointees on its Education Committee (Scotsman, 23 June).

These committees rightly consult with teachers, parents and students’ representatives who in their advisory capacity do not vote as they are not accountable to the electorate.

We do not doubt that church nominees have opinions or even that some of them might have experience in education, but that is not why they are at the table.

A throwback to a time when they were believed to be a source of wisdom for all, they now use this power to maintain their own traditional views and privileges.

“More god in schools” is a legitimate campaign for religious believers to bring to the ballot box should they wish, but in the interests of democracy, we urge all councils similarly to deny the vote to people we can’t vote out and will continue to press the Scottish Government to revoke the law that requires them on council committees at all.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society

Interest rates

This is the 13th consecutive hike in interest rates (Scotsman, 23 June) and inflation remains stubbornly high with core inflation (inflation minus volatile energy and food prices) still rising.

Monetary policy is failing, delivering only more pain to more and more people, especially those on low and fixed incomes. Sage economists at the Bank of England suggest a recession – of unspecified depth and duration – may now be needed if embedded inflation is to be curbed. Really?

People’s willingness to strike to protect their standard of living in these most trying circumstances is understandable. Less so the “cost-plus” pricing behaviour of big business and the abnormal level of profits thereby accrued.

The paradox here is that market economists regard excessive profits as an inefficiency to be eliminated. This could be achieved by introducing effective independent monitoring and applying appropriate industry-specific business levies.

The revenues raised could then be ring-fenced and directed towards the support of what is fast becoming the biggest growth sector of the economy, namely vulnerable individuals, households, and communities.

Ewen Peters, Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire

Hospitality staff

Whilst I would not disagree with Frances Scott (Letters, 23 June) about a local tax on tourists staying at hotels in Edinburgh, and elsewhere in the UK, for that matter, she is factually incorrect about the nature of available personnel for work in that sector.

I can speak on the basis of everyday experience in my work, that the employment market is full to overflowing with people who could undertake the kind of work she thinks is undersubscribed due to Brexit. Brexit is a dog-whistle matter for Scottish nationalists who fondly imagine that EU citizens are lined up ten deep to work north of the border. The fact of the matter is that they aren’t and never have been when compared to the opportunities available in London in particular and England in general.

I am called upon to trawl the various job boards for a variety of personnel daily and I can assure her that there is a plentiful supply of people in the main locations in Scotland for a variety of occupations in the hospitality sector, many of whom are EU citizens. Indeed, I have carried out a special search, just for her, to make sure of my facts. However, if pay is low, people won’t take jobs.

I am unclear about the legalities surrounding a tourist tax, but any such charge should be used to empty Edinburgh’s bins, clean vomit off the pavements and even fill in potholes, which the previous Labour/SNP coalition notably failed to do.

John Fraser, Glasgow

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