Readers' Letters: Fish ban move could kill coastal communities

Our Scottish Government's decision to site wind farms all around our Scottish coastline is risking, or perhaps even encouraging, the environmental destruction of vast areas of the natural habitat that sustains the marine life around our shores.

Plans for Highly Protected Marine Areas could devastate coastal communities who depend on fishing industry, says reader (Picture: Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

These decisions have obviously been made to appease their Green Party colleagues in government,resulting in profit for shareholders in wind farms and companies involved in wind power generator construction, based in far away nations.

And now, not content with this victimisation of our nation’s peripheral communities, who depend on those seas for their survival, the Scottish Government is planning to evict our fishing fleet from even more massive areas of our nation’s fishing grounds, areas that have sustained our coastal communities’ livelihoods for thousands of years.

The introduction of Highly Protected Marine Areas by this government, banning all fishing activity in ever more vast areas of important fishing grounds, is akin to the Highland Clearances of the past; the closure of these areas would wipe out the livelihoods of thousands of people.

The closure of these highly important fishing grounds will be well noted in a history of despicable decisions made against the welfare of the people of our own Scottish nation, by a few misguided individuals in power at the time.

William Polson, Whalsay, Shetland

Tough times

If you have a conscience you can no longer continue being content to remain part of a nation that cares so little about its less well off that it raises the interest rate to a point where it makes normal living unaffordable. I saw a young woman on television this week who reminded me of myself back in the years when me and my husband bought our first house to give our young family a base.

It was not a mansion but we needed a mortgage to pay for it. Paying the mortgage was a strain on our pockets. I went back to work to help. Even so, we were stretched. We did not spend carelessly. Our food was enough, but not grand. If I had just been told that my mortgage was going up by £6,000 a year, our comfortable life would have been in ruins around me. “Tighten your belts and spend less” says our millionaire Prime Minister.A bill of £6,000 out of the blue would have dug a hole in our expense sheet that we could not fill. We already relied on second-hand clothes for the children, and lived on the cheaper foods on offer.

When I saw that woman I thought, I hope she lives in Scotland like me. We have hopes of becoming independent of the present UK Government that legislates only for the rich. An independent Scottish government would care for all of us, rich and poor and in-between and it would be the government that we, the Scots, voted for.

Elizabeth Scott, Edinburgh

Deception

The letter I wrote that was published in The Scotsman on 11 May (“Not all bad”) drew a number of comments at Scotsman Online, five of them using my name, and although not written by me I feel I should apologise for their disrespectful nature. Of course, when I saw those comments I immediately flagged them as impersonation and blocked the user, but from past experience this will not prevent further such episodes.

Media manipulation in the UK is conducted on a number of different levels but perhaps those of us who support the right of the people of Scotland to determine their own future should consider it a compliment that some who disagree with us resort to impersonating us in the comments sections of newspapers. These devious attempts to undermine our legitimate views appear consistent with the actions of those who fear they are losing the debate, misrepresenting information (“fake news”), partially conveying relevant context (omitting pertinent details) and diverting from substantive issues (rising poverty and inequality across the UK).

As the alarming events at the White House following the rejection of presidential candidate Donald Trump and the recent huge financial settlement by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News in the US both demonstrated, genuine democracy is under attack from powerful individuals who will resort to any means at their disposal to further their own selfish aims. The UK is not immune from those with wealth and power seeking to deceive in order to achieve more wealth and more power, as evidenced by the success of the backers of Nigel Farage and UKIP in leading the UK to a Brexit which has proven catastrophic for the UK economy and for many British taxpayers.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry, East Lothian

Tweak Holyrood

It must be clear to anyone who takes an interest in Scottish politics that the Committee system which was designed to scrutinise bills and hold the government to account has proven an abject failure. What would you expect when nearly all the committees are loaded in favour of the government?

It's noticeable, and who would disagree, that we have far too many politicians doing far too little. Hence the propensity for daft ideas popping up from idle hands the devil finds uses for.

Here's the proposal; there are 129 MSPs, of which 73 are elected by voters from individual constituencies, so the remaining 56 are Regional ones chosen by an obscure Additional Member System. With the committee system being hopeless and there being no House of Lords equivalent, these Regional members would be a single scrutinising body with the elected power to hold the government (from the 73 constituencies) to account. The way things are right now the government can railroad everything with impunity, but with a revising/scrutinising chamber that would change.

Finally there would be government by consensus, as was always intended.

Stan Hogarth, Strathaven, South Lanarkshire

Greener grass

And so yet another separatist writes about transforming Scotland into Ireland (Frances McKie, Letters, 11 May). It’s great news that Éire is establishing a sovereign wealth fund; perhaps this will at long last fund a free health service like the NHS and/or solve the worst housing crisis in the state’s history? Maybe even narrow that embarrassing gap between its richest and poorest citizens?

Ms McKie mentions that “we have endured 20 years of UK austerity”. Does she actually know about the half century or more of abject poverty and mass emigration the southern Irish put up with from 1921 onwards?

This suffering reached its zenith under openly anti-British Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, whose bizarre isolationism and trade war with Britain succeeded only in helping to accelerate an exodus of his own people to seek better lives elsewhere.

Nowadays, of course, multinational companies looking for a tax haven are a valuable asset, and the Dublin government (unlike our left-wing SNP along with their ridiculous Green allies) embraces capitalism wholeheartedly.

Ms McKie appears to believe that renewable energy is a panacea, without acknowledging any of its limitations. To be self-sufficient in generating electricity from wind power would require covering most of the country with giant turbines. Where would that leave our food security and this “massive surplus in food and drink exports” referred to? Not to mention the impact on wildlife and tourism.

According to Scottish nationalists, the grass is always a lot greener in someone else’s field.

Martin O’Gorman, Edinburgh

Staying safe

Nationalists often compare small countries like Ireland and Norway with the UK when asserting that Scottish independence would bring benefits. Andrew Docherty (Letters,12 May) uses this approach, focusing on things like the UK departure from the EU (not forced, as he says, but the result of a referendum),and defence. But his approach is highly selective. It ignores a difference between Ireland and Norway and Scotland, something that cannot be changed – geography. He doesn't mention ferries, which are much better run in Norway, or mention that it has a border with Russia, causing it to be a founder member of Nato. It voted in two referendums not to join the EU; for protection it much prefers Nato. Ireland doesn't have much of a military budget because, as during the Second World War, it is shielded by the UK.

And as for the UK unilaterally getting rid of its nuclear weapons, which would probably please Mr Docherty as much as Vladimir Putin, the argument for retention made by Nye Bevan still stands.

Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen

Hoyled over coals

If Speaker Lindsay Hoyle had spoken to any other non-white MP the way he screamed at Kemi Badenoch, there would have been a woke lynch mob waving placards about "racism" and "white privilege" at the Commons' gates before teatime.

A gentleman accepts a public apology unreservedly, and any reservations about its spirit are kept private. And a Speaker should always mind their speech.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

Ivy league

Living in Shandon, I am lucky to have access to green spaces, such as Harrison Park and the footpath along the old railway. Unfortunately somebody has been spoiling the latter by chopping the ivy to kill it off.

It used to be thought that ivy strangled trees, but research shows it doesn't. In fact it provides an excellent habitat for birds and insects. The National Trust changed its policies over 15 years ago to stop the practice off killing ivy. The Royal Horticultural Society website has an excellent section on why ivy doesn't need to be killed. So, whoever it is that is damaging the ivy, would they please stop it!

Alistair Armitage, Edinburgh

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