Readers' Letters: Scottish Government redefines English language to maintain secrecy

Now we have really heard it all. Accused of misleading parliament over the timing of requests for WhatsApp messages, Humza Yousaf's “explanation” was that the SNP had interpreted the requests “too narrowly”. Has anyone worked out what that means yet?

Is First Minister Humza Yousaf's government too cagey over requests for information? (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Now we learn that the SNP went to court to defend their refusal to comply with the Scottish Information Commissioner's ruling on a Freedom of Information (FOI) request on the grounds that his approach to the word “held” was “too technical” (your report, 7 December)!

The FOI request was for the evidence provided by the Scottish Government in the investigation into whether Nicola Sturgeon had breached the ministerial code to be published. It is difficult to see how the information could have been handed over if it was not “held” at the time by the Scottish Government.

It is equally difficult to see how, after handing it over, it was no longer held. And yet that seems to be the case presented to the courts at a cost to the Scottish taxpayer no doubt amounting to tens, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds. No wonder the case was rejected by the judges.

Where next in the SNP's attempts to redefine the words of the English language in their desperate attempts to maintain their culture of secrecy and avoid scrutiny and accountability? Perhaps they could start with “obstruction”, “obfuscation”, “Stalinist” or “Kafkaesque”. These are not my choices to describe the conduct of this SNP government, but those of current or former SNP politicians!

Colin Hamilton, Edinburgh

Thatcher menace

Martin O'Gorman says Margaret Thatcher brought “decades of economic stability” to the UK and “faced down the Soviet menace” when CND and Labour politicians were advocating unilateral nuclear disarmament (Letters, 6 December). Balderdash!

The roots of nearly all of Britain's economic problems, along with our frankly disgraceful decline in living standards – we are due to fall behind Poland and Romania by 2030 – can be laid at her door. A dogmatic devotion to privatisation bordering on lust was carried on by her natural heir, the ghoulish Tony Blair. The City of London became a casino awash with laundered funds. Our infrastructure is crumbling and public services are on their knees.

Still, Mr O'Gorman can sleep easy in his bed as Scotland is so lucky to host Trident, our “independent” so-called deterrent, each of four submarines loaded with the equivalent of 320 Hiroshima bombs! This means we have the capacity to incinerate more than 44 million people, making the current devastation in Gaza look mild by contrast.

It's time for Mr O'Gorman and friends to stop talking about “unilateral nuclear disarmament” and answer a few questions, starting with “how many wars, real or imagined, has Trident deterred?” Answers on a postcard please.

Marjorie Ellis Thompson, Edinburgh

A Darling needed

The apparently complete disconnect in the mind of the SNP-Green administration and their supporters on what they spend our taxes on and what and how the money is gathered in the first place never fails to astound me. The latest chapter in the eye-wateringly expensive series of booklets on a separated Scotland has been published and is case in point.

Scrapping any connection with Trident – which has kept the UK and Western Europe free from attack for close on 80 years – is the latest wheeze. Their “experts” reckon that will give every family in their broken-off Scotland a £20,000 welfare bonus. I would suggest urgent medical treatment for anyone taken in by such fairy tales; unfortunately our SNP-run NHS is hardly in a position to help them. The bounty they claim would come our way would not pay off the SNP ferry fiasco.

What Scotland needs is to put away childish things and have a team running our affairs with the intellectual vigour, maturity, honesty and integrity of the late and lamented Alistair Darling.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

NHS in danger

Despite Health Secretary Michael Matheson's claim, more money than ever is being pumped into the NHS. One must ask where it is going and is it being used wisely? Revelations that there are 3,700 vacancies within the nursing profession confirm why too many expensive agency nurses need to be employed. Equally enlightening is the fact that for the second year in a row available places on nursing courses within Scottish universities have not been filled, leading to an ultimate shortfall in qualified nurses.

How can the future of the nursing profession and an acceptable level of expertise be assured if insufficient nursing staff are being employed? There are obviously financial hardships for nurses in training and there is an onus on the Scottish Government to ease this burden and encourage more people to join this noble profession. It seems there is no plan in place for the future of the NHS and each crisis is dealt with as it arises, a clear dereliction of duty on the part of the Health Secretary.

Bob MacDougall, Kippen, Stirlingshire

Out of touch

It is disgraceful that so many leading politicians play along with the Rwanda charade. The government is unwilling to take firm action to end the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel each year. The distraction of Rwanda allows them to pretend to be doing something and to deflect the blame for its impossibility on the courts.

The demand for migration from poor, corrupt and repressive countries to the UK is effectively limitless. Also, most of those making the journey are young male economic migrants with little to offer our country. If we don’t deter arrivals, the numbers will just keep rising.

A genuinely democratic government would carry out the will of the people. It would arrest the illegals on arrival and detain them behind razor wire until they could be returned to their own countries. It would face down the courts with their endless human rights excuses, why we have to let everyone in and pay for them indefinitely.

It would most certainly not attempt to deceive the British people.

Otto Inglis, Ansonhill, Crossgates, Fife

Voting with feet

I see that two SNP MPs are getting very cross about the Government attempting to reduce the quite unbelievable numbers of people coming into the UK. Forty years ago, the numbers were around 30,000 per year. Now, they are coming in numbers equivalent to entire cities in the UK, larger even than the population of Edinburgh!

The SNP argument seems to be that Scotland needs foreign immigrants. I can only assume that that is due to the number of people voting with their feet after too many years of nationalist government (I use that words very loosely) and leaving this over-taxed land of nationalism and climate lunacy.

Perhaps they are unaware that England now boasts of having ten million residents who were born outside the UK. That is twice the population of Scotland. If the SNP cannot persuade the sort of numbers they claim that we need who are already living in the UK, why on earth do they expect to persuade other people who do not live here to settle in Scotland?

Peter Hopkins, Edinburgh

Ideas needed

Opposition parties are rightly piling in to criticise the SNP for the shameful fall in educational standards when compared to other countries, the incredible rise in pupil violence and shortage of teachers.

But not one of them are saying what they'd do to fix the problems. The usual excuse is that the SNP will just steal their ideas. I wish they would; the next Holyrood elections are three school years away. In that time more than 100,000 children will be born and I'm sure most parents and grandparents will want action taken now. I looked on their websites and none address the core issues above, and not a word about the disastrous Curriculum for Excellence (or “excrement” as one teacher on a BBC phone-in called it).

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven

Help homeless

I understand from television news sources today that nearly a million people, including many families with children, face eviction this Christmas period in England. Scotland has an eviction ban which applies until 31 March 2024. I know that the provision for the homeless, at least in Glasgow, is completely taken up – no more emergency accommodation is available.

Clearly the Scottish Government needs to act now to consider what will happen after 31 March. Even more urgently, the Scottish Government needs to act now to have contingency plans ready to deal with an influx of eviction refugees from England. Admittedly this situation is largely due to a completely dysfunctional government in England, but this is no comfort to the many families who need shelter. Glasgow clearly needs Scottish Government assistance with homeless provision now and must be prepared for the consequences of a tumultuous situation in England.

Ken Carew, Dumfries

Memory of a fish

The Scotsman reports that Nicola Sturgeon is “struggling with her memoirs” (7 December). If her performance at the Salmond Inquiry some time ago is anything to go by, where she “forgot” rather a lot, her struggle should come as no surprise!

William Ballantine, Bo'ness, West Lothian

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