Readers' Letters: Swinney must oppose licensing of strip clubs

I agree with Susan Dalgety (Perspective, 31 October) that if John Swinney is to live up to his commitment to tackling male violence against women and girls, he must oppose the licensing of strip clubs.

The Scottish government's Equally Safe strategy says strip clubs and lap dancing are forms of violence against women and girls.

I will be voting for councillors next year, and for other politicians as and when electing them, who tell me they will oppose licences for existing and/or any new strip clubs.

West Port, site of Edinburgh's 'sexual entertainment venues', pictured in 2017 (Picture: Jon Savage)

Our daughters and granddaughters, our sisters, our mothers, ALL women and girls deserve this for safety reasons.

We have to end rape culture and it’s good John Swinney spoke up so strongly on this issue. Now act First Minister!

It was good to see that Scottish Labour women’s conference voted on Saturday to join campaigners seeking to close strip clubs. Politicians who want to condemn violence against women and girls with any credibility should be supporting feminists on this.

Fiona Montgomery, Uddingston, Glasgow

Tap the treasures

I am surprised a nationalist like Stan Grodinsky rails against extracting oil and gas from the North Sea (Letters, 31 October). Doesn't he remember the SNP slogan “It’s Scotland’s oil”? There are plenty of reserves yet to be extracted from the continental shelf. The companies capable of doing this are taxed at 78 per cent by the UK government. An independent Scotland could attract more investment by reducing that shockingly high rate, and billions would flow into its coffers.

As a geographer I don't buy into the argument of the myriad “climate centres” that continuing to extract oil, gas and coal will cause irreversible damage to the planet. We should prepare for climate change rather than try to control the climate of our four billion-year-old Earth, which has had huge variations in climate from one epoch to the next.

How can the “just transition” parrots ignore the environmental damage caused by wind farms scarring Scotland's once-pristine hills with billions of tons of concrete, and hundreds of miles of bulldozed tracks? How can they ignore the battery yards with thousands of containers full of poisonous substances scarring our lowlands as well as hundreds of miles of new power lines taking electricity from where it's generated an inordinate distance from markets. I submit that a big 2GW coal-fired power station like Longannet is more environmentally friendly than all the renewables in Scotland.

Talking of coal, geologists have recently discovered a huge one trillion deposit under the Forth which could be extracted using modern techniques such as remote mining. This would allow an independent Scotland to export the “black gold” needed to produce cement and steel, as well as a source of many products.

It's a strange form of nationalism that won't use the treasures waiting to be tapped for the benefit of the nation.

William Loneskie, Oxton, Lauder, Berwickshire

Time to lead

John Swinney famously did not want to engage in the questions over the Rosebank oil field at First Minister's Questions. He only needed to look out of the window of Bute House to get his answer. The number of protestors outside would not fill a bus even if all the tickets were £2 or less. Many Scots are fed up with climate protestors and want Rosebank developed. Mr Swinney made a poor judgment if he thought opening Rosebank would have lost him many votes. He has tried to sit on the fence. He has fallen off.

Leaders are meant to lead and be mindful of public sentiment. Mr Swinney is not doing this.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Misleading spin

The headline created by Finance Secretary Jenny Gilruth straight after John Healey’s UK Budget last Wednesday was “UK Budget delivers real cut to Scotland's funding”.

But wait a minute, Mr Healey didn't stand a chance. The cuts are due to £720 million worth of tax reconciliations that have been known about for a long time, and the roots of all of that were well described by John Maclaren in The Scotsman around four years ago.

The real culprit is John Swinney, who negotiated these arrangements that have hurt Scotland, and the SNP's ongoing failure to “deliver” growth and increase the tax base in relation to the rest of UK. These reconciliations mean a £720 million hit had built up over time, to arrive in 2027-28! Complex stuff, but Mr Healey certainly isn't to blame for any reduction in 2027-28.

In fact, to avoid this misleading spin from the SNP, Mr Healey would have had to increase the budget for Scotland by inflation and around £650 million on top of that.

The SNP will have had the “cuts” headline ready for some time. Disgraceful.

Jonathan A Davidson, Stow, Scottish Borders

The S-word

For all my working life I have scrimped and saved to ensure at least a comfortable retirement. But now it seems the third “S” – “Shafted” – is in play.

Thanks, Healey, Burnham et al. Guess where your vote isn't going next time round.

Iain Masterton, Kirknewton, West Lothian

How low?

Ivan McKee, Cabinet Secretary for Public Sector Reform, is charged with improving the public sector in Scotland and has set himself the unbelievably low target of half a per cent reduction in the public sector headcount annually. A target of between 2 per cent and 3 per cent should be achievable through natural turnover alone, but given the SNP has failed almost every target it has set, it’s not surprising the target has been set so low. Despite that, he has actually failed already with an increase in the public sector headcount in this Parliament.

Now we learn that over 800 public sector workers are in “ghost jobs” with no defined role at a cost of tens of millions of pounds a year to the public purse, also known as a cost to us mugs as taxpayers.

Is the SNP completely incapable of getting to grips with the size of the public sector in Scotland? It seems so, despite 20 years in power. If Mr McKee wants to meet his pathetically low target, he needs to get a grip – and fast ! He could perhaps start with abolishing CoSLA, and getting rid of Special Advisers. Every little helps.

Brian Barbour, Haddington, East Lothian

Fireworks madness

Every year, every aspiring delinquent is free to purchase in November as much gunpowder as they can from any fly-by-night short leaseholder whose incentive to uphold the law lies inversely proportionate to that of maximising profit.

Easily combustible and burning at 200 degrees centigrade, it beggars belief that our nation allows this annual free-for-all – especially in the current “hobby revolutionary” climate – around material capable of serious burns and loss of eyes or digits: combined with the contents from any shop selling basic DIY supplies, they could easily produce lethal ordinance. But in today's UK, it's all fun and games until someone important's child loses an eye – or their life.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

Buses are fine

Please leave Lothian Buses out of your plans to bring Scotland’s bus network under public control, John Swinney (your report, 26 October).

We in Edinburgh are very well served by them without any political interference, thank you.

Fiona Garwood, Edinburgh

Moving words

May I commend the recent Scotsman Editorial in which it was made clear that the freedom of movement for people we enjoyed as a member of the EEA/Single Market was not remotely related to illegal immigration and that, in fact, leaving the EU made dealing with illegal immigration much harder. And that the UK as a whole, and Scotland in particular, needs immigration.

We've clearly seen the damage that's been done to our NHS and Care Services, and to farming and hospitality, which both relied heavily on seasonal labour demands that were met mainly from members of the EEA.

The Editorial mentioned that the idea of regaining freedom of movement should be tested at a general election. Maybe we can hope Andy Burnham will do just that – sooner rather than later – so we can get the best of both worlds that was promised by those who championed Brexit.

Ian Waugh, Dumfries

Can do

Reports of panic buying bring to mind Threads, the BBC’s chilling 1984 film depicting a nuclear attack on Britain, preceded by frantic shelter preparations and a rush to stock up on tinned food and household sundries.

I do not recommend removing doors to construct an inner refuge quite yet. However, alongside stocking up on baked beans, might I suggest investing in a spare can opener? In one memorable scene in Threads, a man demonstrates the Thatcherite entrepreneurial spirit of the age by selling can openers to anti-war protesters for what was then an eye-watering £1.50 apiece — about £5.22 in today’s money.

Imagine my relief, therefore, at discovering that, 42 years later and despite heightened international tensions, a perfectly serviceable butterfly can opener can still be purchased from a high-street variety store for as little as £1.

At that price, surely we can all afford to make that little extra effort to “Protect and Survive”.

Brian Forsyth, Edinburgh

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