Readers' Letters: There’s only one way to get new Government

Who will rid us of this troublesome priest?

The ballot box is the only way to get rid of Nicola Sturgeon's government, says reader

The Salmond Inquiry is thwarted at every turn by a chairwoman and members who are loyal not to country, probity or democracy, but to the SNP; compliant civil servants; and a judiciary brutally accused of corruption in Holyrood on Wednesday.

So who will do the ridding? The Presiding Officer, who appointed the chair and helped set the inquiry remit? The Lord Advocate? Unlikely, given the docility and obeisance they have evinced in this and other matters.

Alex Salmond? Who really expects him to risk imprisonment for contempt, and the destruction of his party and cause?

Nope, as always it's down to opposition politicians and journalists to expose the evidence, make the case and communicate it to Scotland's 4.3 million, mostly oblivious, voters.

There was some hope this week. Murdo Fraser, Jackie Baillie and Alex Cole-Hamilton's dogged work on the inquiry, the defenestration of the Lord Advocate in the "Rangers" malicious prosecution debate and the vote to stop the SNP scrapping business rate relief to newspapers showed our politicians can combine and rise to the occasion.

We've seen increased reporting and comment on the Salmond Inquiry, and the Spectator magazine's High Court victory enabling it to print the Salmond and Aberdein evidence is a big, if still unclear, step forward

But what of the voters? This week's ComRes poll puts support for independence below 50 per cent.

Last week a YouGov poll for Scotland Matters showed 31 per cent of Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative voters in the 2019 General Election support tactical voting for pro-UK parties and a coalition government. This represents 545,000 votes, more than enough to swing the May election. Remarkably 7 per cent (100,000) of 2014 Yes voters would do the same.

As ever, there is no silver bullet, but the best way is to vote the SNP out of office in May. For the pro-UK parties to accept voter appetite for a joint approach, and, at least this once, rise up and fight for Scotland and the UK.

Allan Sutherland, Willow Row, Stonehaven

Too far gone

Although Clark Cross (Letters, February 7) is right in calling for the cancellation of COP26 if it is to become "just a talking shop", far too much money, effort and hope has been invested in it to call a halt now.

The spread of the Covid-19 plague caused by assembling the tens of thousands of its delegates is the most obvious reason to cancel. Moreover, its shaky scientific basis would be good reason for very serious doubt about any practical outcome.

Arguably, the Earth' s temperature has not risen for more than a decade, despite the increases in atmospheric CO2 concentration and ongoing greenhouse release. There is no proof that any falls in atmospheric pCO2 (partial pressure of carbon dioxide) would significantly offset cIimate changes. Therefore the crippling costs of the decarbonisation planned in the West amount to mere, futile tokenism, even if the greenhouse gas hypotheses on causation of global heating are correct

COP29 is therefore doomed to be a very costly, but futile, talking shop, though it will bring vast monies and attention to Scotland. That is why COP26 will go ahead despite the very severe dangers to public health and vast spending, albeit in Scotland.

(Dr) Charles Wardrop, Viewlands Road West, Perth

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