Readers' Letters: 'Vote SNP, the party that keeps on giving'

At a recent wedding one of the couple had a child from a previous liaison. The minister, to involve the child, asked them, what do you like about your mum’s new partner? They likely expected a reply along the lines of, he makes my mum laugh, or happy. Being a child the answer was very direct – I like him because he gives me things! What's not to like about people who gives you things? When a child, we don't have to think about the cost or where the money had come from. As an adult, we become very aware of finances and the balancing act of ensuring we are able to fund our essentials of life.

The Scottish Government's free - or should that be 'free'? - Baby Box

What we don't seem able to do as adults is take our daily financial management issues and compare it to our government’s expenditure of our money through taxation in the same way. In our daily lives we know if we have a takeaway or put down a bet on the horses, this is money we may not have to buy essentials. How, then, can we consider the freebies lavished on us by the Scottish Government perfectly acceptable and also accept that the Government could do more for us if only they had more money?

Billions are spent on freebies in Scotland annually while some of the essentials required by the people are left underfunded. Examples might be the obesity and drug problems – areas where our government talks a good talk but fails to fund action that could change lives.

Of course, politicians know people think more favourably of you if you give them things! Is this the Scottish society we can look forward to should we vote for the SNP and, indirectly, Independence? One that just accepts the gifts without consideration of the underfunding in essential areas of public life?

So much for the considerate, well-educated people we might consider ourselves to be.

A Lewis, Parklands, Coylton, Ayrshire

A few points

I expect that it is just the usual flurry of nonsense that is only to be expected in the run-up to a local election, but there are some important corrections that must be made. All too often, the nationalist contributors to The Scotsman get away with total whoppers. A recent contributor stated, as if it was fact, that Scotland is a former member of the EU. That cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. The UK is a former member state of the EU. Scotland is a part of the UK and is no more a member state than Catalonia, despite the SNP having similar ambitions to the nationalists there.

The SNP's Fiona Hyslop in Perspective (6 April) deplores a UK Government bill she claims "blocks legislation on the rights of children". In fact, the Scottish Government is seeking to infringe the powers of the Government at Westminster by seizing powers that they do not have, "contrary to the devolution settlement", as Conservative Alister Jack has told John Swinney. Mr Jack calls for respect for the devolution settlement by the SNP, but respect is something the SNP does not have, being a party whose own legislation about children (the Named Persons legislation) was described as "totalitarian" by the Supreme Court.

Also, crucially, the result of the 2021 Scottish election cannot be viewed as valid due to the abuse of public broadcasting by Nicola Sturgeon on a daily basis for several months which has seen her regularly and unapologetically discussing matters that do not relate in any way whatsoever to the current Covid crisis. This conduct is wholly unacceptable in a mature democracy and is what might be seen as a norm in the likes in Russia or a banana republic. The outcome of this election will be biased and the election should be put back by a year, at least, with no access to the television or other media beyond what is normal by the current Scottish Government.

Dave Anderson, Broomhill Road, Aberdeen

Sort backlog

I was pleased to read in The Scotsman that the First Minister, who is 50, is to get her first vaccination before the Scottish Government’s deadline of mid-April for the delivery of the first dose to all those over 50 and in the high priority groups.

However, I know of people in Edinburgh who are over 60 and are still waiting for their first vaccination appointment. It would appear that, through no fault of their own, they were overlooked when the rest of the over-60s were being vaccinated.

What is worse is that, even though the names of those forgotten people have been given to Lothian Health Board weeks ago, that Board has done nothing to upload their data to NHS Scotland, who are responsible for making the vaccination appointments. They are not given any priority over the people over 50 who are currently being scheduled for appointment. They are just put into an ever-increasing backlog.

These people have no means of finding out when their data will be uploaded and can only phone the helpline daily to find out if their names are on the list for appointments. They are living in a Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare which is causing them needless physical and mental distress.

If the Scottish Government’s deadline is to be met, the First Minister will have to do something urgently to sort this situation out in Lothian Health Board – and doubtless in other Health Boards as well.

Iain Jamieson, Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh

Have you herd?

There is a curious omission from the public assessment of the path of coronavirus: herd immunity. By now there must be a fair degree of herd immunity, not only from the known infections but also the huge number of asymptomatic cases and the millions of people who have been inoculated. Herd immunity explains why, for example, the return of schoolchildren has not sparked another peak in the virus.

Why are the scientists not addressing this question or if they are doing so in private, why are the politicians not talking about it?

Robert Henderson, Chalton Street, London

List logic

In answer to Dr S R Wild’s question about the mechanics of the system of List votes or the Scottish Parliamentary Elections, he need look no further than the online description of the D’Honte system. It states: “The constituency vote is where the voter chooses their preferred candidate for their constituency. Each candidate for all 73 constituencies in Scotland is elected by a simple majority system known as first-past-the-post (FPTP). The candidate with the highest number of votes wins, with all other votes counting for nothing. The regional vote is the second vote, used to elect an ‘additional’ member to the system. Scotland is divided into eight regions, with seven candidates elected from each. Each eligible voter in Scotland is therefore represented by one constituency and seven regional MSPs after the election.

“A key difference between the constituency and regional votes is that in the regional selection, voters elect the political party of their choice rather than a named individual (unless named independents are standing for election on the regional list). Political parties compile a list of preferred candidates in order, so that the first seat won goes to their first candidate and so on, as deemed by the number of seats that they win.

“The so called d’Hondt system, which allocates the seats in the election, does so by giving seats to parties or independents based on the number of regional votes cast for each entity divided by the number of constituency and regional seats gained in that region, plus one. After this calculation is made, the party with the highest total gains one additional member. The divisor for the winner is increased by one due to this victory, and the calculation is repeated until all seven of the regional seats are allocated.”

QED

J Lindsay Walls, Buckstone Wood, Edinburgh

Trading places

Andrew H N Gray puts a good gloss on the 60 trade deals negotiated by the UK with non EU countries (Letters, 7 April). However, closer inspection reveals a different picture. For a start, of the 60 deals, 33 are fully ratified and 22 are provisionally ratified. Five are operating under bridging mechanisms which are put in place where trading partners are unable to fully ratify or provisionally apply an agreement.The list starts with the Andean countries with UK trade of £2,507 million in 2019. It ends with Vietnam with £5,822 million of trade. In the list there are some significant partners like Egypt, Israel, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine. There are also some fascinating inclusions such as St Kitts and Nevis, Eswatini, the Palestine Authority, Kosovo, Seychelles and Lichtenstein, with the latter two being of special interest to a particular kind of investor. According to UK government sources, total trade with the 60 amounted to £186,099 million. So not exactly a game-changer in terms of the trade balance and GDP.Gill Turner, Derby Street, Edinburgh

A step too far

Andrew H N Gray (Letters, 7 April) makes an excellent point, which is that the SNP are not just asking to be elected, but also to take Scotland back into the EU, a bureaucracy that is already acting against British interests on a number of issues. While our First Minister’s dislike of Westminster is obvious, she goes a step too far by asking us to join her in that attitude.

Malcolm Parkin, Gamekeepers Road, Kinnesswood, Kinross

Inflexible EU

The article in Perspective (6 April) by Vernon Bogdanor wins my full support. He has outlined succinctly the lack of understanding the SNP has in what membership of the EU involves. When ideologues pursue their inflexible objectives, obvious truths are neglected or hidden.

Hopefully the patriotism and common sense of the Scottish voting public will take Bogdanor's analysis into account when voting in May.

Alex McKinlay, The Paddock, Gullane

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