Readers' Letters: Why carp when vaccine roll-out is going so well?

I can't be alone in despairing each day, as yet another opposition MSP complains about the Scottish Government response to Covid and yet more letter writers moan about what the government didn't do or aren't doing.

NHS staff have been working hard at EICC to give out Covid jags

Tiny numbers are used to make sweeping judgements, as if the huge success story of the vaccinations so far is some sort of calamity. In yesterday’s Scotsman a headline screams: "Hundreds of over-70s still to receive vaccines!"

Yes, there have been a few glitches but tens of thousands have been vaccinated. Missing a notional deadline is a shame, but surely the real story is the successful rollout. I received my vaccine last week at the magnificently organised EICC, and was deeply impressed with the work of the team there.

Don't opposition members realise that most people want to hear good news? As for the constant complaints about what should have been done (which they conspicuously failed to notice or mention at the time), why don't they come up with new ideas to help? Perhaps because they have none?

The Scottish Parliament was set up to avoid adversarial politics, but, sadly, that's all we get now.

I hold no personal remit for the SNP, and am happy to criticise when necessary, but let's work together for the future, rather than carp about the past! Opposition for opposition's sake is negative and unworthy politics.

Brian Bannatyne Scott, Murrayfield Drive, Edinburgh

Spurious claims

Control of infectious diseases in Scotland, like all other aspects of health policy and delivery in Scotland, have never been reserved. I know; I chaired an inquiry established by and reporting to the Secretary of State for Scotland in 1996-97 that met in St Andrew's House to investigate and make preventative recommendations concerning one of the most lethal outbreaks ever of E.coli O157.

The Scottish Government conducted its own pandemic preparedness exercises in 2015 (Exercise Silver Swan) and 2018 (Exercise Iris).

So Leah Gunn Barrett's claim that Scottish pandemic planning was reserved until March 26 2020 is hard to understand, as well as the claim that an independent Scotland would have had the ability to stop the virus spreading in early March 2020 (Letters, February 18).

After all, it took three months for New Zealand to stop local transmission despite introducing on March 16-19 a nationwide lockdown, compulsory self-isolation following travel, a complete border closure to foreigners and managed isolation of cases and close contacts.

Hugh Pennington, Carlton Place, Aberdeen

Dream on

Perhaps Peter Glissov (Letters, February 18) hasn’t read the meaning of the term “irony” – “the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the meaning”.

I quote, “First, a referendum is the democratic way of establishing whether the people of Scotland want independence”.

Yes, these are the actual words of Mr Glissov. Perhaps there are reasons for this statement, I might suggest amnesia as, if Mr Glissov checked the SNP Party timeline, he will, incredibly, find that such a decision was taken by the Scottish people in 2014.

He also goes on to say: “History teaches us that by staying in the UK we cannot as a nation dream of new directions.”

This SNP Scottish Government has more powers than any devolved nation in Europe. It refuses to use a vast array of them, as they have neither the intelligence nor the intellect to carry them through – also, to use some of them would negate the opportunity of blaming Westminster, and the buck would stop at Bute House.

To dream is a wonderful thing, to consign a nation to the third world on the back of those dreams is unforgivable.

David Millar, West High Street, Lauder

Just the facts

Cabinet Secretary for Finance Kate Forbes and her predecessor Derek Mackay kept telling us that Scotland would be better off as an independent country than as part of the UK. Well the Covid19 pandemic shows a quite different story - £9.7 billion received from the Westminster government. Where would an independent Scotland obtain that sort of money – or would they just borrow it from someone?

Wouldn't it be a good idea if Kate Forbes could tell us, prior to the May election, how an independent Scotland would fare in the international markets, and more importantly, could she also give us her estimates of what the various tax rates will be to make us better off, if she can?

The latest report from a school of economics paints a quite different picture, and the SNP cannot continue to make grandiose statements without backing them up with facts which have some relevance to the present financial position.

James Macintyre, Clarendon Road Linlithgow

Yes, chickens

Kenny MacAskill ( Perspective, February 18) tries to tell us that that the Yes cause is separate from the SNP, although others beg to differ. The two are seen to be linked, hence damage to one must spill over into the other – and the damage mounts up. An SNP MSP tells supporters not to back the Wings over Scotland blog; the Salmond case rumbles on; still a row over the sacking of Joanna Cherry; Jim Sillars has a go at the way the party is run.

Adding it all up, there is turmoil within this movement, and history tells us that split movements do not prosper! The SNP thinks it will get a majority in May – don't count your chickens yet!

William Ballantine, Dean Road, Bo'ness, West Lothian

Pointed remarks

I did have a smile at the heading of the letter from Dr S R Wild (“Jag and Gill, February 18) regarding the etymology of the words "jab" and "jag", though I did think that the learned doctor should have known the meaning of the word "polemic".However, he's right about the the usage of these words and that jab has become common currency is just another example of the creeping erosion of Scottish culture which should be rigorously resisted. I confess my sins and seek absolution and also confess that I had an English grandfather.I suppose, by Dr Wild's reckoning, ardent Unionist Tim Flinn (Letters, same day) must be English, but Dr Wild, with the reference to "the porridge line", is pure kailyard Scots.Gill Turner, Derby Street, Edinburgh

Wedge’s end?

Why do so many people in democratic countries find authoritarian leaders appealing? Certainly the deeply illiberal propaganda slots BBC Scotland has given to the First Minister have a great deal to do with her enduring popularity in spite of so many policy failures. Authoritarians elsewhere also make use of this phenomenon. The Burmese military used a coronavirus legislation breach to arrest Aung San Suu Kyi. Poland introduced a mobile phone app that requires those in quarantine to take selfies to show where they are.

Over the last two years a raft of “fiats” have been imposed on us conferring powers to the police, stating where we may go or spend the night, closing down businesses and churches. How confident are we that these measures will be withdrawn or even reviewed?

(Rev Dr) John Cameron, Howard Place, St Andrews

Seeing problems

Richard Allison’s perceptive letter entitled “Eye opening” highlighting the litany of failures of the Government, omits an act of political sabotage (February 18).

The Government has reneged on their 2018 undertaking to build a new Eye Hospital for £45 milion and intends instead to disperse the various units around the Lothians. The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion is a world-famous centre of ophthalmic excellence. I have cause to be grateful to the excellent consultants and nursing staff for treatment to my macular degeneration. If I have good reason to be grateful, then my wife has greater cause. She has had ten years of treatment from laser surgery, 22 injections which continue today and finally an operation for a cataract. This was a procedure by a specialist surgeon and also present was a retinal specialist surgeon lest there was a need for other treatment. Imagine the patient being operated in St Johns and the retinal surgeon travelling from Edinburgh stuck on the M8. A disaster for the patient. The result of all this treatment has been the retention of her sight, which is a gift beyond price.

The benefit of all the specialisms in one hospital cannot be overstated, allowing cross fertilisation of ideas and innovation of treatment. The decision to disperse the various departments around the Lothians would be a loss of medical excellence and a catastrophe for patient care.

To renege on the decision to build a new eye hospital at Little France to save £45 million when the Government has poured money into Prestwick Airport, the ferries yet unbuilt and the failed defence of the Alex Salmond Judicial Review, flies in the face of all medical advice and sound judgment.

Kenneth W Pritchard, Kinellan Road, Edinburgh

Are you Sirius?

Because I have studied reports of strange objects in the sky for about 50 years, I am probably the only person who can explain Peter Hopkins's experience (Letters, 13 February). In fact I wrote a book about the phenomena, usually reported as UFOs.

It seems likely that the object was Sirius, the brightest star in our skies then low down on the south. At that altitude it would display scintillation, flashing various colours. However its unusual appearance can only be due to the presence of a strong temperature inversion (warm air overlying cold air), causing it to be seen reflected off the thermocline as a superior mirage, causing the image to be distorted and changing in appearance. I know of many similar examples.

Steuart Campbell, Dovecot Loan, Edinburgh

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid Letters to the Editor in your subject line.

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.