Readers' Letters: Yousaf has an exaggerated sense of his own importance
There are many adjectives to describe Humza Yousaf’s “stepping back” interview (your report, 17 December). Three which immediately spring to mind are "self-glorifying”, “petulant” and “delusional”.
Mr Yousaf clearly has an exaggerated sense of his own importance, boasting that he was “the first leader of a European government” to call for a Gaza ceasefire. He was actually the head of a devolved minority administration, and a very unpopular one at that. Much was made of his personal vendetta against Elon Musk, with a spiteful comment about Mr Musk being “one of the most dangerous men on the planet”. It’s obvious Mr Yousaf has little or no self-awareness as he shamelessly wallows in victimhood throughout.
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Hide AdTo suggest his mercifully brief tenure as First Minister was anything but disastrous is clearly absurd, yet this man sincerely believes it to have been a resounding and historic success.


He promises to “tackle far-right populism in the UK and the West”. With Mr Yousaf on their case, Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen will no doubt be terrified out of their wits.
Martin O’Gorman, Edinburgh
Scooting off
For me the event that summed Humza Yousaf up best was when – in his desire to show how, even though he had a sore Achilles tendon, the people could be assured he could still get about and do his job in order to achieve a fairer, inclusive and independent Scotland – he used a scooter to actually speed up his movements around Holyrood, made sure the cameras were present... and fell off.
Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire
Comma sense
I am very aware that libraries are in financial difficulties and are exploring all means of working to prevent closure However, I was very alarmed to read a report on what appeared to be the latest enterprise in your paper yesterday (18 December)
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Hide AdI quote "...primary school pupils in Edinburgh were found to have access to pornography and videos of executions at public libraries due to a computer fault". While public libraries provide a variety of services, surely this is asking too much of our overworked librarians? Oh wait – perhaps there is a punctuation issue?
For the sake of clarity, and our blood pressure, please bring back the much underappreciated comma!
Jenny Main, Elgin, Moray
Change the record
Another Wednesday, another Jackie Baillie article attacking the SNP (Perspective, 18 December). It's like a broken record. Is this really the best she can do? Checking back over her articles' headlines, there are virtually none which do anything other than directly complain about or trash the present Scottish Government.
Can she not appreciate that this is deeply boring to any remotely intelligent voter? It's especially annoying when her party is in power in the UK, and reveals the helplessness of Scottish Labour, clearly at odds with the national party. She has to attack the SNP since she has nothing to say on behalf of her own party's policies.
Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Edinburgh
Fairy tale
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Hide AdAccording to Jill Stephenson and Hugh Pennington (Letters, 18 December), Scots are poor, badly educated, prone to obesity and survive on handouts from the colonial overlord. Their contempt for Scotland is palpable.
Here’s a bedtime story which may make them reflect a wee bit. Once upon a time there was a country of five million people that was ruled over by its larger neighbour. This bigger neighbour stole its natural resources and kept the people subjugated and poor. Then one day, the people decided that they’d had enough and declared their independence. They took pride in their language and culture and controlled their economy and resources. They forged a strong and proud national identity.
Then something wonderful happened 50 years after independence – they discovered oil in their waters. They decided that this good fortune should be shared by all the people, so created a fund to ensure prosperity not just for themselves but for future generations. Today that fund is worth $1.8 trillion, $200,000 for each person, and is four times the size of the nation’s GDP. This small nation is the world’s richest and is using its vast renewable resources for the people, too.
There’s another nation of five million that’s been ruled by its larger neighbour for over 300 years. It, too, found oil in its waters but it was stolen by the ruler who, rather than keeping it for the people, sold it to private companies and foreign governments. It used the £67 billion from the sale to cut taxes for the wealthiest while cutting public investment. The people grew poorer. The rich grew richer. The small nation’s people pay the highest electricity prices in the world and are dying from the cold. Their culture and language are denigrated by their ruler and their renewables are being sold to the same foreign interests.
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Hide AdThe highly educated Ms Stephenson and Professor Pennington should be able to understand this story’s moral.
Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh
Backstabbers
Waspi women are denied compensation by the self-serving Labour Government who ignore the Ombudsman. Why have one, then?
Labour has lost the plot. Keir Starmer and cronies have no problem taking their big salaries, trips abroad, all the freebies on offer, even for clothes, glasses etc. with no insight – as people queue up at foodbanks and struggle with bills, heating and health.
Labour have withdrawn the pensioners' universal Winter Fuel Payment, which adversely affects many who are struggling financially, and now they won't reimburse Waspi women for extra years worked to reach a changed retirement age. Does Labour not like older people or women?
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Hide AdYet both UK and Scottish governments have enough spare cash to hand out to other countries. We need aid, recompense and fairness in the UK!
Starmer, Starmer, the pensioner harmer, I hope he gets kicked out soon. His treatment of pensioners and Waspi women is going to come back and sting him. Labour “coories up” in opposition, then backstabs in Government – it is truly appalling.
Joyce Langlands, Tayport, Fife
Broken promises
Labour promised to lower our energy bills by £300 but they are going up and up again next year. Labour promised to save Grangemouth but choose to spend billions on carbon capture hubs in the north of England while ignoring Peterhead. Labour have reneged on promises to abolish the two-child benefit cap while scrapping the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners.
If Labour had adopted the Scottish Government’s progressive income tax rates then it would have the £10.5 billion Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall claims it would cost to compensate the Waspi women. Liz Kendall also displayed her ignorance of the devolved settlement, as part 211 of the 2016 Scotland Act states: “The power to create new benefits will not extend to pensions as the Smith Commission Report specifically states that all aspects of pensions should remain reserved.”
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Hide AdIn addition to alienating the majority of pensioners, the Understanding Business survey, compiled by 56° North and the Diffley Partnership, revealed that Scottish companies are concerned about Labour’s rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions, which will begin in April.
The research suggests that nearly half of firms believe John Swinney’s government understands their concerns but the UK budget has dented support for Labour, and Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have dropped by a staggering 51 percentage points since July, according to the recent Opinium poll.
Mary Thomas, Edinburgh
True winning
From my experience as both a game player and producer of Hnefatafl game sets for the Govan Stones historical heritage charity. I can give a far more simple answer to money expert Martin Lewis's ITV show How to Win at Board Games that doesn't require a whole hour of TV – and that's avoid like the plague people who devour such TV programmes and books in the first place.
From the eternal Chess and Pachisi (Ludo) to today's Monopoly and Settlers of Catan, board games are civilised society's vehicle for old friends and strangers alike to relax and socialise with cultured frivolity over a glass and nibbles.
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Hide AdThere is nothing more tortuous than wasting one's precious spare time with some troglodyte to whom "winning is everything", the sort oft found dragging their knuckles early to the exits at sports grounds when their side is losing with a quarter of the game left: as objectionable in victory as in defeat.
To learn to “win” at any game is to fail to learn the true life lesson they bring – to treat Kipling's imposters of Triumph and Disaster as just the same – for even the best prepared will face both, and to treat the camaraderie they bring as the true victory.
Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire
Lighten up
Following Brian Barbour’s suggestion for letters over the Christmas period, (Letters 18 December), I offer this. As we approach the shortest day, may I suggest that cyclists, who don’t already use high visibility gear when riding at night, ask for some of these items for Christmas. They will be safer and motorists relieved. Dark clothing and no bike lights are a disaster waiting to happen.
Fiona Garwood, Edinburgh
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