Scotland on Sunday readers' letters: The 'none' box you must tick if you are without religion

I still have my Granny’s rosary beads. They have sentimental and cultural importance but that doesn’t mean I’m ticking the Catholic box in The 2022 Scottish Census.
Postal worker Patrona Tunilla holds a sample Scotland's Census letter during its launch at the University of Glasgow last month. Census results are vital in guiding public policy. (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA)Postal worker Patrona Tunilla holds a sample Scotland's Census letter during its launch at the University of Glasgow last month. Census results are vital in guiding public policy. (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA)
Postal worker Patrona Tunilla holds a sample Scotland's Census letter during its launch at the University of Glasgow last month. Census results are vital in guiding public policy. (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA)

A casual declaration of religious affiliation will endorse religion in schools, its exemption from equality and tax laws and its privileged access to governmental bodies.

Please don’t say you’re a Jedi. Though you might snigger at the satire, the laugh will be on you as you will be classed as “other religion”.

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If you have no religious beliefs, for god’s sake, the “none” box you must tick.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society

Fly the flag

The Bank of England (BoE) has changed its logo – replacing the flag of England (St George's Cross) with the Union Flag.

This might be a timely point to remind folk that the BoE is (currently) the central bank for all four “home nations” and that, when “our” central bank indulges in Quantitative Easing (QE) – producing “new” money from fresh air to deal with eg, banking failures, Covid (business support, furlough etc) and other substantial unplanned expenditure – all four home nations are entitled to their share of this new money, from our central bank, as a right.

Such money is not, and never has been, borrowing from some existing reserve of funds; nor has it ever been a “gift” from the Westminster government – though that government does have an inordinate amount of influence on how much is produced, at what time, and how it should be shared/spent.

Ian Waugh, Dumfries & Galloway Indy Hub

Keep talking

Alyn Smith MEP and Euan McColm were correct to be scathing of Russian President Putin in their columns in last week’s edition. However, neither of them made mention of the need for dialogue and diplomacy to stop the current killing and suffering being experienced by people in Ukraine.

It really is a pity that neither columnist put forward any ideas for a way out of the current situation, such as discussions about a neutral status for Ukraine based on appropriate security guarantees. At a time like this we need politicians and journalists to offer tangible ideas to move forward from dreadful conflicts such as the one playing out in Ukraine just now.Arthur West, Irvine

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Broken promises

Energy Secretary Michael Matheson claimed in Holyrood that Scotland's energy supply was secure and unlimited extraction of fossil fuels was not consistent with climate obligations. Would that be reducing, at a horrendous cost to taxpayers, Scotland's miniscule 0.13 per cent of global emissions to Net Zero by 2045?

Meanwhile, if Michael Matheson has not noticed from his well-paid green ivory tower, there is a war going on and China, Russia, India and many other countries have already broken the promises they made in December 2021 at COP26 and are increasing their consumption of fossil fuels and escalating their emissions, not reducing them.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow

Near miss

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I can only assume the writers of letters supporting nuclear power (SoS, March 6) had written those letters before the nuclear power station at Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine made international headlines for all the wrong reasons. The world had a near miss on March 3. We may not be so lucky this week or next.

John F Robins, Cardross

Write to Scotland on Sunday

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