Scotland on Sunday readers' letters: We need nuclear in the mix of our energy sources

Many letters have been written to your paper on the production of electricity and in particular the fact that the Scottish Government will not entertain anything but renewables.

SNP and the Greens need to get the message that this is the route to disaster. Without reliable back-up sources of electricity we are going to experience blackouts this winter.

I and others have said repeatedly that we need nuclear power in the mix of energies. There is no cleaner, green electricity than that produced by nuclear. No CO2 or greenhouse gases being produced.

We are already being made aware of the need to reduce the consumption of electricity. This can be done by returning to the office instead of working at home and so reducing energy being wasted in households.

Hunterston B nuclear power plant in North Ayrshire was permanently shut down in January 2022. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Michael Baird, Bonar Bridge

Protesting costs

Protests by Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, Tyre Extinguishers, Insulate Britain, Animal Rebellion and other groups, who would take us back to the Dark Ages, have cost taxpayers many millions of pounds from the police budget which should have been used in reducing the escalating crime rate.

The Met Police alone have spent more than £60 million since 2019. Insulate Britain cost £4.3m in only three months. Add on Just Stop Oil, Tyre Extinguishers and Animal Rebellion and the UK police bill for eco-demonstrations will be well over £170m and counting.

Prime Minister Liz Truss should declare an energy emergency and impose draconian jail terms for those eco-cowards who dare not venture to China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the oil rich nations where most of the world's emissions are being generated. Football clubs have to pay for a police presence so those organising demonstrations should pay.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow

Triple whammy

The Food Train charity, based in Dumfries, has highlighted the conflict faced by pensioners when deciding whether to spend their limited money supply on food or save it to pay for heating this winter.

Perhaps the Scottish Secretary (and D&G MP) Alister Jack, who was contacted by the charity, might ask his new PM to have a hard look at what was called "postponing the pensions triple lock”.

The triple lock wasn't “postponed” – it was cancelled. Had the triple lock been merely postponed, the full amount that should have been due in April would be added to the next rise – if not reinstated immediately now that inflation (especially for food and energy) has already exceeded the amount that was due.

Future pensioners might also like to reflect that cancelling the “average earnings” part of the triple lock didn't just affect existing pensioners – it has effectively depressed the base level for all future pensioners/pensions rises, of what is already considered to be one of the poorest state pension provisions in the developed world.

Ian Waugh, Dumfries & Galloway Indy Hub

Naive solution

Nicola Sturgeon is to freeze private sector rents in Scotland. Is this really a sensible solution to our current problems?

Landlords, many of whom own a single property to supplement their pensions, face soaring mortgages and rapidly escalating maintenance costs. So what will be the medium-term consequence of Sturgeon's decision?

Landlords sell up, the number of rental properties shrinks and rents quickly rise even further. Sturgeon seems to regard every landlord as evil, modern day Rackman-types. A wee bit naive? Might it have been better to wait 48 hours until Westminster (where, as Sturgeon constantly reminds us, genuine power lies) has acted?

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire

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