Scotsman Letters: A week is a long time in SNP and Green politics

What a total and utter shambles we are in here in Scotland. A brief perusal of yesterday’s Scotsman and one or two snippets from the last few days sums up the deluded and dictatorial mindset of those who we elected to lead us.

Scottish Green Party co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater have waded into the ongoing row on the Gender Recognition Act (Picture: Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The utterances of the two Green leaders regarding trans rights and their spat with JK Rowling fogs the issues women are worried about – their private space being invaded by men “posing” as women – nothing else, nothing to do with the real rights of the LGBTQ community – and while doing so castigate those who disagree as inciters of abuse and other crimes.

Then we see that the SNP/Green government has spent more than £50 million on advisers, to cover their tails in legal cases brought about by their insistence on pushing forward with cases they have been warned are beyond the scope and legality of the devolved government, and for assisting those incapable of answering forthcoming questions on Covid policy and recovery.

Next, the issuing of £105 million contracts to Turkey to build two new ferries – protecting Scottish jobs and bringing investment to the Clyde?

Then we have, while Rome burns, the naval gazing apology regarding witches dating back to the 1500’s.

A First Minister, who seems to think she knows better than the collective minds of the various generals and admirals of Nato, pushing for a no-fly zone, with no reference to the consequences.

And to top it off, more grandstanding on the refugee situation in Ukraine.

It seems, however, that there won’t be a disappointed family from Ukraine waiting for an invite to the First Minister’s house – unlike the Syrian family, still waiting to find out when they can arrive.

If ever those who vote for the SNP and the economically desolate Greens needed to take a look at themselves, surely these examples of just a few of the utterances from our glorious leaders should surely make them ask for some explanations on policy and the direction in which we are being led. The opposition may be weak, but I’m sure, collectively, they might just about perform better than this unfit for purpose collection of people so far out of their depth, it is indeed terrifying.

David Millar, Lauder, Scottish Borders

Easy virtue?

Nicola Sturgeon really can’t help herself. Grand virtue signalling about welcoming 3000 Ukrainian refugees to Scotland. Can Ms Sturgeon confirm just how many Afghan refugees have successfully been permanently housed and integrated in Scotland and how many are still, unhappily, being housed in unsatisfactory hotel/hostel accommodation?

Where does she propose to house 3000 refugees?

She at one point offered personally to take refugees – has that happened?

Douglas Cowe, Newmachar, Aberdeenshire

Killing interest

The UK Government often complains the BBC is out of touch, metropolitan, humanist, secular and sceptical but, if they needed ammunition, Killing Eve on 12 March provided it. This was a brilliant drama for two series and won awards deservedly.

Now it has lost its way and I doubt if the writer knows where the story should go.She resorted to puerile offensive attacks on the soft target of Christianity in a way the BBC would not dare with Islam or other major religions.This is quite different from poking fun at the dafter aspects of religion eg in Good Omens or Fleabag. Would the BBC dare depict Mohammed as Jodie Comer in drag?

In the early days, Phoebe Waller-Bridge dramatised the Luke Jennings novellas with daft one liners as assassin Villanelle, in the latest fashion, dispatched victims in continental locations. Then Waller-Bridge left for other projects. The suggestion that stone cold psychopathic monster Villanelle would seriously seek redemption is too ludicrous for words.But hey, we can all laugh at her co-opting of Christianity, a cheap and easy iconoclasm. They have lost the plot.

John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing, Fife

Face facts

The Privacy Notice which accompanies Scotland’s Census 2022 states that its purpose is to gather data to enable the Scottish Government to “make decisions and design services on things like schools, roads and hospitals in your local community”. Well, I don’t think you need a census to tell you that. All this Government needs to do is remember “FACTS”, Falling education standards, Ailing health services, Crumbling town centres, Tottering transport systems and Shocking drug death figures.The SNP have had 15 years in Government to “shape our future” and they have failed miserably on all these counts... but of course it’s not their fault, it’s that Big Bad Boy from Westminster!

George M Primrose, Uddingston, Glasgow

Culture of secrecy

Yet another example of the culture of secrecy at the heart of this SNP government is exposed in Friday's Scotsman: “Watchdog in ‘very rare’ step during Salmond inquiries". In order to gain access to information withheld by SNP ministers the Scottish Information Commissioner has been forced in four separate instances to take the rarely used step of serving formal information notices rather than following the usual informal procedures.

In four cases public access to information was refused and the commissioner needs to ascertain whether this was done lawfully. The most worrying case is surely that of James Hamilton's report on whether Nicola Sturgeon breached the ministerial code.

Can anyone seriously maintain that it is not in the public interest to have access to such information? Clearly the SNP do. But how could even they argue that it is not in the public interest to at least allow the Scottish Information Minister access in order to ascertain whether SNP ministers have broken the law in keeping it secret? If they haven't, what is there to hide?

The suppression of information which could be regarded as critical of them is the default mode of SNP ministers. No doubt they simply hope the issue will blow over or – like Lesley Evans – they will quietly disappear from view without ever being held to account for keeping the Scottish people in the dark.

Colin Hamilton, Edinburgh

U(krainian) turn

Did Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross act with expediency or statesmanship in withdrawing his call for prime minister Boris Johnson's resignation (your report, 14 March)? Whether he has shown himself to be a man of stature or just another scheming politician is open to question. After all, public feeling about “Partygate” and those who had lost loved ones, or been denied access to them, and made sacrifices, were very real when Mr Ross called for the premier to go. No doubt he now feels that the horrors of the conflict in Ukraine put all that in perspective. It would be wrong to challenge Mr Johnson when the prospect of war in Europe is so real.

He might have a problem looking the prime minister in the face when they come across each other at the forthcoming Scottish Conservative conference. That is because his call for the resignation was based on a crude political calculation. In the run-up to the council elections in May he no doubt felt his party base and floating voters would be impressed, given the strong public feeling about Covid and Mr Johnson's unpopular image north of the Border. I doubt if these same voters will be impressed by his sudden U-turn.

In fairness his new stance seems to be no different to that of Westminster opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford. Both, in their different ways, have recognised that the exigencies of war override point scoring and abuse over domestic matters.

MSPs at Holyrood can continue their harangues against Mr Johnson because that legislature is not responsible for the conduct of war.

Douglas Ross still needs to explain why he feels the prime minster is fit to lead us in times of war when that same man seemed to let the public down very badly over the Covid restrictions.

Bob Taylor, Glenrothes, Fife

Attack invitation?

I do not agree with Scotsman columnist Brian Monteith (Perspective, 14 March) that the United Kingdom’s nuclear weapons are a defence.

Supporters of Trident – the UK’s Weapons of Mass Destruction – ignore the fact that RNAD Coulport and HMNB Faslane are bound to be targets for an enemy to attack and destroy before the UK uses its nuclear weapons against that enemy.

Coulport stores and loads the nuclear warheads on to the Trident submarines. The Arms Control Association estimated that in 2021 the UK had about 225 nuclear warheads, of which an estimated 120 are on submarines and 105 are in storage.

Adding to this danger to Scotland is that the Conservative UK government has changed its Trident policy from “no first use”.

Hansard shows that on 18 July 2016 George Kerevan MP asked Prime Minister Theresa May “is she personally prepared to authorise a nuclear strike that could kill 100,000 innocent men, women and children?”

Theresa May replied “Yes. The whole point of a deterrent is that our enemies need to know that we would be prepared to use it, unlike the suggestion that we could have a nuclear deterrent but not actually be willing to use it.”

The Independent newspaper of 24 April 2017 reported that Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said “the Prime Minister was prepared to launch Trident ‘in the most extreme circumstances’, even if Britain itself was not under nuclear attack”.

This all amounts to an invitation to an enemy to attack Coulport and Faslane pre-emptively.

E Campbell, Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire

With thanks

The response to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has been inspiring. In just ten days, more than £16 million has been raised here in Scotland, with the UK total now past £170m.

Given the horrendous eyewitness accounts we are seeing on our TV screens and hearing on our radios, perhaps we shouldn’t be that surprised: we all want to do whatever we can.

This uplifting demonstration of global citizenship is hugely appreciated, particularly amid rising living costs here. So, most of all, we’d simply like to take this opportunity to say ‘thank you’ for your support.

We are also heartened that so many have heeded our messages, shared by the Ukrainian Associations here in Scotland and across the UK, that financial support for the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal is the most effective way of getting the right support to the right people at the right time.

As well as the thousands of cash donations, big and small from the readers of this newspaper and others, along with those from businesses and local government, we must also thank Scotland’s political leaders for standing together to back this vital Appeal.

Thanks too to the Scottish Government for their £2m donation and to the UK Government for doubling the first £25m we received from the public.

13 of the DEC’s 15 members, on or near the front lines in Ukraine or at its borders, are now delivering food, water, shelter, healthcare and counselling to people whose lives have been torn apart.

Those fleeing this conflict face a deeply uncertain future. We pledge to spend this money responsibly with a firm focus on the most urgent needs of all those affected in the months and years to come.

Thank you for placing your trust in us, and our work, just as you have been for our ongoing efforts to support those so badly affected by the recent conflict in Afghanistan.

For nearly 60 years, in times of crisis, the DEC has brought the UK’s leading humanitarian charities together to help people in life-and-death situations. With your continued support, we have no intention of stopping now.

Marie Hayes, British Red Cross in Scotland; Claire Telfer, Save the Children Scotland; Jamie Livingstone, Oxfam Scotland; Sally Foster Fulton, Christian Aid Scotland; Graeme McMeekin, Tearfund Scotland; Nadeem Baqir, Islamic Relief Scotland

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