Scotsman Letters: Do we really need the bling that is the Elizabeth Sword?

Detail is shown on the Elizabeth Sword, which will form part of the Honours of Scotland

Have I been asleep, or has the creation of this bit of bling been somewhat under-reported since its inception? I suspect it has, as I am quite sure that, if it had been asked if it was in favour of its creation, the Scottish body politic would have replied “Eh? Yer kiddin!”

The Scottish Government website tells us that the Elizabeth Sword was commissioned at the end of 2022, on the initiative of the Lord Lyon King of Arms, Joseph Morrow, and with approval from the Scottish Government at a cost of £22,000. So apparently it was his idea, and our government had to go along with it, because how could it do other?

While I acknowledge that the sword in question displays the highest quality of Scottish materials and craftmanship, this does not detract from its apparent function, that of helping to create a new history of Scotland bound within a resurgent Unionist Carolean age.

Personally I am disgusted that the Honours of Scotland, genuine regalia from the time that we were an independent European country, having survived for more than 500 years and having dodged Cromwell’s Commonwealth (ie Union), are now to be polluted by the addition of this sword.

I look forward to the day, as an independent country, when we deliver it as a present to the Westminster office of Lord Alister Jack for service as a letter-opener.

Ken Gow, Bridge of Canny, Banchory

NHS spending

The Conservative government at Westminster has just released an impressive, comprehensive NHS workforce plan for England “to put staffing on a sustainable footing and improve patient care”, according to Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England.

Retention of staff is intended, by reducing the exit rate from 9.1 per cent to between 7.4 and 8.2 per cent. More flexible working and better career progression is promised and a culture change so that staff feel listened to and valued.

New types of role are planned such as physician associates and nursing associates. Nursing training places will increase by 92 per cent, pharmacy training places by 50 per cent. Crucially, the number of medical school places to train young doctors will double and will be targeted at areas with the greatest shortages.

With the population aging there is a realisation that medical training needs to be more generalist and so the number of GP training places will increase by 50 per cent.

This is all very impressive but the changes all relate to the NHS in England. Health in Scotland is fully devolved so we need a comparable plan here to improve recruitment and retention to the NHS in Scotland.

This is vital because there is currently a crisis in the NHS in Scotland – there are more than 400 consultant vacancies and BMA Scotland estimates that Scotland has over 300 full time GP vacancies. 8.2 per cent of nursing and midwifery roles are unfilled in Scotland.

NHS spending on locum doctors, dentists and bank nurses in Scotland in the 2021-22 financial year was £423.4 million, almost double the figure in 2014.

On the presumption the SNP does not have such a plan, the SNP should copy the Conservatives’ plan for the NHS in England.

(Dr) Bruce Halliday, Dumfries

Gender identity

Margaret Thatcher famously pronounced in 1987: "Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay." That was part of a culture war against gay people by those who refused then to believe that our sexual orientation was valid.

Those culture warriors lost. Already in the 1980s, lesbian and gay people were portrayed positively on widely-watched shows like EastEnders, and many people, including most young people, recognised that we were just people like them, who happened to be gay. But in the meantime, the Thatcher government's policies and other discrimination did great harm to a generation of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

It is shocking to see, 35 years on, another batch of culture warriors including Susan Dalgety (Opinion, July 1), doing exactly the same thing to trans people. In the face of overwhelming evidence, they refuse to believe that trans people exist, or that their gender identity is valid.

They will lose. Already, many people, including most young people, recognise that trans people are just people like them, whose gender identity happens to be different. Trans people are portrayed positively on widely-enjoyed shows like Heartstopper.

In the meantime though, the culture war is doing great harm to many trans people, including the young people who, absurdly, Susan Dalgety claims to be protecting.

I wonder whether, as the Tories did over Section 28, today's culture warriors will eventually have the grace to apologise for what they have done?

Tim Hopkins, Equality Network, Edinburgh

SNP failings

With their usual shifty and furtive means, the SNP release details of further costs and delays to the building of the Glen Sannox ferry on the last day before the summer recess for Holyrood.

It is becoming ever more difficult to find the words to describe the level of national embarrassment being heaped upon our nation by this SNP administration.

It is jaw-dropping how almost every policy initiative goes into meltdown sooner rather than later from ferry construction, drug deaths, the GRR Bill, the Deposit Return scheme and now the scrapping of the proposed Highly Protected Marine Areas.

Surely now even the most myopic nationalist supporters must realise the game is up and we cannot continue to be governed by the most incapable, ineffective and incompetent administration since devolution in 1999?

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

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