Scotsman Letters: It’s time Gaeldom broke away from Scotland

We hear incessant talk from the SNP that they are the party of Scotland, but Scotland is a nation of distinct regions, few of whom have a lot in common. What exactly is a Shetlander to someone from Glasgow? Basically, a Viking who lives somewhere on the edge of the known world and who has an odd accent.

The Hebrides are far from Scotland in ways that reach beyond geography, says reader (Picture: Adobe)

When I lived in Edinburgh, I never felt that Glasgow (or Dundee, for that matter) were part of the same country. Glaswegians don't consider Edinburgh folk to be part of their “Celtic” world either. And they aren't.

The Hebrides are another land which is not part of “Scotland”. It has no place there. The history of the Isles is one of bullying by Lowland kings who didn't like our Gaelic-speaking ways and did their best to break the clan system. Alas, they succeeded.

The Western Isles should be a Gaelic-speaking nation, with a similar status vis-a-vis the UK as the Faroes have to Denmark, but not independence. Only that way will Gaelic survive and our culture remain uncontaminated by “Scotland” and the evidently corrupt SNP, whose sexual (and possibly financial) conduct is thoroughly reprehensible, as actions by various of their representatives proves.

The time has come for what remains of Gaeldom to break away from English-speaking Scotland. No more Edinburgh rule, just the same way there are no ferries.

Hamish Macleod, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis

Dream industry

Grant Frazer (Letters, 11 May), painting a bright future for an independent Scotland, stresses the profitable production of “renewables” hardware and the development of “clean” hydrogen as an energy source.

Travelling to St Andrews in the 1950s, I found Kircaldy justifying the ditty “You can tell very well from the terrible smell [of linseed] that you're no' very far from Kircaldy”. That aroma came from lino manufacture. No longer, as is typical of many defunct industries in Scotland.

Most of our heavy industries – coal, steel ships and locomotives – have gone. Bold attempts to develop replacements, as seen in the largely empty newish office buildings and factories on the approach to Dundee, illustrate failure in many present policies.

Grant Frazer, anticipating successful enterprises from renewables-related businesses, discounts their foreign manufacture. It is these foreign factories that are “world leading”. Their products, such as wind turbines, become subsidy dependent here.

Could he please suggest whence adequate money could come in a Scotland independent of our present Southern compatriots?

Charles Wardrop, Perth

White noise

On reading Grant Frazer’s opinion on Scottish Independence I fear that the beautiful clear air of the Highlands has affected his thought process

The number of paid-up party members you declare or not doesn’t win an election or referendum, as proved in 2014. It’ll be the silent majority (most of whom are not paid-up party members) who will decide which direction this country takes, as we witnessed in the 2014 independence vote. Please stop listening to all the white noise and listen hard for the deafening silence and you’ll eventually get the message

J Moore, Glasgow

Sold electric pup

Only a few years ago we were told that the enemy of clean air and the battle against climate change was the internal combustion engine. Cars based on petrol and, particularly, diesel were anathematised and scheduled for quick phasing out. We were encouraged to buy electric or hybrid cars.

Now, it seems, this was a scam. Several cities, particularly Edinburgh, have eager planners inventing schemes to restrict cars altogether, regardless of how they are fuelled. George Street is to be a pedestrian area – how deliveries are to be made and buildings and equipment repaired and maintained appears to be a matter of no concern. Similarly, the elderly and infirm are to be condemned to lengthy walks in order to access premises in George Street. Shops and restaurants there must be worried about a potential drop in footfall. In other areas, roads are blocked off with unsightly planters, causing congestion in nearby streets.

I like my electric car well enough, but I now feel that I was tricked into opting for one. We have a new set of zealots on the council whose blinkered pursuit of a pedestrian paradise takes no account of real people’s real lives.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Hypocrisy

The hypocrisy alarm is ringing again. SNP MSP Ben Macpherson is making overtures to Labour, claiming that “we are both parties of the centre left”.

During Labour’s years in the wilderness the SNP showed no interest whatsoever in the centre-left coalition they now moot. Now that the Labour Party, in great part, has shaken off the Jeremy Corbyn nightmare and made themselves electable again, and the SNP’s hegemony in Scotland has ended, suddenly Mr Macpherson and his colleagues are proposing deals.

If they have not already done so, Labour should send them off with a flea in their ear and tell them to go back home and think again.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Stealth wealth

Charles Wardrop appears to have some problems with cause and effect issues when he urges us all to “Keep worsening poverty at bay” and “prevent bairns and weans from going hungry” by remaining with our southern compatriots (Letters, 10 May). Surely he is aware that the one in three bairns currently in poverty are often hungry, as are their devoted parents due to the neoliberal excesses of consecutive incompetent Westminster governments.

Chronic lack of investment, squandering of oil revenues, the trillions of UK debt, massive tax evasion, maintaining nuclear weapons, forced exit from the European marketplace and depopulation etc have been the dispensation offered by our “southern compatriots”. Why, indeed, should we accept the deprivation that Mr Wardrop alludes to when the economic case for Scottish self governance is acknowledged wholesale by the cream of international economists.

Norway and the Irish republic have a sovereign wealth fund to feed bairns and protect all other aspects of national life during difficult times while we have “sovereign” stealth funds in global capital, offshore tax havens and the nutritional health funds in food banks to level things up. Mr Wardrop is clearly a compassionate man who would likely benefit and find “compatriotism” in better company. His heart is in the right place, his head, temporarily I hope, is elsewhere.

Andrew Docherty, Melrose, Scottish Borders

Choose a side

Humza Yousaf has said in the past that if Scotland became independent he would ditch the monarchy. He attended the Coronation last week to, in his words, represent everyone in Scotland.

In Holyrood on Wednesday he chose not to say “God save the king”. It’s time he realised that you have to be very clever to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. The hare usually gets caught in the end so if Humza wants to keep his credibility he needs to make his mind up.

Personally I don’t think he’s clever enough to play both ends against the middle.

Ian Balloch, Grangemouth, Falkirk

Foodbank fight

If anything shows how low Scotland has sunk into a caricature of itself as a nation of neanderthals, it's the round of applause the green faction of the Old Firm expects because monetised social media clips of them singing “you can stick your Coronation up your a***" have raised £15,000 for a food bank. Oh, so that makes it alright them?On a match that was on telly anyway, Celtic’s “generous” fans spent over one and a quarter million pounds on tickets – over 83 times the amount “raised” for the food bank.A hypocritical “it’s all for charity” disclaimer allows society’s dregs to continue raking in cash from all their other videos celebrating grown men behaving like foul-mouthed mindless children – what’s called in business a "loss leader".It also financially incentivises social media to turn blind eyes and go along with the pretence there's anything “honourable” about the morons’ intent, since they, of course, still earn their full cut of the ad revenue.Such events make mockery of society’s studied handwringing about protecting youngsters from harmful content online.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

COP out

Rishi Sunak has said it would be “economically illiterate” not to invest in UK oil and gas because the country will need fossil fuels “for the next few decades” (your report, 11 May). A sign of climate sanity at last. This statement will provoke anger amongst the climate chattering classes and eco-warriors.

The UK, with only 1.13 per cent of global emissions, cannot save the planet. China, India, Indonesia, Asia, Turkey, Zimbabwe, the oil and gas-rich countries and the developing countries have no intention of reducing their consumption of cheap fossil fuels.

Coal-fired electricity has increased across the world. Coal is the dirtiest of fossil fuels yet at COP26 in November 2021, China, India and other countries refused point blank to agree to “phase out” coal and only agreed to “phase down” coal but refused to commit to when this “phase down” would start. They are now in the “phase up” situation as more coal plants are built.

The United Arab Emirates, which will host COP28 in November this year, has said that countries should agree to phase out fuel emissions – not the production of oil, gas and coal. Now that will make for an interesting COP28. Those who criticise and demonstrate in the UK might like to look out their passports.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

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