Readers' Letters: Don't count out SNP dream of independence

Gerald Edwards, in his haste to throw the baby out with the bathwater, wrongly states that since the inevitable implosion of the SNP, support for independence has “gone down” (Letters, 12 June).

SNP supporters could 'rediscover an invincible spirit of solidarity and singleness of purpose', says reader (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

This is not factually correct. It has not diminished overall and some polls suggest an increase in support. The “failed policy” of independence alluded to by Mr Edwards is, in fact, an example of a failed strategy. The policy per se waits patiently to be enacted following the visible assertion of Scottish popular sovereignty in a properly constituted cross-party independence convention and the efforts of focused and experienced political strategists who are now appearing to fill the breach caused by “Sturgo-phile” distractionists.

The appearance of a newly released Nicola Sturgeon into the media glare with an aspect of humility and and a willingness to publicly acknowledge strategic and tactical errors would be welcomed by everyone in Scotland, not least her estranged comrades of old.

Posterity may yet have a place for Sturgeon in the emancipation of the Scottish nation but a quiet public and personal mea culpa could be instrumental in creating the atmosphere of forgiveness so crucial to creating a vision for the future “health of the nation”. The disappointed SNP faithful will rediscover an invincible spirit of solidarity and singleness of purpose.

Andrew Docherty, Melrose, Scottish Borders

Too late

Nicola Sturgeon, former first minister of Scotland, now simply an MSP, says: “I would never do anything to harm either the SNP or the country”.

Really? Does this mean causing strife in families and communities and splitting the nation into two warring factions with her single-minded obsession for Indyref2 does no harm to the country? Not to mention the wasted millions on illogical, headline-grabbing pet projects... but for the grace of the Barnett formula, Scotland’s purse would scarcely attract the most desperate of moths.

How any right-minded, sane individual can be taken in by this silvery tongued charlatan is beyond logic?

Stan Hogarth, Strathaven, South Lanarkshire

Lost deposit

Thinking about the failed DRS Scheme, I would have had some difficulties had it gone ahead. The bottles and cans bought one week would have to be taken back the following week. If the bottle bank was full I would have to bring them back home for another week.

My local supermarket has a delivery of more than six pallets of bottles and cans each week, which would require a very large bottle bank. Unless, that is, it were emptied on a daily basis. Most supermarkets have a selection of bottle banks, one for each colour. My supermarket believes that it will require at least two additional members of staff and it will become tantamount to a recycling centre, not a supermarket.

Edinburgh City council operates a very successful bottle collection service – in our area everybody uses the blue boxes. I expect the blue box scheme collects several tons of bottles each day. I pay for the service through my council tax and would have had to pay again to have the bottles and cans collected from the collection points. Also, large collections of lorries visiting all the supermarkets would not be good for the environment.

Alastair Paisley, Juniper Green, Edinburgh

Two-way street

Alex Cole-Hamilton has accused Humza Yousaf of leaving the NHS in a “terrible state” after NHS workers logged concerns over staffing levels more than 18,000 times in the past five years (your report, 9 June).

I disagree. It is all the MSPs who were or are in office since 2007 when the Scottish Government introduced free university tuition for those who had lived in Scotland for three years who are to blame. They should have been smart enough to have put conditions on getting free university education and the brain drain of our brightest and best would have been reduced and taxation income increased.

The university fees of £9,250 a year are paid by Scottish taxpayers. That is £40,000-£50,000 per student. There are ongoing shortages in the NHS of doctors, nurses and NHS dentists are scarcer than hens’ teeth. The Scottish Government should belatedly but immediately introduce a legally binding contract that from now on free Scottish university education is conditional on graduates working in Scotland for five years afterwards, thus repaying taxpayers' reluctant generosity. This would also help reduce NHS waiting lists.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Footing the bill

While Marjorie Ellis Thompson apparently prays fervently for England’s lakes to dry up so Scottish separatists can secede, and thus deny water to their neighbours (Letters, 10 June), most other people’s attention is focused on more immediate issues.

The main purpose of the DRS was to provoke yet another headline-grabbing constitutional row, whilst awarding ferry contracts to Ferguson Marine appears to have been a pre-election publicity stunt contrived so Nicola Sturgeon could be filmed “launching” one of the perpetually unfinished vessels from a Glasgow shipyard.

Drinks firms are now contemplating legal action to recover money they were obliged to spend preparing for Lorna Slater’s half-baked recycling scheme.

And Humza Yousaf recently said recompense for Western Isles residents affected by the continuing Calmac cancellations is “not off the table”.

But who will ultimately foot the compensation bill for the SNP’s latest botched vanity projects? Step forward “they folk wi’ the broadest shouders”, our much despised Scottish taxpayers.

Martin O’Gorman, Edinburgh

Be thankful

As a medically qualified beneficiary of the Barnett formula I sympathise with Marjorie Ellis Thompson's friend (Letters,10 June) regarding his brain operation in Glasgow, but her take on it provides good anecdotal evidence about its relative generosity to Scotland compared to England when she asserts that he would still be waiting for it if he lived in London.

As for Loch Ness being so full of water that England “will never let Scotland go”, not only should comments about its fullness be mindful of its unseasonably low levels just now, but consider that the most recent political proponent of a scheme for water to travel south of the Border was Boris Johnson. Need I say more!

Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen

Enough is enough

Boris Johnson's resignation is good news for the Conservative Party. His much-vaunted 80-seat majority was due not to his brilliance but simply because the electorate totally distrusted the plans and policies of Jeremy Corbyn.

He claimed to get Brexit done but left the UK with a border down the Irish Sea, and, as a result, Northern Ireland bound to the rules of a foreign power.

He locked down Britain with draconian rules not even seen in wartime, broke the rules he had set, and lied about his behaviour.

He led the support for Ukraine, the most corrupt country in Europe, as a cheerleader for the US military industrial complex’s need for continual war, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian deaths, its infrastructure destroyed, its economy bankrupt, and the world's supply chain undermined.

The idea put about by some of his acolytes that he should stand in a safe seat such as Henley-on-Thames is risible. Any Conservative Association considering his candidacy should reject it out of hand.

As former Chancellor George Osbourne has said: “The Conservative Party has decided to move on from Boris Johnson.”

William Loneskie, Oxton, Lauder, Berwickshire

Hey Big Spender

In the latest Boris Johnson mess, he actually accuses the current UK government of not being Conservative enough, by which, presumably, he means low tax and small state (in itself, a debatable proposition). Coming from him this is nonsense, as when he was in charge he was a big state, high-spending Tory. Whether driven by circumstance or not, he was hardly low spend himself!

William Ballantine, Bo'ness, West Lothian

Cronyism

Why do we have this nonsense of honours awards by departing prime ministers?

We already have the New Year’s Honours and the Monarch’s Birthday Honours to reward people – though I have to say that these should be awarded to those who have earned them by volunteering for great causes, or by contributing to society in an exceptional way.

Picking up a gong when retiring from your normal paid employment seems unnecessary, especially if you are a crony of the former prime minister.

Fiona Garwood, Edinburgh

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