Scotland Matters Letters

For far too long now people in Scotland have been let down by our devolved administration who like playing political games instead of focusing on what matters. The First Minister is so obsessed about independence that she is spending very little time on the cost of living and a probable future recession. She bombards us daily about independence and, as yet. has been unable to produce any data or evidence to support this outrageous idea. This pointless rhetoric is without foundation. Great Britain is one country which shares a long history of harmony, ideas and co-operation. The people throughout the whole of Great Britain share family and friends, memories and values as well as the Royal Family. We need to focus on the United Kingdom and forget about Nicola Sturgeon’s constant rants and raves about what Scotland would be like after independence. Andrew Hogg, Burntisland, Fife.

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Scottish businesses, many of whom suffered grievously during the pandemic while others closed altogether, are finding the rise in energy costs very onerous. However, we already know that the SNP’s sympathy for private business is at best minimal, with nationalisation the preferred mode – think of the successes with ferries and Scotland’s rail service. Some business leaders have fastened on the £2 billion underspend of Covid funds, received by Holyrood from HM Treasury to mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic, as potential manna from heaven to support business, especially small businesses that are in difficulty. That this sum exists was identified by the excellent Audit Scotland. The Scottish administration denies that the £2 billion has lain unspent, but it cannot say how it was spent. This is symptomatic of the complete lack of transparency that shields the SNP administration from the prying eyes of voters. The Auditor General has spoken out about this, but to no avail. It is now time for a beefed-up Audit Scotland, responsible to Westminster, to investigate the regime’s financial management and dealings. Can £2 billion merely disappear into the ether? Only in SNP Scotland. Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

TV news programmes and the daily press all carry stories of the ferry shambles between the Scottish mainland and the Western Isles. The poor state of affairs when residents can’t even buy a pint of milk is another example of Scottish Government neglect of voters and island life. The puzzling thing is that the islanders keep voting for SNP representatives in Westminster and Holyrood. The residents of Arran and the entire Highland constituency have the answers to the problem. Ian Balloch, Naismith Court, Grangemouth.

Around 2pm last Saturday I commenced the unhappy experience of passing a kidney stone. “Our NHS 24” was contacted a couple of hours into the endeavour, and the promise of a GP consultation was obtained. That eventually came at 4.50 am on Sunday, concluding with the guarantee that a prescription for antibiotics could be uplifted from the Sunday pharmacy at Asda in Linwood. When I arrived to uplift the prescription at 3pm (a full 10 hours later), I was advised by the pharmacist that the prescription emails from NHS 24 had not arrived, nor were they expected later – “just like last week”. At least three people in the queue before me had been given the same news. People in pain and distress were suffering unnecessarily for the lack of basic competence. Sadly, no doubt next week will be a repeat of this week, and last week. Is it not high time for those whom we elect and pay to lay off the self-serving posturing, and stop wasting huge amounts of hard-earned public funds on idiotic court actions, and in alternative to deliver to the Scottish people the basics of a competent health service which is within their devolved responsibilities? Or if not health, then try education, or ferries, or roads and rail, or… G Sweeney, Glasgow.

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