Posts

Boris has rattled the cage of the SNP

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BORIS Johnson has rattled the cage of the SNP. What the SNP fail to acknowledge is that they don’t actually want devolution to work. If devolution were a success, their argument for independence would be weakened. The last 13 years under the nationalists have seen them doing all they can to show devolution as ineffective. They have had the powers to improve life in Scotland, in our education system, health system and local authorities, yet they have failed to do so. Without devolution, who would the SNP blame for their own failures? Jane Lax, Aberlour.

Devolution IS a disaster

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Devolution in its current form has been a disaster. Sadly, this nation is a hollow, welfare democracy that will soon be devoid of any meaningful institutions and traditions. Policing and teaching are mere branches of social work now, with the real jobs a secondary concern. We have an obnoxious, overbearing, paternalistic state that seeks to `help’ us while insidiously desiring the policing of our thoughts and habits in case we ‘offend’ someone or make the wrong dietary choice. The link between taxation and services is shattered to the point that a sizable minority of Scots see all services as ‘free’ rather than having economic, environmental and social limits that have to be paid for. And we are governed by an ideologically driven, nepotistic political class who have given us (so far) nothing but a decade of constant political uncertainty, even during the Great Recession and Covid-19 pandemic -two of the defining moments of my generation’s lifetime. I thought devolution was supposed to result in something better. Is this what Donald Dewar had in mind? DAVID BONE, Girvan, Ayrshire.

Swinney is Jolly awful

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SCOTLAND doesn’t have to look far for an “unlucky omen” – just look and listen to Deputy First Minister John Swinney when he appears on your TV screen. He reminds me of the late Rikki Fulton as Reverend I M Jolly in Scotch and Wry with his dryness when explaining anything to the Scottish public. He seems to be the Government messenger in breaking bad news, whether it’s anything to do with the coronavirus pandemic, educational issues or the handling of university students’ Christmas break. His latest escapade is dealing with the Scottish Government’s failure in handing over legal documentation on the botched complaints against Alex Salmond, which Swinney said he was not doing at this time. I am confident that Rev I M Jolly would have made a better job of it than this motley crew. Amen to that. Hamish Leishman, Kilsyth, Stirlingshire.

Can anyone imagine Spain making it easy for Catalonia?

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Newspaper letters pages and social media are abuzz with nationalist outrage at Alister Jack’s latest refusal to allow Indyref2, and glowing red with fantasy strategies for subverting the process. The same happened when George Osborne flatly refused to allow an independent Scotland to use the Pound The 2014 Indy campaign never recovered and all their ‘they canny dae that’ Section 30 bluster can’t hide the confusion and division Mr Jack has caused this time. And then along comes Sir John Major offering a ‘get out of Jail’ confirmatory vote which will encourage Scots to vote yes’ with their hearts, then waste years, and fuddle heads on interminable negotiations more aimed at winning the next referendum than agreeing on a robust treaty. The Government should turn the hose full on and publish the facts of Indyref life and Indy afterlife well before the Holyrood election, which looks like being a proxy Indyref. These ‘red lines’ should include what the question will be, who can vote, the threshold (two thirds, surely), that the UK wIll not be paying Scottish pensions, there must be a border before and after Scotland Joins the EU (if it can), the right of pro-UK voting council areas to stay in the UK, and the loss of UK citizenship and how to re-apply. Can anyone imagine Spain, Germany, Italy or the USA making it so easy for Bavaria, Catalonia, Lombardy or California to leave and break up their hard-won successful countries? Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven