Sir, – Earth, since its beginning, has, within a geological time frame, constantly undergone climate change.
A comprehensive understanding of this process still eludes the scientific community.
That Earth’s oceans and atmosphere are currently warming is a natural process to which puny and insignificant man contributes little.
However, since the advent of chaos theory, it has been possible to understand that at some point this minor contribution could cause a phase-shift much like the last straw which broke the camel’s back.
This would take the world, almost instantly, from our current temperature range to a higher one with severe biospheric disruption as a consequence.
Unfortunately, the point at which Earth arrives at such a phase-shift is unknown.
Phase-shifts are always drastic and irreversible.
There is evidence that there was once a snowball earth. A phase-shift in climate undoubtedly took it into that state and another out of it.
A phase-shift is certainly something we would not wish to play a part in, or cause.
In the meantime, playing it safe seems sensible until we have a deeper understanding of the forces involved.
That said, Scotland leading the world in carbon-free power production only makes sense if the world follows.
We, on our own, if we shunned low-carbon technology, are never likely to form the last straw, whereas the rest of the world perhaps will.
With India, China and erupting volcanoes swamping anything we could ever produce, what are our chances of a comfortable future?
If the world is complacent, let it ponder that the current respite in the earth’s temperature rise is due, in part, to the latent heat used up by the melting ice caps.
When they are gone, we may well hover on a phase shift, but then again, we really do not know.
Leslie Milligan. 18b Myrtlehall Gardens, Dundee.
Responsibiltyof free thought
Sir, – Ian Devereux’s question (May 7) as to how judgmental others perceive Christians can be answered in one word: extremely.
The ability to think and a sense of personal responsibility are surely among the greatest gifts any supposed god can give us but both can be very uncomfortable at times.
It is scarcely surprising that many people shy away from both, abdicate responsibility and opt for the comfort of faith instead.
After all, once your thinking is done for you it must be quite nice being a Dalek.
Grahame Miller. 53 Millgate, Friockheim.
Don’t gamble with liberty
Sir, – Despite the rhetoric during the election campaign, it is pretty clear that voting SNP has resulted in a Tory government with an outright majority.
Whatever the mixed messages being fed to us by Nicola Sturgeon, the outcome both north and south of Hadrian’s Wall meant any prospect of a Labour-led government were slim.
Outside of the coalition we are already facing the immediate prospect of scrapping of the Human Rights Act and introduction of a snoopers’ charter.
This will run in conjunction with the SNP’s own plans for the introduction of ID cards here in Scotland, all of which will impinge upon our individual freedoms.
There’s an old Joni Mitchell hit that includes the line: “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”
In this democracy of ours it is easy to become complacent about our freedoms. However, we soon will find out what is gone and what is now sadly lacking, in comparison to the past five years.
Galen Milne. Ochiltree, Dunblane.
Will Mr Salmond stay quiet?
Sir, – I am surprised The Courier continues to give prominence to the views and opinions of Alex Salmond.
So far as I am aware, the leader of the SNP is Nicola Sturgeon and the leader in the House of Commons is Angus Robertson.
These are the people we expect to be quoting SNP policy and opinion, not Mr Salmond who is simply a backbench MP at Westminster and a former leader of the SNP who failed in his bid to take Scotland down the disastrous road towards independence.
Can someone within the SNP please ask Mr Salmond to hush-up and get on with his job of representing his constituency at Westminster instead of continuing to dabble in constitutional issues which are none of his business.
Derek Farmer. Knightsward Farm, Anstruther.
Scots think with their wallets
Sir, – Whatever the triumphant Nicola Sturgeon thinks she can now “demand” of David Cameron, the reality is that he is also under pressure to restore the link between what people vote for, what they are taxed and the public services they receive.
After so much grandstanding, she can hardly quibble if she is made responsible for raising the money she intends to spread so thickly but she may find that canny Scots prefer their pensions and benefits to come from the UK treasury.
Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
Danger ahead for Mr Cameron
Sir, – It is Europe, as was the case for John Major’s Conservative administration between 1992 and 1997, that will dominate the early years of Mr Cameron’s second term.
Like Mr Major, Mr Cameron enjoys a wafer-thin majority. In the case of the former this was 21 and for the latter a mere, if unexpected, 12 MPs.
It is against this background that Mr Cameron has pledged fundamental reform of the European Union, putting this deal or EU withdrawal to the electorate in a referendum in the next two years.
It is highly unlikely that Mr Cameron will be able to achieve the level of reforms expected by his backbench MPs.
There is no desire from the French and Germans to reopen treaties and embark on the major reform of key issues such as immigration.
It was 200 years ago this year that the course of Europe’s history changed with the Battle of Waterloo. Mr Cameron will need to keep his wits about him to ensure he does not meet his Waterloo when he returns from the Brussels negotiations, ending up facing a similar fate to John
Major, who, faced with backbench rebellions over the Maastricht Treaty, ended up being turfed out of office in a crushing electoral defeat.
Alex Orr. 77 LeamingtonTerrace, Edinburgh.
Expect silence over Trident
Sir, – The return of MPs to Westminster will be followed by a period of selecting a speaker but then comes the litmus test for the SNP team.
So let me predict one thing they will go nowhere near and that is tabling a motion to close the nuclear submarine base at Faslane.
No way will we see them as much as suggest that the base is removed because they know full well that the base cannot close without creating mass unemployment in the area.
Colin Cookson, Stenton, Glenrothes.
Scotland must have EU say
Sir, – In a television interview, PrimeMinister David Cameron pursued his obsession with an in/out referendum on Europe, opening up the danger of Scotland being dragged out of the EU and its single market against our will.
That would be hugely damaging for jobs and investment and is precisely why each constituent part of the UK, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, should have to vote to leave before the UK could exit.
If we are, indeed, a family of nations, then every voice within that family should be listened to.
Maggie Myles. 43 Cavendish Avenue, Perth.
Time for new political party
Sir, – When we look back at the 2015 General Election we may come to see it as a defining moment in Scotland’s political history.
The SNP has transplanted Labour as Scotland’s left-wing party.
So where will those with a centre-right outlook cast their votes in future?
The Scottish Conservatives struggle to shake off the baggage cast at it as a result of the Thatcher years.
In truth, its influence has gently ebbed since the old Scottish Unionist Party, whose support crossed all social classes, took the Conservative name in 1965.
Or do those of the centre-right gamble on a Liberal Democrat revival, however unlikely that may seem?
Or is there space for a new party of the Scottish right, free from accusations of London control?
Murdo Fraser MSP was bold enough to suggest it and former Conservative minister Norman Tebbit believed it made sense.
Bob Ferguson, North Muirton, Perth.
Oil wealth figures hidden
Sir, – One claim from unionist politicians is that the fall in the price of oil would make it impossible for Scotland to function if it is successful in its demands for full fiscal autonomy, which is the power to spend as it wishes all taxes raised in Scotland.
These claims could not be further from the truth.
North Sea oil revenues have so far raised around £260 billion in taxes. Every penny of this has gone directly to the Exchequer in London and paid into the consolidated fund which contains taxes from all other sources.
Scotland, with a mere twelfth of the UK population has, therefore, received through the Barnett Formula only a minor share of this.
If it had it fiscal autonomy or independence, every penny would have belonged to Scotland, making it today a very rich country.
Even in the future, were there to be a 50% drop in oil revenues, it would still be a big bonus for Scotland.
John Jappy. Moy Bridge Cottage, Moy Bridge, Muir of Ord.