Sir, – I read with dismay how tens of thousands of Rangers fans “celebrated” their team receiving the SPFL trophy on Saturday May 15 2021.
I certainly do not condone such behaviour. However, what is equally reprehensible is the reaction where, as per usual, the SNP-led Scottish Government seeks to blame others for something that is, essentially, its fault.
Specifically, it seems to me that Nicola Sturgeon and her cronies want to blame Rangers Football Club (RFC), but that is not right.
I say that because RFC is a business set up for the purpose of making a profit. I do not think any business can be blamed for the conduct of its customers if they are involved in any law-breaking.
Who, for example, would the SNP blame if disorder broke out in the queue of customers at the January sales? Would they blame Tesco or Currys? No.
If fighting breaks out at a taxi rank when nightclubs come out at around 2am, would taxi firms get the blame? No.
No business should be held vicariously liable for the conduct of its customers.
I may also point out that those who caused trouble on Saturday are not currently customers of RFC because none of them paid an admission fee on Saturday.
What happened was reasonably foreseeable and those in authority, ie the Scottish Government, could have prevented it.
After Saturday’s Glasgow fiasco, people should now be calling for the sports minister’s head for yet another SNP governance failure.
I predict that, over the next five years or so, the public will see plenty more SNP-led governance failures. And every time that happens it will be exonerated by expensive “independent” inquiries.
Kenneth Brannan,
Greenlee Drive, Dundee.
Killjoys re-elected to cause us more pain
Sir, – For the recent FA Cup final, Wembley was allowed to fill 2/9ths of its capacity.
In contrast, if anything ever illustrated better the puritanical, killjoy nature of the Scottish Government, it was their rejecting the SFA’s request to allow even 4% of Hampden’s 51,000 capacity to be filled for our cup final.
They were only willing to allow 600. And now that Glasgow is in Level 3, there will be none.
Yet, due largely to the shocking ineptitude of Holyrood’s opposition parties, these killjoys have just been re-elected. More pain, please.
George Morton,
Hudson Road, Rosyth.
Hot air over climate change promises
Sir, – Alok Sharma, the UK Government’s president-designate of COP26, said that the 197 countries coming to Glasgow would make “a consistent and concerted effort” in limiting global warming to 1.5C.
If he had done his homework he would have discovered that the promises – note the word promises – made in Paris in 2015 puts the world on track for a 2C to 3C rise in warming.
He would have also realised that only five countries have legally-binding climate change Acts, the others only made easily-broken promises. He wants countries to abandon coal.
In 2020 China built more than three times as much coal plant capacity as the rest of the world.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, aged 68, recently announced that China would be carbon neutral by 2060 but he will not be around at COP65 to explain why China was not.
Clark Cross,
Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
Argue your point at referendum time
Sir, – We keep hearing from the conservative north British about no mandate for a referendum. They wriggle, duck and dive, use dubious mathematics but they can’t get away from the fact that Holyrood has a majority of MSPs that are independence-minded.
Whatever way you look at it, when the time comes a Bill for a referendum will be presented to the parliament and it will pass. The time to argue your point of view will be then.
Bryan Auchterlonie,
Bluebell Cottage, Perth.
This is a selection of readers’ letters from the print edition of The Courier. Click here to enjoy the daily paper on your smartphone, tablet or computer.
