Sir, – First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is currently struggling to save her political career with fingernails deeply embedded in the gunnels of the sinking European Community.
Scotland is no longer within the EEC and the commission have stated any new members must be legally independent, and apply for membership.
With no prospect of Indyref2 for at least another five years, that may take a generation to organise.
Why is the illustrious lady determined to take the whole country down with her?
Instead of waving European flags, marching, and repeating a question guaranteed to be refused, why isn’t the Scottish Government preparing plans for negotiations on the country’s future as part of the United Kingdom.
Scotland is in a pit of disaster and even immediate independence will only dig it in deeper.
We need to accept what we can’t change and prepare for what we can change.
Treating Scots as if they have an IQ in single digits, are illiterate, and cannot handle the truth is the wrong approach, just as blaming the nasty Tories from Westminster for stealing VAT on police, when the first minister was warned in advance prior to amalgamation, of what might happen. There are indeed many literate Scots who can discern truth from fiction and are capable of helping with a bright new future.
Why can the Scottish Government not accept the democratic will of the people of the United Kingdom and prepare the country for the kind of success of which we can all be proud.
Alan Bell.
Roods,
Kirriemuir.
Reform of the House of Lords
Sir, – This week before the UK parliament there is a private members Bill from Liberal Democrat peer Dick Taverne to end the automatic right of Church of England bishops to sit in the House of Lords.
Britain has always enjoyed its mediaeval pageantry but the idea UK citizens are morally represented by one sect of the minority religion of one UK constituent country is absurd.
The House of Lords is generally due for reform but this undemocratic anachronism is a good place to start.
The only other country in the world to have unelected clerics in its legislature is Iran.
Neil Barber.
Edinburgh Secular Society.
Making our way in the world
Sir, – Any country less prepared than the UK for Brexit would be hard to imagine.
We are without the initiative and experience to basically start again on our own in a cold hard world, with some of our European neighbours as enemies now, rather than as friends.
But no doubt the regaining of our “sovereignty” will feed and warm us during the dark years ahead as we discover our position in the world pecking order is not quite what we thought it was.
The only bonus is that it might take our attentions away from the climate anarchists and their daft beliefs.
We just don’t have time for them now.
Malcolm Parkin.
15 Gamekeepers Road,
Kinnesswood, Kinross.
Making the best of Brexit is vital
Sir, – I wish Brexit had never happened, but we need to make the best of it and many signs are positive, and should give hope for Scottish “No” voters.
The UK jobless rate is at its lowest since 1974.
Employment, at 33m, is higher than ever.
The CBI reports the biggest surge in confidence on record among manufacturers and the IMF says Britain will be the fastest-growing G7 economy in Europe over the next two years. None of these organisations predict post-Brexit disaster.
And, while Scotland lags behind the rest of the UK in growth, we still follow the trends, so surely this is good news.
Not for Nicola Sturgeon though, who will exploit every twist and turn to demand a referendum. The big question is whether the Scottish Tories will.
I bet the rank and file attending the leadership hustings are mostly “leavers”, as are 1.2m Scots. Only 700,000 of them voted Scottish Conservative in December.
If another 200,000 Scots “leavers” voted Conservative in 2021 it could make them the largest Holyrood party.
That would stop Scexit in its tracks. Surely their new leader should be highlighting the positives of Brexit and his policies to exploit it?
Allan Sutherland.
1 Willow Row,
Stonehaven.
Choosing golf was a mistake
Sir, – The Ryder Cup legacy is part of the reason the A9 is they way it is.
Gleneagles Station was upgraded for the Ryder Cup and this included a new access road.
If the road had been built west to Blackford at no greater expense, things for the area would be far better and safer.
At the time ScotRail and Network Rail would have built a new passenger station at Blackford in association with the freight railhead currently being built there.
As there would have been sidings, the trains that terminate at Dunblane could have extended their journeys to Blackford.
This would have given the area a far more frequent train service to the central belt.
Blackford would have gained safe graded junction access to the A9 via this new road and the lorries going to and from Highland Spring would not have travelled through Blackford.
The petrol station could have had its access altered to use the adjacent junction, making it safer for road users and customers.
The better train service would increase demand for new houses in the area.
If the farmer who lost some ground was given extra ground currently sitting unused by the landowner everybody would be a winner.
Given this option or building a new road to Gleneagles Station and negating the above benefits, the “clever people” in Edinburgh and Perth chose the latter.
Safer roads and massive benefits for the area or a week’s golf.
They chose golf. Why?
George Mailer.
16 Hunter Street,
Auchterarder.
No more pearls of wisdom
Sir, – Regular contributor Dr John Cameron used a reference to the doomsday clock theory as a lead to deride the efforts of the young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg for having the audacity to campaign for climate change, (The Doomsday Clock absurdity, Courier, January 27).
In his customary dismissive style reserved for those whom Burns once famously wrote about “having the gift that God could gie us tae see oorsels as ithers see us”, and it would indeed be a break for all and not not just some of us to be spared the continuous output of the pearls of wisdom that emanate from the self appointed oracle of St Andrews.
Allan A MacDougall.
37 Forth Park,
Bridge of Allan.
Return CBE to sender
Sir, – I note that Brian Cox, an apparent darling of Scottish independence and Golden Globe winner, has stated his regret at accepting a CBE award by the Queen in 2003 on the basis that he ought to have “thought better”.
There is an easy and immediate remedy.
Return the award to sender and clear his conscience.
David L Thomson.
24 Laurence Park,
Kinglassie.
