Sir, – As the unnecessary general election approaches, I note that the usual mob of SNP bashers are filling your letters pages.
Let them reflect on this. Theresa May started this election campaign with a 24-point lead over Labour.
It is down to five. May I suggest that this is almost entirely down to her policy of demanding that a homewner’s property in England be taken into fiscal account to pay for any long-term care needs, coupled with the removal of the triple-lock on pensions.
Home owning used to be a cornerstone of Tory policy.
Indeed, Margaret Thatcher enabled council house tenants to buy their homes, thinking that it would turn them into Conservative voters.
But what is the point of spending years paying off a mortgage if there is the possibility of your children only being able to inherit a fraction of its true worth?
When I got married you could buy a modern bungalow for around £4,000.
Since then, house prices have risen astronomically. The same bungalow today would set you back north of £300,000.
How are young people going to get on the housing ladder if they cannot even count on the family home giving them a decent deposit?
The triple-lock on pensions was initiated in 2010 by David Cameron to stop pensions falling too far behind wages. Despite that we still have one of the lowest pensions in Europe: we come 21st out of 27.
So if you are a pensioner or a homeowner, voting Tory will be exactly like a turkey voting for Christmas.
Jim Robertson.
194 High Street.
Montrose.
False witness by religious groups
Sir, – It is disappointing but not surprising to see familiar excuses for child abuse being given out by religious groups on the opening session of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (May 31).
The tentative explanations offered alongside profuse apologies, such as “missing warning signs”or “being deceived by abusers” have been rolled out across the world and have been exposed as attempts to avoid proper sanction for horrific levels of criminality.
It has already been established that these institutions knew all about the abuse that was going on yet chose not to act in order to protect their reputations.
The Scottish inquiry opened on the day that the current Archbishop of Canterbury was exposed by an ongoing Channel 4 investigation as being economical with the truth about his involvement with the Iwerne Trust which is at the centre of abuse allegations.
It is hard not to conclude that the ninth commandment about not bearing false witness has become optional for some Christian leaders.
Alistair McBay.
National Secular Society,
5 Atholl Crescent,
Edinburgh.
Where are SNP defence plans?
Sir, – I may be wrong but as far as I am aware, I have not seen any reference whatsoever to the cost to an independent Scotland of having its own army, navy and air force for defence purposes.
Fishery protection vessels are a must for a start.
Nor have I seen any reference to the cost of setting up Scottish embassies in all the major countries of the world.
These are both highly significant factors.
Before any second referendum on Scottish independence is conducted, we must be made aware of these costs and what plans the SNP has for providing them.
W Graham Watson.
20 Spoutwells Drive,
Scone.
Water quality action needed
Sir, – I was disappointed to read that the quality of the bathing water at Monifieth beach has been rated as poor, particularly when the water at Broughty Ferry is rated excellent and at Carnoustie is rated good.
I would be interested to know whether or not Sepa can provide the reasons for this and what, if anything, Sepa and the local authority are doing to resolve the matter?
Monifieth benefits from two excellent beach-front caravan sites so surely it is important to do as much as possible to improve the quality of the water as quickly as possible.
Steve Linnen.
49 Ramsay Street,
Monifieth.
Tories can’t win north-east Fife
Sir, – Rev Dr John Cameron may be an expert theologian but his knowledge of politics is clearly very slim.
Election Calculus, which he quotes, is simply a prediction based on opinion polls for the whole of Scotland.
Your political editor, Kieran Andrews, makes the same point in his column, It’s votes not polls which count.
In north-east Fife, actual voting figures show that the Conservatives came third in the general election in 2015, third in the Scottish election in 2016 and third in the 2017 council election in the area.
This proves that in north-east Fife it is a two-horse race between the SNP and the Scottish Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives cannot win.
Anthony Garrett.
1 Royal Terrace,
Falkland.
Gaelic signs a waste of money
Sir, – I refer to the article and letter about Gaelic signs going up in Angus. It may interest your readers to know that after more than 100 years, Dundee Highland Society was dissolved in April this year due to a lack of members.
I also feel that street signs in Gaelic are a waste of money. This Scottish Government appears to spend a lot of money promoting the Gaelic language without much success.
My parents and their families came from the Highlands and were Gaelic speakers.
I went to school in Mallaig where Gaelic was absent from the curriculum and it was not encouraged.
Rachel M Nicoll.
11 Gallowden Road,
Arbroath.
Leaders debates were debacles
Sir, – The leaders’ debate on BBC One on Wednesday May 31, and others of its ilk, presented a most unedifying spectacle and demeaned the political process by turning it into a showbiz event, more relevant to the X-Factor than the serious discussion that should be expected in the important matter of choosing the next government of the United Kingdom.
Voters get more information from the likes of the Andrew Neil and Andrew Marr television interviews than they ever get from these nasty stage-managed leaders’ debates.
Broadcasters, and particularly the BBC, have much to answer for by presenting this form of Americanism on our televisions.
Conservative leader Theresa May was absolutely right to decline to take part in such shouty television nonsense
Derek Farmer.
Knightsward Farm,
Anstruther.