Readers' Letters: Spineless Greens condemn Scotland to more misery

The country has been condemned to a further period of inept government under the SNP, probably with most of the inner circle cabal being retained or shuffled, whose transparency ideals are manifested by their obsession for self-survival and leadership appointment dilemma.

Still, Wednesday’s events did at least help to delay the publication of the Michael Matheson code of conduct report further.

Fraser MacGregor, Edinburgh

Cancel this soap

The debacle that is current Scottish politics continues with the Scottish Greens supporting the SNP Government in a “no confidence” vote without recognising any irony in having seen off the leader of that same administration!

As a result of the Greens’ support, we have the status quo of an incompetent, ineffective and inept administration being propped up by the Scottish Green Party, who secured all of 1.3 per cent of the Constituency vote – or just 34,900 votes – in the 2021 Scottish Election. An administration propped up by a group who are anti-growth, who want higher taxes, who presided over a huge waste of public money with a discredited Deposit Return Scheme and who supported the SNP’s appalling Hate Crime Bill and Gender Reform Act.

Is it any wonder that those of us who are proud to be Scottish feel more dispirited and disheartened each day as this soap opera that is Scottish politics plays out?

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Murdo squad

It was with a huge amount of laughter I read that Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser was throwing his weight behind Kate Forbes to be SNP leader (Perspective, 1 May).

The one thing the SNP, Kate Forbes and, let’s face it, everyone on planet Earth doesn’t need is a lesson on leadership from a visionary like Murdo Fraser, who endorsed Liz Truss to be UK Prime Minister, saying, “she’s got the right ideas to take our country forward, to tackle the issues that really matter to people, including the rising cost of living”!

How did that work out for everyone, Murdo?

Mr Fraser should look at his own, and his party’s, failings in leadership before looking to advise the SNP on what to do next.

Alexander Lunn, Edinburgh

​Poor fit

The Christian faith is based on love, forgiveness, togetherness, compassion, truth and tolerance. SNP politics is based on blame, anger, sharp practice (not unique to the SNP), separation from a neighbour, division and in many cases xenophobia.

How could Kate Forbes have professed her strict faith and lead the SNP with these attitudes? A look at social media will tell her she would have had a mighty big job with some disciples.

Douglas Cowe, Kingseat, Aberdeenshire

Dead parrots

It is odd how often political parties like the SNP argue that the Prime Minister is “unelected”, because he didn't lead the Conservative Party into government at the last election. Now, the SNP are excelling. They are about to have their second unelected first minister since the last Scottish election. It looks as though John Swinney will be the lucky man. It is probably the height of his ambition to lead the SNP and be on top of the midden, since Kate Forbes has stepped back. Surely, that simply shows that she realises that this is a poisoned chalice?

She will inherit the role in due course after the General Election and will ditch the dafter (though not the daftest) policies if the SNP stick to the Greens' election-losing gender and environmental nonsense which Mr Swinney supports. She is still wedded to the break-up of the UK, but realpolitik dictates that that is as dead as a dodo and with considerably less chance of being revived by the science of DNA.

At the next Scottish election, the electorate will face a host of nonentities. The recognisable members of the SNP are rapidly falling off their perches, like Norwegian Blue parrots.

And they're not just “avin' a lie-down”!

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

Failure ahead

SNP MSPs and MPs were swinging behind John Swinney to be their next leader because he is the one who will keep the Green tail wagging the SNP dog. Swinney is a has-been and a failure to boot, once a failure always a failure. You've heard it before; the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome, well that's the SNP people for you, It's Swinney again so it'll be failure again!

Stan Hogarth, Strathaven, South, Lanarkshire

Old guard triumph

One couldn't make it up, the old guard are at again – continuity John Swinney, Nicola Sturgeon's clapping seal who did her bidding and was instrumental in foisting the useless, hapless and hopeless Humza Yousaf on the Scottish people.

It seems the Scottish Greens are to be in charge again as the mood music from SNP HQ seems to be saying we must pick a leader who will be acceptable to Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, neither of whom should have been in charge of a dustbin lorry, far less let loose in government.

Has it not crossed their minds that if they dial down the rhetoric on independence, forget trans and hate matters, tone down Harvie's housing and climate change demands on householders and landlords, and instead concentrate on the NHS, education and the economy, then they'd be likely to find sufficient support from the the unionist parties to get them through to 2026, while at the same time making the odious Greens irrelevant.

Pigs might fly!

Frank Brown, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire

Share credit

If Alexander McKay’s letter of 2 May includes a reference to the nine Scottish Government International Offices (SGIO), then his phrase “fake embassies” is inaccurate.

The facts are that the SGIO operate with the co-operation and agreement of the UK government, and the majority operate in a British High Commission or Embassy. Labour First Ministers Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish and Jack (now Lord) McConnell all played a part in the establishment of the SGIO.

E Campbell, Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire

Suicide squad?

“Ye cannae shove yer Granny aff a bus” was once an unofficial Scots national anthem. But the times they are a changin' – and not just for Humza Yousaf – when one looks at the fine print of the Scottish Bill on so-called assisted dying. Suicide was rightly decriminalised decades ago. But will assisted suicide for the terminally ill in Scotland (in terms of real-life practice) now have minimal restrictions of any kind, or effectively none at all?

James Hardy, Belfast

Devolution failed

Crocodile tears pouring from opposition party politicians and their acolytes over the current travails of the SNP and the Scottish Government should not be mistaken for genuine concern for the welfare and prospects of the people of Scotland.

Devolution was designed to fail, not just in Scotland but also in Wales (the Labour government of which is struggling to emulate the relative success, evidenced in comparable statistics, achieved in Scotland in reducing poverty, supporting the National Health Service and progressing education) and in Northern Ireland (the economy of which has only recently advanced due to the UK’s “special arrangements” with the EU that were denied to Scotland).

The Labour Party, in spite of the infamous “Vow”, has persistently acted to prevent further powers coming to Holyrood while the Conservative Party has exploited every opportunity to return powers to Westminster in spite of what was offered to the people of Scotland in a referendum backed by nearly 75 per cent of the voting electorate.

The introduction of the UK Internal Market Act has probably sounded the death knell for the genuine hopes and ambitions of the overwhelming majority in favour of devolution. There are, however, no tears being shed for devolution’s inevitable demise by Tory, Labour, or even Liberal Democrat politicians, who are seemingly happy to see the Scottish public distracted with differing opinions on who should be the next SNP leader rather than asking the pivotal question of UK politics, which is: why are public services substantially failing across ‘Broken Brexit Britain’?

Independence for all four nations is the only change that will realistically lift the aspirations of the people living on these islands beyond the gloom and suppressed social, economic and egalitarian ambitions associated with an already expired Empire.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry, East Lothian

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