Readers' Letters: Another winter, and same old excuses for national shutdown

There the similarity ends. In Norway or Finland, councils would have cleared the snow, schools would have remained open and life would largely have continued as normal. Pupils would not have had their education disrupted, teachers would not be paid to sit at home and businesses would have continued to operate.

The exception was perhaps one time in recent memory when Norway experienced temperatures of minus 43 degrees.

Here, we will get the normal council excuse that they were not prepared, don’t have enough money etc etc. Excuses that are rolled out year after year. CoSLA – the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities – will be preparing its annual moan about lack of money, forgetting how much could be saved if CoSLA itself was abolished.

Meantime, these councils without money pay massive pension contributions for councillors despite them not being employees, and now consider handing themselves golden handshakes at the end of what is a “fixed term contract”, unlike MPs and MSPs who can have their roles terminated by an election being called before the end of their term.

It really is time we, the public, stopped accepting third-rate services despite paying first class prices. That’s what we get from local councils, the Scottish Government and the UK Government, and I for one am fed up with all the excuses. It’s time they all got their act together and focused on delivering prompt, efficient services that meet the needs of the public, perhaps even at a decent cost rather than frequent above inflation rises.

Brian Barbour, Haddington, East Lothian

Reverse progress?

There will be elections in Scotland in May and already Anas Sarwar is trying to distance himself from Keir Starmer and the economy-destroyers of the Exchequer. In Scotland and the UK at large we suffer from left-wing authoritarianism from both the SNP and Labour. Of course, we have free speech, as our leaders claim. It is, however, free speech about things they approve of.

Digital ID cards? That’ll do nicely! What better way of controlling the population than having everybody carrying a biometric identity card?

How about facial recognition on the streets of the UK? It will help solve crimes. Well, yes, it may do but it also puts the entire population under constant scrutiny by the authorities. We should not forget that democracy can lead to Adolf Hitler and a democratic parliament can be overthrown by a minority, as the Bolsheviks overthrew the Mensheviks.

We should fear the left-wing authoritarian regime under whose boot the UK has been crushed ever since the days of Margaret Thatcher. Yes. Even the supposedly right-wing Tories ceased to resist the onward progress of “progressive” authoritarianism post Thatcher. But it's the right wing which is authoritarian, isn't it, and the left wing is nice and cosy and democratic, isn’t it? Is it, however?

In fact, when you analyse in which direction our “progressive” society has been moving, it is towards increasing authoritarianism, and authoritarianism now wears a left-wing face.

Peter Hopkins, Edinburgh

Blown away

On 18 December 2025 the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero issued a publication entitled “Electricity generation and supply in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, 2020 to 2024”. It provides clear, factual data on where and how electricity is generated and where it is consumed; it makes for fascinating reading.

It may surprise many readers to learn that over this five-year period England generated between two and three times as much renewable energy as Scotland. Considering wind generation alone, England produced on average 44 TWh each year compared with 25 TWh in Scotland.

This matters because nationalist politicians frequently describe Scotland as possessing exceptional “energy wealth” and as being “a leader in global renewables” or a “renewable powerhouse” capable of supporting decarbonisation across Europe.

The published figures suggest such claims, which imply leadership in scale and export capacity, are, at best, overstated.

Shortly before this document was published, John Swinney launched an SNP campaign under the slogan “It’s Scotland’s Energy”. The phrase deliberately echoes a previous nationalist slogan “It’s Scotland’s oil”, but the analogy is flawed. Oil is a scarce, internationally traded commodity found only where geology permits. Renewable electricity is different: wind and sunlight are available everywhere, and electricity generation depends primarily on infrastructure investment rather than unique natural conditions.

There is therefore little evidence to support the idea that, through independence, renewable energy would transform Scotland into a wealthy nation. As public debate intensifies in the run-up to the Holyrood elections in May, politicians promoting this narrative – which is not borne out by the facts – should be robustly challenged.

George Rennie, Inverness

Deal or no deal?

The Scottish Parliament has approved an increase in MSPs’ salaries. Can anyone quantify how much the parliament and associated offices have cost in the administration of the country over that when it was in the hands of the Scottish Secretary.

Are we getting a good deal from it?

Charles Lowson, Fareham, Hants

Not so great

Stan Grodynski is being disingenuous with his claims of how well and financially soundly Scottish projects have been executed (Letters, 7 January).

He refers to the Scottish Parliament building which was opened three years late and cost £414 million against an initial estimate of £40m. A project costing ten times its initial estimate is anything but financially sound.

As if this was not enough, Mr Grodynski then reaches for the Queensferry crossing. Oh dear. The bridge had a completion date of December 2016 but due to delays it was not open to traffic until 30 August 2017. Snagging and final completion work on areas such as the Bridge Control Room systems did not finish until 2020.

Then we have the old HS2 chestnut that those against Westminster love to pull out of the hat. Scotland benefits from the spending on HS2 through the Barnett Formula adjustment.

As with all projects funded by the UK Government in the rest of the UK, the Scottish Government is allocated a proportion equivalent to that via the block grant.

Unfortunately for us, they often choose to waste it on attempting to fix projects they’ve messed up. Having to buy a harbour as the ferries you commissioned are too big for them just sums up the SNP. Utterly incompetent.

Jane Lax, Aberlour, Moray

Bank on working

I imagine many governments would declare a public holiday in their country if its team won the FIFA World Cup. But how many would hold one for their team getting through the qualifying rounds into the large-scale final stages? There are embarrassing shades of 1978 and Ally’s army – “We’re off to Argentina.” That didn’t end well.

Yet this gesture is less than it seems. John Swinney is petitioning the Privy Council for this extra bank holiday for those who work in Scotland’s public services. It seems unlikely bank employees or other private sector workers will enjoy this “bank” holiday. The taxpayer will fund the SNP’s payroll voters, funnily enough in an election year.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Lighting a fuse

I wish I could agree with Brian Monteith's claim that “Trump's Good Cop Bad Cop routine is making the world a safer place” (Perspective, 6 January). Alas, I find unconvincing the notion that the kidnapping and bringing to justice a dictator such as Nicolás Maduro will make other despots such as Xi Jinping think twice about breaching a nation's sovereignty, in this case Taiwan’s.

As a nuclear power with world’s largest army, China is more likely to be encouraged than cowed by Trump’s action, which has less to do with restoring democracy and more to do with accessing Venezuela’s oil resources and reasserting US hegemony in Latin America – witness Trump’s sidelining of Venezuela’s ousted opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner, María Corina Machado.

On the principle that might is right, Trump has upended a rule-based international order, bypassing both the UN and US Congress; he has failed the learn the hard lessons from attempted regime change in Iraq and he risks leaving a legacy of chaos in Venezuela (and wherever he happens to decapitate any other head of state).

Graham Atherton, Edinburgh

Sing on!

It's a fait accompli that Flower of Scotland is the Scottish national anthem. It is sung with pleasure and gusto by vast numbers of Scots all over the world. It's a reasonably easy tune with a sensible range that anyone can sing. It's far less jingoistic than most anthems (La Marseillaise, anyone?) and much better than the grovelling, dreary God save the King. “Long to reign over us.”

Even the dastardly Scots?

Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Edinburgh

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