Readers' Letters: SNP leaves rural pensioners out in the cold

Tell that to all those who are reliant on oil heating and are looking at astronomical costs for topping up their oil tanks, with many of us not even thinking about filling them up. The SNP are forever telling us about all the universal benefits the dole out – “free” prescriptions, “free” tuition fees, “free” bus travel. They love to be generous when it suits.

Why is it that when it comes to help for rural pensioners who have no option but to buy oil when their tanks are emptying, the supposedly caring SNP decide that it will only be available to certain groups? All of a sudden, they would rather the small group that needs help with their heating costs are left to put on an extra jumper or a blanket.

The SNP aren’t coming to pensioners’ rescue. They’re leaving us in the cold.

Jane Lax, Aberlour, Moray

No fooling?

I couldn't agree more with Dr Andrew Docherty's wish to have "hate crime" legislation banned. I am a stout believer that one of the strengths which defined Britain historically is that we had free speech when foreigners didn't. If people express extremist sentiments, you want to allow them to be heard by all, as the average man on the street is a decent human being and will take note. That includes hearing the bile of extremist Islamic hate-mongers and our own homegrown extremists for whom Scotland is, unfortunately, a cradle.

I was a bit taken aback by Dr Docherty's claims about “an enclave of people swathed in the Union Flag” who, he claims, "viciously abused men, women and children". He then refers to the intellectual capacity of these people, who seem to be invisible in any of the videos of the rally I can find.

One thing I did notice, however, as he was on the topic of "vicious abuse" by supposed unionists, was a certain Mr Brian Cox, who addressed the same "men, women and children" saying ‘f***ing’ every five words. Didn't he know there were children in the audience? Still, he's a Nat, isn't he, so all crimes of the spoken word by him are to be forgiven, perhaps? “No evidence of toxic nationalism”? Well, listen to him speak.

I thought all those things, then saw the date of Dr Docherty's letter: April 1st! Good one, Doc! You had us all fooled.

Peter Hopkins, Edinburgh

Enough dithering

In one of his frequent attempts to blame the UK Government for all the nation’s ills, Stan Grodynski blames it for not backing gas storage in the North Sea (Letters, 3 April).

For once I actually agree with him that the failure to increase storage capacity is a mistake as doing so helps energy security and allows gas to be stored when prices are lower.

However, eco or net-zero zealotry is behind the madness of importing gas from places like the USA or Qatar to meet our needs and fill any storage that is available, rather than extraction from right here on our doorstep.

I believe most people think net-zero is the right destination, but the journey to get us there should not involve killing our heavy industries and business with sky-high energy prices, and sacrificing jobs, peoples’ livelihoods and the tax revenue that arises, for the sake of being “first” to net-zero while exporting our jobs abroad to coal-hungry places like China.

We should and must exploit our proven gas and oil reserves, and stop dithering.

Brian Barbour, Haddington, East Lothian

Creep show

Jill Stephenson's letter (2 April) claims that the current Scottish Greens MSPs are “not truly elected”, but that they "creep in” on the Regional list vote.

Might I remind Ms Stephenson that, following the election in 2021, the main opposition party, the Tories, had 31 MSPs – with only five of those being elected on the Constituency vote. The other 26, including their then leader Douglas Ross, got in on the Regional list.

Labour, similarly, had 22 MSPs, with their leader Anas Sarwar being one of the 20 elected on the Regional list.

Much “creeping in” for both parties?

The only party which had 100 per cent of their MSPs elected as Constituency MSPs was the Lib Dems. They got four seats and their leader, like the leader of the SNP, was elected on the constituency vote.

While I'd be happy to see Holyrood’s Additional Member System (AMS) replaced by the Single Transferrable Vote (STV), as we use in local council elections, for next month we work with the system that's in place.

Ian Waugh, Dumfries

Improve rail link

Surely ferry firm Stena were well aware of the state of the A75 and A77 when they decamped for Cairnryan back in 2011? (Perspective, 2 April).

At the time they announced their proposed move down the loch, I said that before any extra ferries sailed from Cairnryan, the railway line should first be extended there from Stranraer, a project Stena could have helped to bring about.

Instead, all ferry traffic, passenger and freight, must now access the port by road, and I would lay a small wager that the percentage of Stena passengers taking a car against those travelling as foot passengers has increased significantly since the move away from rail-connected Stranraer.

Transport is now the main source of harmful emissions in Scotland, and unfortunately this shows little sign of lessening.

As providing more road space invariably results in more vehicle use, the siren calls for major upgrades to the point of dualling must be resisted. By all means deal with specific hazardous points on the road, such as junctions with inadequate visibility, too tight bends or poor surfacing, but anything more would simply provide more space for more people to drive badly, perhaps causing even more accidents.

Instead Transport Scotland, SWESTran, Stena and P&O should work together to extend the railway line from a new Stranraer Town station along the six miles to Cairnryan, encouraging people to leave the car behind and travel as foot passengers.

They should also upgrade and make better use of existing lines in Ayrshire and Galloway to convey freight traffic to and from the port; after all, one freight train can carry the loads of 76 lorries, resulting in a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions.

Longer term, restoring a railway line between Dumfries and Stranraer/Cairnryanbmust be a target.

Merely pandering to the calls for more road space would be climate and environmental madness.

Jane Ann Liston, Secretary, Railfuture Scotland, St Andrews, Fife

Go for the drill

Why has it taken First Minister John Swinney so long to admit that Scotland and the UK need oil and gas? (your report, 2 April). He is now stating the bleeding obvious, that the Middle East crisis has changed the “dynamics” of the debate around developments such as Rosebank and Jackdaw.

He is now trotting out soundbites such as: “We must now face and recognise that we are experiencing much greater risk to our energy supply”.

Then another gem: “Importing oil and gas could be more damaging to the climate, while supply could also be disrupted, such as by events in the Middle East.” The Rosebank and Jackdaw projects are in limbo due to a successful court challenge by activists who demanded environmental assessments. The UK government must cut through the green tape, ignore the green Luddites and “drill, baby, drill” to save our economy and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Choose peace

Donald Trump avoided the military draft five times, but that hasn’t stopped him from criticising the UK government and European countries for not joining the Iran war. This senseless war risks sending 45 million people into acute hunger, so the UK government is quite right to ignore Trump’s offensive comments.

US airstrikes killed at least 108 children in the first day of the war, when they hit a girls’ school. Israeli forces have been doing this in Gaza for 2.5 years.

Our government, and those of other European countries, should ignore Trump’s childish banter and do what their conscience tells them to do. Getting involved in a war solves nothing, it just reminds the world that homo sapiens are a dangerous species who can quickly revert to killing each other.

We should use our intelligence in more useful ways than finding ways to kill our fellow humans, as well as wiping out scores of other creatures, many of which present no danger to ourselves. If we don’t change our ways, we’ll be wiped out too. Planet Earth will become a wasteland.

Will the last human to leave the Earth light a candle in memory of our planet, which once had so much promise for a long future.

Carolyn Taylor, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

Stony ground

Any nation's leader – democratically elected or not – who threatens to bomb another country “back into the Stone Age” belongs not in the halls of power but in a padded cell – preferably with the key lost.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

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