Letters: Sturgeon's day job is to lead us to Indyref2

Scotland, for Mr Johnson, is bottom of his agenda, but then, it has never been anywhere near the top. The Tory veto on Scottish democracy is a disgrace, and hypocritical, given the size of mandate David Cameron had for his Brexit referendum, and the non-mandate Theresa May had for offering Brexit 2 in 2019, three years after the first. Scotland is not a colony of England, and must not be treated as such.

GR Weir, Ochiltree.

REGIONS OUTSHONE HOLYROOD

I WAS a supporter of devolution, as a way to improve the way governance in Scotland could be made more accountable, but each passing day it becomes more difficult to do so.

Consider the situation today. Today we find that inequality in Scotland is worse than it was 20 years ago ("Glasgow’s rich and poor life expectancy gap is widening", The Herald, August 6). So do we hold Scotland’s Government, responsible for health, housing and education, and with massive powers of local and general taxation and redistribution responsible? No. We have a heated and pointless debate about whether the First Minister has a right to meet the Prime Minster if he is in Scotland.

Devolution has shrunk Scottish politics to the size of a gilded, over-designed parrot cage at the foot of the Royal Mile, and the aspirations of its politicians to the jealous defence of their own vanity. I by far preferred when we had regional councils that punched above their weight to a Scottish Parliament that won’t even get in the ring.

Peter A Russell, Glasgow.

WHERE IS THE SNP STRATEGY?

FRASER Grant (Letters, August 6) points out that the UK is too big to create an economic strategy to the specific benefit of each of the home nations. On this basis one can express surprise that Nicola Sturgeon's Government has not yet created its own viable strategy and transparently demonstrated all of the independent economic benefits beyond the status quo.

Laurence Wade, Ayr.

SCOTLAND MUST HAVE ITS SAY

I THANK Duncan Sooman (Letters, August 5) for his interesting comments, in essence inviting me to be less "selective", look to the past and consider "the good of the Union". But which Union? Things have moved on and we can't dwell on the past.

The "old" Union in which Scotland remained after 2014 was the UK in the EU. That Union no longer exits. It is a presumption that the "new" Union of the UK out of the EU is automatically "good" for Scotland, and a simple reality that our future position might benefit from being re-assessed. This is not unusual – for example, the BBC quotes Brexit Minister Lord Frost recently telling reporters it was "perfectly normal to change treaties in the light of experience, and it happens all the time".

Faced with this new question, one point appears to me to be democratically unassailable: Scotland's right to explore its answer – and to decide on the process – is a right that belongs unequivocally to the people and parliament of Scotland, and is not open to be dictated from Westminster.

Bruce Crichton, Hamilton.

SUNAK MUST ACT ON ENERGY PRICES

WHY is it always the least well-off in society who take the hit? First we have the threatened removal of the £20 a week uplift in Universal Credit (UC) for the vulnerable and needy, many of whom are in the position of claiming benefits for the first time in their lives as a result of the global pandemic. This is followed by the phased removal of the furlough scheme, putting jobs at great risk, with no security of employment and subsequent income. Now we hear that with colder weather just around the corner, the energy regulator Ofgem is raising the price cap for domestic energy to cover suppliers' extra costs.

Raising the price cap on energy bills will result in typical increases in excess of 10 per cent, or around £140 per household. This may not seem a large amount; however, if you are being affected financially by the removal of the UC uplift or employment insecurity or you are dependent on your local food bank, this increase will have a massive impact, especially with winter just around the corner.

Fuel poverty is a misery and has devastating consequences for households. It affects your mental health, your physical health and presents you with a choice: heat or eat. This devastating news from Ofgem needs to be called in by the Westminster Government, which has reserved powers on energy. The Chancellor must take decisive action, action that will allow households to have some form of dignity as winter approaches.

Catriona C Clark, Falkirk.

NO OVERSIGHT ON TRAVEL SAFETY

HAVING just returned from Spain it is interesting to compare both countries' approach to passenger locator forms and testing. Scotland and Spain require passenger locator forms. In Alicante the QR code is scanned and system-checked on arrival, in Glasgow no one checks the form at all on arrival. The airline looks for a copy of the form with your name at departure in Alicante, but that could be easily forged.

In Spain the test costs €43, is administered by a doctor and nurse who check your passport for personal details, you get the result in 20 minutes and certificate the next morning. The airline checks the certificate at departure only for your name and date. There is no check at Glasgow. In Scotland the two and eight-day tests are mandated by the Scottish Government to be only by CTM, costs £88 each and is self-administered. The test when returned could be from anybody, there is no check. It takes two days minimum to get results back, in the meantime you don't need to isolate.

The Scottish Government is playing at this process. It has no oversight to ensure safety, offers limited protection to the population but gives Nicola Sturgeon the opportunity to differentiate from England, where the testing is done by airline-accredited companies at almost half the cost. Rhetoric does not protect the populace from Covid.

Bill Adair, Renfrewshire.

* SO the Scottish Government has seen fit to exempt nightclubbers, who will be getting up close and personal on the dancefloor, from wearing face masks.

On the other hand, shoppers in the wide open spaces of a supermarket are under threat of prosecution if they fail to mask up.

Is the Government taking us for idiots?

Thomas Masson, Newton Mearns.

COULD FOOTBALL CAUSE PARKINSON'S?

I HAVE been reading, with some interest, about the research by Professor Willie Stewart regarding football players who suffer from neurodegenerative conditions. I think that the information which follows may add to that research.

My late husband, David Kinnaird, was a very talented junior footballer – playing in the late 1940s and early to mid 1950s for initially, Muirkirk Juniors, the Cumnock Juniors. He had also played during service with the Royal Sussex Regiment.

His nickname in Cumnock football circles was "Big Heid-the-ba".

In the mid 1970s he sadly developed Parkinson's Disease, a neurological condition. This progressive illness, over many years, removed his ability to walk, to speak, and to eat without difficulty. He no longer could enjoy life. He became a shell of the man he once was. David passed away in in January, 1996.

He did wonder in his later years if heading the heavy, wet leather football had led to his developing Parkinson's.

I am interested to learn that Fifa will continue to support much-needed further research ("‘Health of players is top priority’, pledges Fifa after dementia study", The Herald, August 4) .

Amy Kinnaird, Ochiltree.

DOUBLE STANDARDS ON WILDLIFE

STRUAN Stevenson’s call for an end to inhumane halal killing of domestic animals ("If we really are a nation of animal lovers we must end inhumane religious slaughter", The Herald, August 5) is interesting. Are we animal lovers? Why after decades of silence has Mr Stevenson never spoken out against the annual slaughter of gannets on Sula Sgeir by the men of Ness?

Not that long ago, 2004 to be precise, he was calling for the slaughter of Scottish seals, for the heinous crime of eating fish – something they had done for millions of years. And why no condemnation of the annual ritual of slaughtering our native red grouse, starting in a few days' time ? It smacks of double standards.

Bernard Zonfrillo, Glasgow.