IT is that Chrismassy time of year again and I recall not so many years back sitting at my office desk receiving the first of the seasonal gifts. An A3 desk pad from “your national supplier” with the next season’s English Premiership fixture list. I managed somehow to get through to the sales director and asked him when we would be getting the Scottish Premier fixture list? He laughed but my silence brought sudden clarity that they had inadvertently insulted around a third of their “national” customers by omission, taking into account Northern Ireland.

Was this a deliberate slur to the Scots and Northern Irish? No, absolutely not. It is just a predominately English slant on every preliminary thought.

Take this past weekend. Saturday afternoon: BBC1 – the main channel, FA Cup, Buxton v Morecambe no less, and, on Sunday on STV (yes Scottish) – prime time, FA Cup Rochdale v Plymouth Argyle, for heaven’s sake.

Of course, as per previous correspondence, it is not about football. It is about an inability to be British going back many, many years.

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The Channel Tunnel “you will be able to get on a train in Edinburgh and get off in Paris” claim never happened. The Millennium Dome – a white elephant in the middle of London. The massively expensive HS2 now curtailed but serving lower England while the Rest and Be Thankful collapses every year. We get films (like Bond movies) where the main toast is “to England”; food travel programmes where the presenter’s main reference is “back home in England”.

So several of your correspondents can write regularly criticising the SNP whom I support, but I accept that if there were a report card it might say “tries hard but could do better”.

The SNP is, however, a means to get our own identity back.

The English, in my view, will never think British first nor correct any other nation like the United States into doing so and, in reality, we love them for it. To have such fervour is magnificent. Just let us free to be ourselves.

Ken Mackay, Glasgow.

INDYREF2 THE ONLY ANSWER

I LIKE Andy Maciver’s analysis of where we are right now, with the SNP in a hole ("SNP is in a hole... but there’s a way forward", The Herald, December 7). But the hole is like an inverted Russian doll, with the SNP on top, standing on the head of the Tories, then Labour, then the Liberal Democrats. Indyref2 is the only democratic way to get out of the hole.

The SNP is high in the polls, even with little media support, and has passed the criteria for an EU referendum (both David Cameron’s 2016 actual and Theresa May’s 2019 proposal), and the bar for a Border Poll as applies for Northern Ireland (a majority of MLAs). How will Westminster justify turning it down in 2023? My preference for self-government is nothing to do with “nationalism” (I happily served in the armed forces) but as I’ve written before, if Indyref2 comes to be perceived as a contest between Scottish and British nationalisms, the Scottish version will win.

GR Weir, Ochiltree.

LET SNP PAY FOR BALLOT WORK

WE are warned that Kate Forbes’s budget on Thursday will necessarily be hard on some sectors of public spending because of the need to spend extra funds on the NHS, in the wake of the Covid crisis. Yet, at the same time, Nicola Sturgeon is tasking her officials with preparing a prospectus for Indyref2. This is a party political matter, one beyond the remit of Holyrood, given that constitutional issues are reserved, not devolved. Therefore, it is not appropriate for Ms Sturgeon to spend our money on publicly-funded officials for work on this project.

If the SNP wants a separatist prospectus, let it pay for it. Otherwise we shall know that party and state are being merged in SNP Scotland.

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Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

WORRYING WORDS FROM A MINISTER

IT is mind-boggling that a minister, remember, not a rebellious backbencher, but a minister in the present SNP/Green administration controlling domestic affairs in Scotland should think and state openly that only those on the "hard right" support the development of the Cambo oilfield ("Drilling should carry on, says Jack", The Herald, December 7). This is not dissimilar to an analogy where a leading politician in the Thatcher era would proclaim that anyone proposing Scotland’s coal mining and steel works should continue was also on the "far right" of politics.

The remark was beyond stupidity. I wonder if Patrick Harvie is aware where the material used overwhelmingly for the tyres on cycles, for example, comes from.

The biggest fear of all is that people with this kind of mindset are making decisions every day that affect the lives of all us in Scotland.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

* FOLLOWING on from Hannah Rodger's article ("Drilling should carry on, says Jack", The Herald, December 7), should the Scottish Conservatives now adopt the slogan "It's Scotland's Oil"? This has "fuelled" support from the electorate in the past and may be worth a try.

Eric Gardner, Glasgow, G41.

SCOTLAND IS SUFFERING

YESTERDAY (December 7) your lead letter was headlined "Why should we suffer because of a selfish minority?". From extra taxation on our food, drink and wages to the policing of our own thoughts, to social and sex education in our schools, to the endemic eight-year call for Indyref2; no phrase better encapsulates Scotland under the SNP.

David Bone, Girvan.

REAL CHANGE IS URGENTLY NEEDED

IT is totally unacceptable that such a high percentage of our population are forced to use food banks, unable to adequately heat their homes, and meet other normal expenses even when a large number are in full employment. The UK Government and devolved governments are expecting charities to fill the gap and are failing to do their moral duty to all their constituents and look after the deprived.

There is something far wrong when millionaires have had substantial increases in their finances during this pandemic when so many have suffered. Since the end of the Second World War, company senior management and directors have increased their income by incredible percentages and have more money than any fair-minded person would agree was acceptable. Many of these people own more property and other goods than they can ever use.

Privatisation of public utilities has led to poor services but large profits for shareholders. Scottish Water is one utility still in public hands and is endeavouring to bring facilities up to standard and is still keeping bills at a reasonable level. Other utilities have been split up into small sections with each one expected to show a profit, thus to leading bigger bills for the public.

We must have changes so that everyone is looked after as happens in the Scandinavian countries, where the gap between the haves and have-nots is limited and the majority of the electorate are contented with their lot.

Ian Turner, Bearsden.

LACK OF FORESIGHT ON GAS BOILERS

I WAS surprised that the Scottish Government has decreed that no new gas boilers will be supplied and fitted after 2026, which is just over four years away. The problem is that more than a third of the population of Scotland are at present unable to afford the current energy bills, let alone the alternatives, which have to be supplied and fitted at the householder's expense.

Admittedly a small and totally inadequate grant is available for the heat exchanger types, but these are untried and untested on any scale in this country. There are also drawbacks, such as the current radiators in houses here being unsuitable.

The green lobby does not seem to care about what happens to people as long as their policies are fulfilled. However, I thought that the Scottish Government would have adopted a more responsible attitude to the matter of our people being able to keep their houses warm in winter. After all, this lack of foresight could well result in a great many premature deaths, especially among the elderly.

James Evans, Dumbarton.

ANDREW MARR'S WINING FORMULA

I AM at odds with Neil Stewart (Letters, December 6) on his criticism of Andrew Marr's interviewing style.

He alleges that Marr's constant interruptions preclude guests from giving the response he is seeking. I am sure that I am not alone in thinking that politicians in particular have a knack of re-orienteering the question to one that they wish to answer or taking the opportunity to dwell on some other aspect of their endeavours rather than the matter being discussed. The Government's successful roll-out of the vaccine programme is continually employed to detract from other major failings.

Andrew Marr's success is that he does have the ability to get members of the Government on his show whereas Newsnight is constantly apologising for the failure of ministers to make themselves available.

David G Will, Milngavie.