Letters: The fear and despondency that disfigure a mature nation

Otherwise why would so many celebrate the struggles of Ferguson Marine if not to vindicate their own lack of courage? “Look at that; I told you so. We cannot manage on our own”.

Dependency and fear – the perfect response to the challenges of being a grown-up nation for those who want to remain in their comfort zone.

Frances Roberts, Ardrishaig.

GRUBBY, SECRETIVE AND CONTROLLING

IT becomes even more incomprehensible just how this SNP government retains the support of a large section of voters. One can only assume that their single-issue focus on independence and their disregard for sheer incompetence, ineptitude and arrogance blinds them to the real issues.

The shambles that is the ScotRail network (brought into public ownership just seven weeks ago!) is now added to the disgraceful list of policy failures across all aspects of public services affecting the lives of all voters.

The ferries fiasco, BiFab, Prestwick Airport, the dropping of the target to close the education attainment gap, the NHS on its knees and waiting-times off the scale seem not to matter one jot to the independence supporters—all will be well when we can demonstrate such utter incompetency as an independent nation.

I would urge such supporters just to do a few sums as to the astronomical costs of these failures and think how this money could have been spent in all areas of Scottish public life, including help during this cost-of-living crisis. This grubby, secretive and controlling SNP Government surely cannot stretch credibility any further.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh.

THE MANY BENEFITS OF AN SNP GOVERNMENT

LET’S talk about jobs, childcare, house prices, old age care and education, the issues that are castrating Britain, according to Allan Sutherland’s letter (May 19).

The health and wellbeing of Scotland depends on the view in Westminster, from the Tory party that was widely rejected at the last election, and has been for the past 50 years. Why? Because Scots have a different vision where wealth and opportunity, the driver of a decent standard of living, is more evenly spread.

The Scottish government has seen unemployment fall to its lowest rate but they are investing in training to create better jobs – jobs that will help change our carbon footprint by promoting renewable energy.

Families enjoy double the amount of free childcare available in the rest of the UK, and a Scottish Child Payment to mitigate the costs of bringing up the next generation.

House prices, a Tory obsession, are unfortunately rising with inflation, unlike the meagre UK state pension which was pegged to 3.1% when the triple lock was broken by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak.

This means a 6% cut, ever-growing, in the state pension, and that free personal and nursing care, only available in Scotland, is a boon.

Scotland has the most educated population in Europe. Students enjoy free tuition, unlike their counterparts in the rest of the UK. With free eye tests and prescriptions, the best-paid nurses in the UK, a majority of people paying lower taxes than in the rest of the UK, and free bus travel for the under-22s and over-60s, Holyrood is doing what it can to meet the vision of Scots.

That vision can only be realised if Scotland becomes an independent country.

Frances Scott, Edinburgh.

JUST WHAT HAS THE FM ACHIEVED?

THE SNP government has given up on the 2016 pledge to close the attainment gap in schools, judging by a statement from Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville.

Is there any pledge made by Nicola Sturgeon that has been achieved, apart from the various freebies which are thrown around like confetti to buy votes?

No doubt the failure to close the attainment gap will be the fault of Covid, Boris Johnson, or both.

Ian Balloch, Grangemouth.

SCOTS’ PROGRESS IN THE WAR ON PLASTICS

AT the end of this month Scotland will roll out a ban on some of the most polluting single-use plastic items – a whole two years ahead of the current English plans for a comparable ban.

This move, combined with their more urgent and far-reaching approach to important policy measures such as Deposit Return Schemes, cements Scotland as the leading nation within Brexit Britain in tackling single-use plastics.

That said, it is frankly embarrassing that, three years since the EU Single-Use Plastic Directive was adopted across the EU, we are still at a stage where not all the listed items have been banned in any county within the UK.

Although it’s great to see the back of plastic cutlery, stirrers and straws, it’s also disappointing that some items such as expanded polystyrene food packaging were left out of the Scottish ban and proposed English ban.

Scotland is leading the way in Brexit Britain but it’s still alarming to see how we’re already struggling to keep up with our European counterparts. We were promised a Green Brexit and that we would become “global leaders”.

While Scotland is admirably trying to keep up with our European neighbours, Westminster seems determined to walk its own much slower, much more damaging, and ultimately much less effective at tackling plastic pollution, path. This is isn’t the Brexit Britain that most Brits wanted.

Steve Hynd, Policy Manager, City to Sea, Stroud, Gloucestershire.

DESIGNS ON MICKEY MOUSE

IN his cartoon of May 17, Steven Camley depicts Mickey Mouse with the modified eyes that were acquired in Ward Kimball’s 1939 re-design of the character, but seems not to have noticed that at the same time the red shorts were replaced by conventional clothes.

In other respects though, he does better than Disney himself. Though undoubtedly a brilliant ideas man, Walt shouldn’t have persisted in pretending to be an artist.

He dreaded meeting groups of children, who would inevitably want him to draw Mickey Mouse, something he never learned to do convincingly despite repeated attempts at coaching him by animators.

Robin Dow, Rothesay.

STURGEON ‘NOT THE VOICE OF REASON’

SUSAN Martin (letters, May 20) raises some interesting points. I would agree that no-one wants to see nuclear proliferation.

The war in Ukraine is indeed a “man’s war” but perhaps Susan would prefer it if Ukrainian women and children were on the front line. They would be in significantly more danger than if they had been evacuated away and may well cause concern for brave men on the front, but at least their voices might be heard.

The First Minister, in promoting an alternative to the “macho man’s domination of the world”, actually advocated for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which would have certainly brought us significantly closer to the nuclear apocalypse. She’s hardly the “voice of reason” that Susan claims.

However, I expect, as always, this is more to do with appealing to the domestic audience in Scotland, and the SNP’s innate need to virtue-signal and to contrast with Westminster; all combined with a lack of understating of foreign affairs and geopolitics, which is well outwith Ms Sturgeon’s legislative remit and job description.

David Bone, Girvan, South Ayrshire.

CAPPING THE LOTTERY PAYOUTS

GOOD luck to the British couple who scooped £184m in the EuroMillions jackpot this week and were brave enough to go public.

But one suspects they are unlikely to be 18 times happier now than if the prize had been capped at £10m and a plan devised to have over 8,000 punters receiving a surprise £20,000, with the added benefit to local economies.If a winner I would be unconcerned with begging letters, and simply stop sending them.

R Russell Smith, Largs.

HOW MUCH TO FOLLOW, FOLLOW?

I DO not deny Amanda Baker’s description of our country, with its cost- of- living crisis, people unable to afford to heat their homes, and families sinking into poverty and debt (letters, May 20).

I cannot, however, reconcile this with the ability of a reported 50,000 Rangers supporters to up and off to Seville at considerable expense . Not many appeared to come from the upper echelons of society.

I watched one young man blithely explain on television that he had just had to fork out another four hundred euros for a flight from Barcelona. I think twice about spending four hundred euros. Can someone explain?

David Miller, Milngavie.

MUSIC’S ROLE IN DEMENTIA CARE

WITH a rapidly ageing population and up to 50,000 dementia cases being missed during lockdown, there’s mounting concern and conversation around dementia in the UK. In this climate, quality and tailored dementia care is more pivotal than ever to maintain quality of life.

As England’s largest not-for-profit provider of care for people in later life, every day we see at first-hand how music transforms our residents’ wellbeing.

Our latest dementia music therapy project, launched in collaboration with Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research,, aims to improve outcomes for our residents living with dementia through the transformative power of music, and enrich the care we provide to residents.

Anchor is one of the first care-home providers to implement music therapy sessions into its dementia care pathway. With 78% of the public calling for wider access to dementia music therapy, it’s encouraging to see its importance being recognised. However, now is the time for action.

Anchor is calling on the government to commit to implementing music therapy more widely in dementia care policies and pathways in its upcoming Dementia Care White Paper. It must also ensure information and resources are available to everyone living with dementia following their diagnosis.

Asa Johnson, Dementia Services Improvement Manager, Anchor, London.