We need a period of consensus to atone for the damage Sturgeon did

Scotland now needs a period of consensual politics to allow the broken country to be repaired and for some trust in our politicians to be restored, which seems a tall order in the short term.

Bob MacDougall, Kippen.

Will the SNP ever learn?

JOHN Swinney, following the disastrous result for the SNP at Thursday’s election, has fallen back on the oft-repeated reaction, saying that they need to learn from the setback and listen to the public. The issue that the SNP have is that they never listen. They are convinced they know best. How many polls have shown that, even amongst those who are in favour of separation from the rest of the UK, independence is not a priority for them at the moment?

In April 2023, the Constitution, International and Migration Analysis (CIMA) team in the Scottish Government put together a presentation which collated and summarised a wide variety of opinion polls on what mattered to Scots between 2020-2023. Time after time these polls threw up the same results. The most important issues were the economy, health, employment, welfare and education. Their positions may have changed depending on which poll you look at but they were The Big Five. The constitution and independence came below them every time.

John Swinney and the SNP have had more than enough time to listen to the public. Their own teams within the Scottish Government have shown them what we are saying yet they chose to put independence on Line 1, Page 1 on their manifesto. Why should we believe you want to listen now, Mr Swinney, when you’ve not done so for the last four years? The public will only take being ignored so much. You and your party have paid the price.

Jane Lax, Aberlour.

Mandate claim is ridiculous

SOME British nationalist correspondents think the Scottish Government (which gained 48% of the vote) should resign because another party in another electoral jurisdiction won 34% of the vote (fractionally more than Jeremy Corbyn had in his 2019 “catastrophic” election loss). Labour undoubtedly won in Scotland (35% of the vote), but stood on a “blind” ticket which offered no policies for our country, but relied on years of context-free criticism of the SNP regime by a partisan media.

Keir Starmer has now declared he has a four-nation “mandate” to rule, even after he denied the SNP had an electoral mandate with a majority of support at Holyrood and most Scottish MPs by far, and ridiculously claims a mandate for Northern Ireland where his party did not stand.

GR Weir, Ochiltree.

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What goes around...

I HESITATE to take issue with the veteran journalist Ruth Wishart ("SNP mauling has been long time coming ... so what now?", July 7), but in attributing the drastic reduction of SNP MPs at least in part to the iniquities of the first past the post system, she has perhaps forgotten how greatly the same party benefited from FPTP in previous General Elections. Indeed, in 2019 the SNP required the least number of votes of any party to elect an MP, much less even than the Conservatives needed, resulting in a party winning 81% of the seats with a mere 45% of the vote.

As someone once said, those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.

Jane Ann Liston, St Andrews.

Acts of cowardice

HAVING recently returned from the Euros, followed by the General Election, I feel very deflated by events. Two people I met as an SNP member, Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney, let me and Scotland down as I knew they would. However it’s the two people I put my faith and belief in who really devastated me: Steve Clarke and Kate Forbes.

When their big moment came to unite their nation, they both froze with fear and cowardice. Steve refused to attack Hungary in the match which would have been the biggest in our history if we’d qualified, ignoring the hopes and dreams of the wonderful Tartan Army in the process. Kate had campaigned for the leadership on the basis that “continuity doesn’t cut it” then folded by accepting the position as deputy to the epitome of continuity in “honest” John Swinney.

Forget the £4,000 I spent to follow Scotland in Germany, the acts of cowardice from two people I put my faith and trust in have left me wondering if I’m a bigger fool than they are.

I won’t be voting SNP or walking over to Hampden any time soon.

Danny Gallacher, Croftfoot.

Farage is refreshing

LIKE him or not Nigel Farage is here to stay and was able in a matter of weeks to significantly influence the result of the General Election with his powerful statements and advertising campaigns.

This will change the shape of the future of UK politics, which many will see as a refreshing approach to the otherwise boring and predictable scene.

His pint-swilling antics and appeal to ordinary people are real vote-winners and I don't see the old fuddy-duddy politicians laughing now.

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.

Eric Liddell (Image: Getty)

Liddell's lesson for today

I READ with pleasure Susan Egelstaff's paean to Eric Liddell ("A hundred years on, Eric Liddell remains a Scottish great", July 7). There is no doubt that Liddell was a great sportsman. More significantly, he was a good man.

I don't know if any of Scotland's international footballers are Christian, let alone sabbatarian presbyterians, but can you imagine the furore if one of the players had refused to play against Hungary in the recent European Championship because the match was on a Sunday?

Scotland no longer permits a show of Christian faith like Liddell's. The only bells tolling that Sunday would be alarm bells. He would be mocked. His teammates would be horrified. The SFA would panic and disown him. Sports pundits would accuse him of selfishly undermining Scotland's chances of qualifying. He would be pilloried as a bigot; an extremist; a pin-up for populism. His Scottishness would be questioned. He would be accused of letting down the whole country. His personal life would be poured over for signs of intolerance. His commitment to the golden-calves of progressivism would be relentlessly questioned. His future role in Team Scotland would be in doubt. Like Liddell, he would be called a traitor. He would be accused of offensiveness and of preaching hate. It would only be a matter of time before he was called a fascist. He wouldn't be the flying Scotsman, he'd be the far-right Scotsman. People who go nowhere near a football stadium would organise protests, petitions and pile-ons. Holier-than-thou progressivists in Holyrood would, whilst expounding on their own commitment to openness and toleration, demand the Christian's expulsion from the team. For all the good it would do, a grovelling apology would be demanded.

The contrast is between looking good and doing good. It is right that we remember Liddell's heroism and achievement but the not-so-remote harrying of Kate Forbes tells us that he is, in part, remembered and celebrated because he's safely in the past. But for how long? Our history, like our faith before it, is being systematically picked apart, and those responsible won't be happy until there is nothing left of it.

Even by the date of Liddell's victory, the sea of faith was in full retreat. It is in our nature to be busy, but in abandoning God, have we lost the very notion of, let alone the capacity for, rest? At the end of this week, most of us will not rest. We will pen letters and continue our never-ending arguments on social media. We will fill our day with leisure or tasks that cannot be done at any other time because, for most of that other time, we are busy elsewhere. At the end of a busy weekend, we will get ready for a busier week. Even holidays are crammed with things to do, places to go. It is not Liddell's record-breaking speed that we should emulate. If we are to hold onto something from Liddell's compelling example it is that we might achieve much, if not more, by rediscovering rest.

Graeme Arnott, Stewarton.