Time the SNP stopped complaining and put its own house in order

So long as those who need the allowance receive it, then the rest should have no complaints. Of course the SNP will always complain that a big boy did it and ran away, forgetting that it has wasted millions on independence issues whilst failing the country miserably in governing properly. Since 2007 it has complained about successive Westminster governments and imposed higher taxes on us, failing to give us a better standard of government or living.

John Russell, Airdrie.

What does Yes have to celebrate?

IT surprises me that factions in the Yes movement are planning events to mark the 10th anniversary of their defeat in the 2014 referendum on independence. What do they have to celebrate?

True, the SNP has been in power over the last decade, albeit for years as a minority government. The nationalists have ceaselessly used devolution and the Holyrood Parliament primarily as a separatist mouthpiece rather than an opportunity to govern Scotland effectively in a domestic arena. But what has this gained them?

It's rare for opinion polls to record more than 50% of the people of Scotland supporting separation, and anyway opinion polls are not about one-offs but trends, and the trend has always been in favour of remaining part of the UK. Of course, separating Scotland from the rest of the UK is a massive decision long-term with implications, not about short-term political cut and thrust. Yet we can't ignore that the separatists have been gifted Brexit, Partygate and Liz Truss and yet still can't get most of us on board. In fact, it seems that if we consider there to be failings at Westminster, increasingly these days we vote for Labour rather than nationalist party dogma.

The SNP and Alba unashamedly admit independence is their overarching raison d'être and so, by their own measure, have failed in the past and continue to do so. Even if you're repeatedly a loser over so many years, perhaps you still have to at least try to appear positive?

Martin Redfern, Melrose.

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If Salmond hadn't resigned...

ALBERT Halliday (Letters, September 1) castigates Alex Salmond for "walking away" after the 2014 referendum and claims that because the Alba Party website says "the only party that cares about Scotland's independence" it doesn't care about Scotland's people.

First Alex Salmond himself has acknowledged it would have been better for Scotland had he not resigned. There would have been no botched ferry overspending (the Queensferry Crossing was done on time and under budget during his leadership) and the difficulties wrestled with by people with gender dysphoria would not have dominated politics to the exclusion of all else). There would have been no camper vans and no long-running episode of Line of Duty.

However, the very reason why Alba was founded is because the lives of Scotland's people would very obviously be improved by independence. Scotland would no longer be subsidising cheap energy for England while Scots have to wear multiple layers indoors and pay the highest prices in Europe. There would no longer be the need to listen to Chancellor Reeves talk about tough choices as she grins maniacally like Jack Nicholson in the Shining. The results of these choices are as always falling on the shoulders of the bulk of the population that hasn't benefited from the casino economy of the last 3 decades.

An independent Scotland would not be engaged in military adventurism or futile wars; like Ireland its focus would be on providing genuine security, warm homes, good schools and proper defence-an improved maritime fleet,firefighting helicopters for the inevitable fires created by climate change, as opposed to a vainglorious malfunctioning submarine fleet with the capacity to create 72 Hiroshimas with each boat.

The list is endless and I invite Mr Halliday to take a closer look at Alba's site.

Marjorie Thompson, Alba National Executive Committee, Edinburgh.

Stand up for the Darien people

IF there is one particular part of the globe associated with pre-Union Scotland, it is our one-time almost-colony the Darien peninsula of Panama. It is a name that crops up every now and again in the pages of this newspaper, but almost always in a historical context, collocated with “scheme” or “disaster”. It would be easy to forget, or not even know, that Darien is still a real place with real world problems.

So it was with considerable interest that I read about last week's press conference held by the five leaders of the Embera-Wounaan tribe who inhabit the part of the isthmus known as the Comarca. From environmental poisonings, to harvest theft to the corruption of the native young by drugs, the Embera-Wounaan people face an existential threat from the millions of migrants drawn out of South America by the lax immigration policies of the Biden-Harris administration in the US. At the press conference, the tribal leaders reported that their traditional way of life has been brought to the brink of ruin by the ceaseless flow of migrants. As well as being furious with the US the tribal leaders concentrated their ire towards those do-gooder UN agencies that have set themselves up across their ancestral lands to encourage and facilitate the migrants. Unsurprisingly, they called for a shutdown of the Panamanian-Colombian border and for the immigrants to be repatriated. They are politically isolated, angry, and scared.

Scottish Government ministers are aye keen to strut the international political stage. Will John Swinney summon the US Consul to Bute House and make it crystal clear that Scotland will not be silent whilst the Biden-Harris administration causes a second Darien disaster? Alternatively, Mr Swinney could refuse to meet with US officials until the Biden-Harris administration changes its destructive liberal immigration policies. But if that is too fanciful, let him invite the new conservative Panamanian president to Scotland to show that Scotland's sympathies lie with the indigenous Embera.

Of course, none of this will happen. Mr Swinney will not stand up for the indigenous Indians because the SNP's rootless nationalism is not based on a love of homeland but on a globalised progressivism. They would rather stand aside and let the indigenous people be overwhelmed than dare criticise the US’s liberal elite. They will remain silent because they share the same progressivist ideology as the Biden-Harris administration. If they say anything it will be to criticise the Dariens for a lack of tolerance, their ethnonationalism, their primitive lack of sophistication.

I disagree with those who think that the sins of our fathers are our sins. I disagree with those who want to remove statues, change the names of our streets, and build museums to practices that we did more than anyone to stop. But if there is a debt to be paid, let us pay it now by standing up for the natives of Darien. And if we owe this to the Embera-Wounaan people; do we not also owe it to ourselves?

Graeme Arnott, Stewarton.

Alex Salmond: was he wrong to stand down? (Image: PA)

Be clear on support services

THE recent low-key release of the disappointing figures on educational attainment for care-experienced young people by the Scottish Government (“Why Scotland is still badly failing vulnerable care-experienced pupils”, September 1) is hardly a surprise to those caught up in the system.

Both the Independent Care Review and the resultant Keep the Promise documents that considered those care-experienced young people, are prime examples of the "woolly jargon" approach to policy guidance and legislation that has become the norm in Scotland’s approach to social policy.

Littered with colourful symbols and vague and unquantifiable promises, I would challenge anyone outside of the professional clique to make any sense of what these documents actually mean and what they are specifically promising.

"Care-experienced" itself is a rather wide-ranging term, less clear than the legal designation of a Looked After and Accommodated Child. My son has such status arising from the fact that due to his care needs he has had to be accommodated on occasion to allow us to have a rest. His status should afford him some much-needed concessions and extra supports during his difficult transition to adulthood. GIRFEC (Getting it right for every child) and the Children & Young People’s Act 2014 claimed to strengthen these rights for vulnerable young people. Alas, similarly to the Scottish Government's publication of performance figures for care-experienced young people, our local authority has also taken a low-key approach to the promotion of this status and the accompanying supports, avoiding and disputing any claimed entitlements. Rather than proactively supporting children with additional needs and challenges we have faced an absence of information followed by an almost inevitable dispute over resources and provision of both health and care services from our Health and Social Care Partnership.

If policy makers are genuine about making improvements they need to be very specific about what they propose to do, who will do it and when. Plain, clear and unambiguous language is needed about the support and help to be provided and the targets to be achieved. Without this we will continue in the never ending cycle of woolly jargon and charters, while achieving very little. Our young people deserve better.

Duncan F MacGillivray, Dunoon.