CALUM Steele’s article (“Clueless Police Scotland has lost the plot – we need change now”, September 18) was written with such anger that you could almost feel the heat rising from the page. 

His statement that “insanity was still an essential component in policy decisions in Tulliallan Castle” with the recording of the gender of sex offenders and paedophiles based on their own self-identification, is not an overstatement.

To give these offenders the right to choose their gender to encourage them to have a “strong sense of belonging” should make us wonder what is the mental capacity of those who think that this would not affect anyone vulnerable living in the same establishment.

The Rape Crisis Scotland review widely reported that some women who had approached Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre had been “damaged” by their experience because the centre failed to protect women-only spaces. 

And maybe the Chief Executive who resigned after the failings were reported had thought that self-identifying males needed to find their sense of belonging by being accepted in a centre with access to vulnerable women.

Clearly the influencers within Police Scotland didn’t have time to note that, or to read the recent  Herald article by Helen McArdle (“Sandyford gender service boss: patients are ‘complex group’”, September 17) about the complex needs of those on the waiting list for Scotland’s only paediatric gender service, the Sandyford, where half of those referred may have some form of neurodiversity, and one in three have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

Perhaps sadly, these young folk have never had a sense of belonging which has led to poor mental health. But this should indeed be addressed holistically, as Rhoda Macleod, head of service at the Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow, has encouraged, and that, as she states, “gender should not trump other considerations”.

Calum Steele in his article calls this “lunacy of its policy” because Police Scotland have allowed gender to trump all other considerations.

They should be held accountable and robustly challenged on why they think that what should be protected women’s spaces are the best place to encourage a sense of belonging among self-identifying sex offenders. Because lunacy is not an overstatement either.

Really, who in their right minds would think that this policy is a great idea?
Irene Munro, Conon Bridge.

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Brigadoon no more
IN his ritual condemnation of Scottish independence, Alexander McKay (letters, September 19) dredged up the worn-out references to Brigadoon and Braveheart which are supposed to be relevant.

He also dragged in Quebec, a favourite reference used by those hostile to Scottish independence who have no proper argument.

Scotland was an internationally recognised country for centuries before most of the countries of the modern world and it formed a Union – albeit under some duress – with England. There is no valid comparison with Quebec.

Alexander McKay does not seem to realise that the reason that “the economic argument does not exist” is that is that has never been comprehensively made. Instead, there have been innumerable confident pronouncements by groups of various political persuasions.
Peter Dryburgh, Edinburgh.

 

More to life than independence
NOW that the tenth anniversary of the independence referendum is behind us and we have read and listened to the same old arguments like a broken record stuck on replay, can I make a plea to the Herald to now set aside three days per week when no published letters refer to Scottish independence? There are other things in life much more interesting and important!
Duncan Sooman, Milngavie.

 

Those tired old SNP mantras
I FIND myself agreeing with Ruth Marr (letters, September 20) that we ladies (much preferable to “women”) must ensure our continued presence on the Herald letters page.
It is, however, much easier for her as she simply recycles the same old tired and failed SNP mantras in every correspondence.
Steph Johnson, Glasgow.

 

Freebies? Yes. Freedom? No
WE all know that opinion polls are transitory, but according to the latest, the SNP would be easily the largest minority (47 seats), and Labour (33) would only be able to form a coalition government by chumming up to the far right. Or will they proffer Devo Max, federalism, or Indyref2? Remember that you saw it here first.

It is obvious that Labour’s honeymoon was just a blip, bringing not freedom but freebies, and their disciplinarian Autumn budget will darken the economic gloom even further. With the Scottish budget, which looked like putting the SNP out of office, it now looks as if it will be the opposition who will be hiding under their desks when the vote comes. 
GR Weir, Ochiltree.

 

Lies, damned lies and pollution statistics
GLASGOW City Council are very pleased with themselves. Their LEZ has reduced nitrogen dioxide pollution by 20%. However the fly in the ointment is that outwith this zone. pollution has also dropped by 15.3%.

Given that the flow of traffic into Glasgow city centre has been markedly reduced by this ban, does this not show up the folly of the city council? The substantial loss to business and leisure establishments and the inconvenience to the motoring public, to say nothing of draconian fines, is far more significant than the very questionable drop, if at all, in pollution levels.

The City Council need this measure to be seen to be working but there are lies, damned lies and statistics. Is a mere 4.7% drop in pollution under these circumstances really conclusive? 
Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.

 

A football ground in aspic?
STEPHEN G Murray’s letter (September 20) concludes with the phrase “The land that time forgot”. 
I was reminded of my once telling the late Arthur Montford that on the previous Saturday I had been at Old Trafford, capacity 75,000, while looking forward to visiting Cliftonhill, capacity 1,572, to watch Queen’s Park play Albion Rovers on the Saturday coming.

“Ah”, said Arthur, referring to Cliftonhill, “the stadium that time forgot”,

Anyone visiting Cliftonhill in the 1950s and now could hardly disagree.
David Miller, Milngavie.

 

What is Catholic education?
IN their eagerness to build a Catholic secondary school in Aberdeen, campaigners fear that otherwise “young people of faith” will be “left behind” and insist that “Catholic teenagers” need “a safe space where they can explore and strengthen their faith.”

Whose faith are we talking about here: children’s or their parents’?

What exactly is “Catholic education”? How would it differ from the balanced and inclusive syllabus to which all children are entitled? Would it alter the content of science classes – or is it mainly the sex and relationship teaching it particularly wants to steer?

Seems like the only thing that will lead to children being “left behind” is this divisive and anachronistic segregated school.
Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society, Edinburgh.

 

The Scots mercenaries of old
YOUR correspondent Mary McCabe (“History provides the answer”, letters, September 18) seeks to imply a degree of moral superiority on behalf of Scotland, on the basis that Scotland traded widely with European countries, rather than making war on them (unlike England – boo, hiss!)

I believe that ports on the east and south coasts of England also traded extensively, particularly with the Hanseatic League, but the power structures in mediaeval Europe were rather different to what they are today.

While Scotland as a nation might not have involved itself in events like the Hundred Years War, it was not uncommon for Scots to be engaged as mercenaries by continental powers who would quite happily brawl with each other, and not just England.
Christopher W Ide, Waterfoot, East Renfrewshire.

 

No heaven-sent electricity
LET me assure Norman McNab (“The renewable energy myth”, letters, September 17) that there is no magic system which allows electricity to be beamed down from the heavens and that the ignorance is in fact on his part.

Unfortunately in my original letter (“Electricity: go for location pricing”, September 16) I made the mistake of assuming that everyone knew that “Cloud Storage” relates to the remote storage of electronic data which allows large amounts of data to be stored in a central location for use by the owner wherever required.

As an engineer I learned early in my career that it is dangerous to assume anything so I apologise for confusing Mr McNab.

The storage of massive amounts of electronic data uses a lot of electricity and also generates a lot of unwanted heat at relatively low temperature which can be utilised using a Heat Pump system to extract low-grade heat energy from a low temperature heat source as defined by the combined gas laws which show that Pressure x Volume / Temperature is equal to a Constant.

A Heat Pump can generate over 3 KW of heat energy from 1 KW of electrical energy. Please note that this is not free energy, but merely changing one form of energy to another form as energy can neither be created nor destroyed. (Trust me, I’m an engineer).

To counter another of Mr McNab’s misconceptions regarding the cost of electricity generated from wind power I suggest he reads the information released by some very clever chaps in the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security & Net Zero which can be found at Electricity generation costs 2023 - GOV.UK  which shows clearly that the cheapest way to generate electricity is from wind turbines. 

The “Levelised costs” provided are a measure of the average net cost of electricity generation for a generator over its lifetime and should not be confused with the “Strike Price” which is the price that OFGEM has agreed for a generation site and it can be increased to provide incentive to develop the specific generation process, hence the very high Strike Price for floating offshore wind generation.

There are some well-informed professionals who look at what is required to meet our needs for energy and I suggest that comment is left to those who know what they are talking about instead of from those who have become an expert by reading information provided online by authors who have an agenda other than spreading genuine information.

As Scotland produces a large amount of this cheap energy from wind turbines it would be nice if our prices reflected this and the lower prices used to attract worthwhile jobs and to avoid fuel poverty and hypothermia.
Iain McIntyre, Sauchie.