Sir, – There have been, in fairly recent history, inspirational leaders of the country, and by that I mean the UK.
Churchill in the face of extreme adversity, Thatcher in the face of economic and social meltdown – both had vision and energy to achieve a result, they did it by dint of personality and eloquence. So too did Boris Johnson with his quest for Brexit.
Regrettably, his was a single- issue strategy and he had neither the skill nor the maturity to be anything more. Even Blair had a vision and the skills to develop his government. Let us hope that Johnson’s successor can take what is available and move the country forward, taking Scotland with them, without the insulting “wee Krankie lady” references, and with grown-up conversations.
M J Salter, Glassel, Banchory.
CCTV on alert for recycling ‘looters’
Sir, – I was at the recycling this morning and I spotted a piece of refuse I could use. No no no, sacking offence to the people working there if I take anything.
Mind you, Aberdeenshire Council have put in CCTV cameras to make sure I don’t get my sticky fingers on anything that has a date with landfill. I guess the cameras cost hundreds but is worth it to thwart my looting urges.
Some people earn a living recycling and upcycling, there are TV programmes about it. But Aberdeenshire just likes to punish people who try it.
We still have to book a spot to recycle in Huntly. Iron Age huh! It says that booking ensures everyone’s safety. Wow, I had no idea the recycle staff were testing nuclear weapons between visits from the public.
Anne Staines, Chapel Street, Huntly.
What happened to ‘voluntary’ Union?
Sir, – In 1707, Scotland joined with England in a voluntary Union. Apparently, it’s unable to escape, though, should Scots wish to.
The Tories are already held in disdain north of the border, and Labour have made clear they are against rejoining the EU, so the next Scottish Government election, along with the subsequent general election, should prove extremely interesting.
Ron Campbell, Richmond Walk, Aberdeen.
Public exploited by the wind industry
Sir, – As the self-inflicted net-zero, cost of living crisis starts to bite, impoverished bill-payers will be gobsmacked to read that just the cables to connect the environmentally-disastrous Shetland Viking wind farm to the National Grid are costing a staggering £660 million.
To remind readers, planning officials, the RSPB, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), the John Muir Trust, Shetland Amenity Trust, Shetland Bird Club, and Sustainable Shetland, along with the majority of residents all objected to the Viking Wind Farm in Shetland.
Despite all this, the Scottish Government granted planning permission, with utter disregard for the peat-rich environment and birdlife. Eco tourism? Forget it.
How dare the heavily subsidised wind industry claim that their electricity is ever so cheap when these costs are never disclosed?
By the way, the entire parasitic array will be rusting stumps by 2050.
And, of course, the “security of supply” for Shetland will be “ensured” by reversing the power from conventional sources whenever the wind stops.
After 20 years of eye-watering subsidies, as I write, today’s wind output to the National Grid – 3%!
George Herraghty, Lhanbryde, Elgin.
Bodge’s enablers show off ‘morality’
Sir, – Despite the camouflage of Covid and Putin’s madness in Ukraine, it is increasingly obvious to all but the most zealous leaver that Brexit was based on lies and is already falling apart. It needed a liar to implement it, though.
Step forward Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, master of all things mendacious. He was ably supported throughout the dissembling process by his invertebrate cabinet and nodding dog backbenchers. He appears to have resigned now, but even that is not certain.
All these enablers, who consistently praised Bodger’s leadership skills and fibbed for him at the drop of a hat, suddenly now from nowhere find their inner moral compass and something they loosely call integrity.
I’m looking at you in particular, Nadhim “numbers” Zahawi (credit Nick Abbot of LBC), who accepted promotion from Bodge one day and told him to resign the next. I’m also looking at Super-Saj Javid and bookies’ favourite Rishi “green card” Sunak.
All MPs who have supported Bodge’s lies, which are well documented, should be excluded from the leadership race. That includes anyone who served in his Cabinet.
All MPs with hats are now throwing them into the leadership ring. My money’s on Michael Fabricant if he chucks his hair in.
William McLeod, Netherbrae, Turriff.
Power of greed and ignorance
Sir, – I am grateful to Professor Pennington who, quite rightly, corrects my use of language in distinguishing genetic engineering and gene editing.
Let me return the favour – I wasn’t making a party political statement. The point of my letter is that the combination of human greed and human ignorance is the issue – the greed of the “wealth creator” and his power-seeking political puppets combined with the ignorance of the voter who will, quite understandably, make no distinction between cloning, gene editing and genetic engineering.
Prof Pennington states that gene editing “in its fundamentals is exactly the same as traditional selective breeding”. Just so. I wonder what percentage of current research into genetic manipulation is confined to pursuing those “fundamentals” as opposed to creating organisms which cannot occur through normal sexual reproduction.
G Davidson, Birse, Aboyne.
Make Javid next PM
Sir, – Ben Wallace would have made a great prime minister but sadly has decided not to run for the job, so that leaves Sajid Javid as the obvious first choice as an honest and professional politician that would be good for the UK and particularly good for Scotland.
His speech in Parliament last week calling for Boris Johnson to resign was brilliant and very statesmanlike and his appointment as prime minister would restore some international respect for UK politics.
Dennis F Grattan, Mugiemoss Road, Bucksburn
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