Sir, – Even before the new PM crossed the threshold of No 10 the voices of negativity were congregating like vultures around a fallen steer.
Westminster dustbins were being scoured for evidence of past misdemeanours. She is far from the person I would have chosen, but surely deserves her opportunity to deliver having been handed the most poisoned chalice of modern times.
She and “her team of crackpots” if I may quote James Miller (September 7), his evidence based on prejudice, are likely to fail as success would be to restore life as it was prior to the war in Ukraine which is an impossible task. Those who sit on the opposition benches in Westminster and in power in the devolved governments are in a fortunate place as they don’t have to make the tough decisions, so can exert their energy on criticism.
If any politician from a different party promises to rescue the country without causing misery to millions their sanity must be called into question.
The world has changed and will remain so for many years regardless of who is in government, with what for many was part of everyday life being no longer affordable.
We feel the pain of high energy costs, those who fight to save their country from Putin’s army feel the pain of bullet or bomb. If they are to prevail we must endure our hardship.
Ivan W. Reid, Kirkburn, Laurencekirk.
FM must learn how best to cut her cloth
Sir, – It seems that once again Nicola Sturgeon has been overtaken by events
Her Greens-inspired anti-oil and gas development position, in spite of the fact that the revenues accruing would benefit Scotland, has now been shot to pieces with the realisation that the country needs a level of energy self-sufficiency beyond renewables.
Why not relax the shibboleth against nuclear energy if and when modular reactors with minimal waste become a reality – instead we have an in-principle objection.
Could it be an objection similar to green ports once there was a realisation that freeports were up and running effectively just south of the border?
The UK Government’s announcement on the potential reduction in personal taxation and VAT is treated with dismay by her higher-taxing administration as it will widen the gap between Scotland and England and Wales on income tax.
I fail to understand what is “regressive” about reducing the personal tax burden and enabling people to have more of their own cash available to meet increased costs of living.
John Swinney has announced that the Scottish Government must find £500 million in savings to meet the costs of public sector pay rises, blaming the inability to raise debt finance due to the devolution settlement limits.
Well, these limits have been set for a long time now, and perhaps it might be incumbent upon the Scottish Government to cut its cloth accordingly, taking into account the freebies Sturgeon and her team are intent not only on preserving but increasing.
She needs a dose of reality and an understanding that Scotland does not exist in a bubble, and that events which are not under her control can determine much of what she can control.
Mike Salter, Glassel, Banchory.
Climate deniers ignoring the facts
Sir, – Charles Wardrop (letters, September 6) asks me to comment on Professor William Happer’s scientific credentials, after his appearance at a conference in Houston at which he claimed: “we have observed no negative effects from rising CO2 or global warming”.
The answer is that Will Happer has no scientific credentials with respect to climate science. He is a retired physicist from Princeton University.
As climate change journalist Graham Redfearn put it, Happer “has a long list of scientific papers in distinguished journals on optics and atomic physics, but has no training on climate science and has never published a paper in a peer-reviewed journal on climate change”.
Princeton colleague and climate scientist Professor Michael Oppenheimer has said of Happer that “with respect to climate science and scientists, he is not only unknowledgeable but appears to have become unmoored”
Moreover, the Houston conference to which Charles Wardrop referred was organised by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, two organisations representing professions that will become largely extinct as fossil fuel use is discontinued.
I am reminded of Upton Sinclair’s aphorism: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
Little wonder that they invited Prof Happer, whose lack of understanding of climate science is legendary.
So, rather than rely on such dubious sources for misinformation on climate science, I prefer the scientific literature and the periodic summaries of the findings of climate science by the IPCC, which, on the subject of the effect of increasing atmospheric CO2, state: “A2 the scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole and the present state of many aspects of the climate system are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years.”
Also: “A3 human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since AR5” (IPCC AR6 WG1 SMP 2021).
If Charles Wardrop and Will Happer remain unconvinced by the scientific literature, perhaps they could get together and go on a world tour, visiting the parched fields of Europe and the worst drought in 40 years in the Horn of Africa, storm-battered Oman and Iran, the wildfires of California and Siberia and Australia. Or maybe they could “unmoor” Charles’s “leaky boat” upon the unprecedented floods in Pakistan and see how they get on trying to convince the locals that their drowned families and crops and destroyed dwellings are not a “negative effect from rising CO2”.
Roy Turnbull, Torniscar, Nethy Bridge.
Wind power could still run out of puff
Sir, – It may have escaped the attention of Sturgeon and co, and their Green chums since they pursue their IndyRef2 campaign with great zeal, that a report is available which shows that the wind speed for 2021 was the second lowest for the past 50 years, and the average wind speed for the UK last year fell from 9.7 knots in 2020 to 8.6 knots in 2021.
It may be assumed that this is the effect of global warming, and as such will be a progressively worsening situation for the production of electricity through wind energy as it blows less and less as the years progress.
So where does the energy come from when the wind doesn’t blow? I’m old enough to remember that in all the small burghs in Scotland, pre and post-war, there was both coal gas and electric power available on site.
Then, if my memory serves me correctly, at Dounreay there was research done on a small reactor which was developed for nuclear submarines, under the name of HMS Vulcan.
As a result of this, or maybe not, Rolls Royce have produced an SMR (small modular reactor).
Surely, rather than investing in monoliths which take a decade to build, these modular reactors could be placed strategically around the country to serve the population when wind power is not available.
When wind power is available these SMRs, if stationed near the coast, could be involved in the production of hydrogen and the desalination of seawater which could be pumped to storage facilities inland to serve the population and the farming industry in times of drought, which we have seen recently and, according to Sepa, will be a yearly problem.
These SMRs are to be approved by the Netherlands government and I think are the first of many knowing the problems with the reliance on Russian fossil fuels, and to help sever the links with the present regime.
Perhaps it is time for this SNP Government, instead of wasting taxpayers’ money on frivolities, to be thinking outside the box to see what is plainly and most certainly coming over the horizon?
Alexander Sutherland, Hilton Drive, Aberdeen.
Church closure a huge leap of faith
Sir, – In the latest iteration of its plan for the reorganisation of the Church of Scotland in Wester Moray, Inverness Presbytery has remained deaf to congregations’ proposals during the former’s purported consultation process.
Inverness Presbytery’s rationale for closing Burghead Parish Church is based on the premise that the congregation of the Parish of Alves & Burghead, so disenfranchised against its will, would be able to worship in the Free Church in Burghead.
This then begs the question why is the Church of Scotland an entirely separate denomination, protected by law?
Coincidentally, might the closure of Burghead Parish Church have something to do with Inverness Presbytery gaining access to that parish’s not inconsiderable and carefully managed funds?
D B Wallace, Drayton House, Alves.
Fracking dangers just brainwashing
Sir, – Downing Street has hinted the fracking ban could soon be lifted (September 8) – the public have been brainwashed by the anti-fracking brigade and Friends of the Earth (FoE).
FoE was accused of scaremongering and making false claims in a leaflet against fracking saying it used toxic chemicals, caused cancer, caused water to catch fire, poisoned underground water, increased radioactivity and caused “earthquakes”.
The chemicals used can be found under every kitchen sink. Liverpool University equated the tremors experienced during fracking trials as equivalent to sitting down heavily on an office chair.
The Advertising Standard Authority ordered FoE to never again make such unproven and scaremongering allegations so why was the charitable status of FoE not removed?
FoE avoided this by claiming that the anti-fracking campaign was carried out by a non-charitable company called Friends of the Earth Limited. Devious to say the least.
Clark Cross, Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
Adversarial politics have had their day
Sir, – Britain is now in trouble across many fronts, of which energy and inflation are just two.
We are also at war with Russia, having imposed economic sanctions and provided military assistance to their opponent.
Surely the time has come for a coalition government to pull together and get us out of this mess.
Parties no longer have the luxury of propounding their own policies, which are usually no more than fine-tuning anyway.
The days of adversarial politics are over.
There is worry and unhappiness in the population that will lead to civil unrest if it’s not relieved soon.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinnesswood, Kinross.
Big fish in a small pond
Sir, – To Gio van Bronckhorst and his comment of needing “more millions to compete at this level”, I would say, with the obvious exception of Celtic: “Welcome to the world of the rest of the SPFL.”
Big fish in a small pond.
Ian Craig, Aberdeen.
Energy goal of SNP senseless
Sir, – It appears that the SNP have completely lost their way in the matter of Scotland’s energy, and in keeping with their coalition partners the Green Party, they want to close down oil and gas production in the North Sea.
And yet, in Westminster, their leader Ian Blackford has been calling for a windfall tax on the same oil and gas companies.
The SNP are against all fossil-power energies and carry all their eggs in their wind basket in the full knowledge that it is impossible for only wind to power Scotland.
It is impossible for the Scottish electorate to make any sense of SNP energy policy, as like Scottish independence it based on a romantic dream completely detached from reality. Scotland Deserves Better.
Dennis F Grattan, mugiemoss road, bucksburn.
Conversation