Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Readers’ letters: Skye being a ‘remote’ location, Nicola Sturgeon’s anti-Tory comments and anti-oil protest

Portree, Skye.
Portree, Skye.

Sir, – I would like to respond to the article by Fiona Rintoul in the Press and Journal of October 11 2022 which was passed to me as we were away last week.

Firstly to say that I have a lot of sympathy for her struggles with delivery to “remote” places.

I live in Skye and we have battled more than once to avoid a courier-generated £15 cost for an item worth under £5 and small enough to be easily sent by first or second-class Royal Mail post.

I hope that her issue with her broken smart and new cooker is eventually resolved satisfactorily.

My issue is over her anger with writer Edward Docx.

On the surface, her reactions are totally valid but I would like her to think a little more deeply.

Mr Docx came first in November many years ago to a fairly isolated cottage in one of the wettest parts of Scotland. At that time there were no visitors after the October half-term so to get the rental for a week at the cottage was a plus.

The only possible place to buy anything was the Co-op in Portree over nine miles away which was not going to benefit any local businesses. He was not a tourist in most senses of the word but wanted to “recharge his batteries”.

He could have chosen to do so in many other places but he didn’t and not only survived the November elements but enjoyed the experience, walked over the hills and returned.

Surely that doesn’t deserve such condemnation when so many – in Skye at least – block the roads, destroy the verges, get out of their vehicles for seconds to take a selfie, mostly spend nothing although they may visit one or two craft shops, and vanish with that place “ticked off”.

Also many residents, both so-called incomers and indigenous buy from the internet or supermarket vans that stream over from the mainland.

His way of writing up his experience may jar as the feeling of being treated as second-class citizens and, in some way inferior still remains, but to single out one person for enjoying self-contained holidays in this part of the world is unkind, unnecessary and not helpful to anyone.

Deirdre Peppe, Carbost, Skye.

There are plenty of insults to hate

Sir, – In response to Mhairi Rennie (letters October 17) regarding “insulting” Tories – I hate the insult of having more foodbanks in this country than there are MacDonald’s restaurants.

I hated the insulting behaviour of Boris Johnson partying while the rest of us were in lockdown.

I hate the insult of people in work having to claim benefits.

I hate the insult of the Tories having the sense of entitlement that they should always be in power.

I hate the notion of “trickle-down economics” where the rich can be as rich as they wish while the rest of us are expected to feed off their scraps.

I hate the insult that is the Tory mantra of “sixth strongest economy in the world” while child poverty in this country has never been higher. Where is this wealth? Certainly not shared equally.

I hate the insult of the Tories courting Russian oligarchs, taking vast sums in donations and promoting one to the House of Lords.

I hate the insult of tax havens where billions are lost to the Exchequer with the result of poorer public services.

I hate the insult of the sheer waste of Tory austerity where it hurt the poorest hardest.

I hate the insult that because the Tories mismanaged the economy we now borrow such huge sums of money that the interest paid on this debt is more than the entire education budget for the UK.

So, yes, I hate the Tories.

D Fraser, Rosehill Drive, Aberdeen.

Rant may deter ‘borrowed’ voters

Sir, – Widespread expressions of indignation for the “detest” rant is water off a duck’s back to the FM who got precisely the media reaction and attention she wanted with a calculated and perfectly timed soundbite.

The failure to interpret and expose what she actually said has let her off the hook. That failure should be understood by all in the electorate not just the Tories she detests.

Twenty years ago, the SNP had significantly lower levels of electoral support before independence ideology gained traction but where did these voters come from?

They are supporters of other political parties who have steadily embraced the independence dream.

It is they who have put their personal political leanings to one side to attain, first and foremost, an independent promised land.

These two decades have seen Labour’s slide from dominance in the central belt and in larger cities around Scotland where their votes were once weighed not counted.

But, so too further north, south and west and into more rural and agricultural areas. These were largely traditional Liberal or, shock horror, Conservative areas!

Now, rather than acknowledge these facts, Sturgeon plumbs her repertoire and states she “detests” some of these very voters who have been instrumental in her being able to scent her holy grail.

Fast forward another 20 years to an independent Scotland. The raison d’etre for the SNP will have gone, so what do their parliamentarians and, more importantly, their voters do?

We all have “traditional” political-ideological views of a sort surely? By then, not only the now-assuaged SNP voters, but all voters, will need to know what choices will exist for their democratic views to be subsequently expressed. The landscape will be different.

Many, but not all, of the current SNP express themselves as left-of-centre/soft socialists. The SNP will need to rebrand and redefine itself. How will they present themselves to the electorate then? Equally, surely some form of the existing Labour party will still exist?

As will Greens, Liberal Democrats and, shock horror, Conservatives!

Thousands of votes temporarily borrowed to achieve independence will find their way back home to Liberals and Tories.

Wait a minute though, they are “detested”!

It will all be irrelevant anyway as the population densities of the central belt, together with our electoral voting system, will mean that anyone who doesn’t live in a city north or south of it will ever again be able to be governed by a party of their choice.

Poor “detested” souls and many others beyond the central belt should be more mindful of what they wish for.

Alan Petrie, Provost Drive, Oldmeldrum.

Tory members must take blame

Sir, – Well the media is buzzing. The chancellor has gone but they came as a pair and they should go as a pair.

Liz Truss should stick at what she apparently was good at – selling pork to China. The Conservative party members made a horrendous selection. The only thing she got right was her attitude to the first minister, but as it turns out they are just two sides of the same coin.

Finlay G Mackintosh, Forres.

King-sized quip was a real classic

Sir, – While by no means a royalist, I have always taken a great delight in our new King’s ability to raise a wry grin with his witty musings over the years.

His put-down to Liz Truss (“Dear, oh dear”) was a classic. Of course, he was only conveying the thoughts of 90% of the nation, the other 10% bewailing the removal of their tax cuts.

Ron Campbell, Richmond Walk, Aberdeen.

Just stop, it’s wasting soup!

Sir, – What were Just Stop Oil eco-zealots trying to prove when splattering a painting with tomato soup? (EE, 15/10, p10).

Activist Phoebe Plummer, 21, said, “is art worth more than food?” Well, she wasted two tins of soup that could have fed a family!

Fellow activist Anna Holland, 20, said, “UK families will have to choose…as fossil fuel companies reap record profits!”

Well, green energy firms, wind turbines, will also reap record profits! Do these youngsters live in the real world? And making rash statements and activities doesn’t help their futile objectives.

Clean white T-shirts washed at 30 degrees by mum!

T. Shirron, Aberdeen.

GPs must see patients again

Sir, – As hospital clinics are now running normally and GP surgery nurses have been working with patients since well before the end of Covid lockdown, isn’t it about time GPs were seeing patients rather than fobbing them off with phone consultations?

How can they possibly diagnose some illnesses over the phone? It seems to me that having got used to not treating patients face to face – their attitude has become very detached and uncaring.

It’s almost as if we are an inconvenience, interrupting the smooth running of their patient-free working hours!

We are being told to stay away from A&E but until GPs start seeing patients as they did pre-Covid, people will continue to turn up at A&E if they are anxious about their health and can’t see a GP.

CS.

Conversation