YOU report that Nicola Sturgeon is to go on progress through Scotland ahead of her coronation as leader of the SNP and in turn First Minister ("Sturgeon in unprecedented tour before Cabinet reshuffle", The Herald, October 16).
This should be welcomed as an excellent opportunity for her to elaborate on her social democratic credentials.
On the "social" side, she may wish to apologise to her followers for the SNP's failure to take action on poverty and inequality in Scotland in her party's seven years in office, and set out how she intends to address these issues. The old game of blaming Westminster is no longer viable now that Scots have confirmed their view that such matters as employment and welfare should be addressed on the level of the whole UK.
Indeed, Ms Sturgeon will only show real leadership of both her party and of the country if she has the courage to embrace the democratic will of the Scottish people. She must tell them that in the referendum the voters rejected independence, that it is a lost cause, and there will not be a further referendum in the foreseeable future.
Anything else would not only be denial of the "democratic" part of "social democrat" but a betrayal of the right of self-determination of the Scottish people, as exercised on September 18. Over to you, Nicola.
Peter A Russell,
87 Munro Road,
Jordanhill,
Glasgow.
CATHERINE MacLeod berates the SNP Government for not doing more to end endemic child poverty having been in power for seven years at Holyrood ("When more powers talk should take a back seat", The Herald, October 16). She ignores the fundamental fact, of course, that to end child poverty one must attack the causes of it: long-term unemployment, poor housing and health, poor educational attainment and the subsequent sense of hopelessness than feeds on these evils .
To suggest that the SNP Government use the Scottish Welfare Fund, set up in 2013 , to resolve the problems of food banks and other associated problems is simplistic and cynical.
Ms MacLeod is well aware that poverty is not an issue which is resolved simply by spending a (limited ) amount of money on the issue of the day - food banks - but requires the utilisation of the UK's resources over a lengthy time span, and no British government, including Labour, has genuinely seen this as a priority.
She exposes the poverty (pun intended ) of her case by name-checking three Labour stalwarts (Margaret Curran, Jackie Baillie and James Kelly) as evidence that they are the people to right this wrong, ignoring the elephant in the room that it is under Labour-controlled councils that the worst poverty exists.
James Mills,
29 Armour Square,
Johnstone.
I NOTE that Johann Lamont thinks it is good that three of Scotland's political parties are led by women. She doesn't give a reason for that. I would have thought ability is far more important and that gender is in the same category as perhaps hair colour or shoe size.
Michael Watson,
74 Wardlaw Avenue,
Rutherglen.
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