A poll from last week claimed that 56 per cent of SNP voters are positively disposed towards nuclear power following the Spanish and Portuguese blackouts.
Former Labour MP Brian Wilson states that "the remnants of nuclear after decades of hostility still provides a defiant 11.1% of power" (“To keep the lights on, we must retain gas and nuclear for now”, The Herald May 1). Okay Mr Wilson, let's forget about the Green arguments against it, the intractable problem of nuclear waste disposal, the dangers of another Three Mile Island, Chernobyl or Fukushima, or even the possibility of a hostile state or terrorist organisation blowing up a power station up. I look forward to seeing editorials and more essays from him outlining the cost benefit of relying on nuclear power.
Let's be brutally honest: no company will build a new power station without total government backing. The costs are eye-wateringly expensive. More even than "saving" Scunthorpe's steel, or offering continuing inducements to the non-dom Knight of Petroineos, the owner of Manchester United. Or indeed more expensive than the war toys, drones and fighter jets, lost by the Harry S Truman aircraft carrier in its Goliath v David "battle" against the Houthis.
Where are we with Sizewell C or Hinkley Point at this moment in time? They were meant to be operational just about now, but have been delayed till 2035 and 2030 (ferry complainants take note). And their costs have doubled. One is estimated to be around £40 billion and the other between £46 and 50 billion.
That's a lot of financial black holes to fill. But I am sure Mr Wilson's friend the UK Chancellor will find the money for the cost overruns, just like she's found it for "defence".
Marjorie Ellis Thompson, Edinburgh.
Time SNP started to listen
A recent survey of SNP supporters showed a clear support for nuclear energy being part of Scotland's energy mix.
Even Ian Blackford has called for a change to the SNP's policy. It's time the SNP started listening.
Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.
Read more letters
- There's no need for energy bills to be so high. We need zonal pricing
- We will pay a heavy price for messing up the national grid
- Please, SNP, spare us the hypocrisy over Grangemouth
End the net zero obsession
The obsession with net zero is driving Britain into economic decline, social division, and strategic weakness. What began as a vague environmental target has morphed into an ideological crusade, detached from reality and blind to the damage it is causing.
Rural communities are being penalised for simply trying to live and work. Farmers face restrictions, motorists are vilified, and perfectly functional energy sources are being scrapped in favour of unreliable, expensive alternatives. Meanwhile, countries like China and India continue to increase emissions – unapologetically – while we cripple our economy in a futile display of moral posturing.
Net zero is not just bad policy; it is a luxury belief of the political elite. Ordinary people are paying the price through higher bills, limited travel, and job losses in traditional industries. Yet politicians and activists refuse to admit what’s obvious: Britain cannot save the world by impoverishing itself.
We need a serious energy policy, one based on affordability, security, and common sense, not fantasy targets and international virtue-signalling. Fossil fuels still have a role to play. So does nuclear power. So does a proper debate, free from hysteria and censorship.
Let us be clear: protecting the environment matters. But destroying our way of life in the name of net zero is not the answer.
It’s time for Britain to put its own people first and bring this reckless agenda to an end.
Alastair Redman, Independent councillor for Kintyre and the Islands, Islay.
The failings of Tony Blair
Andy Maciver maintains that Tony Blair has "a near unique ability to understand what the British population thinks and what the British population wants" ("Tony Blair is right: we need to rip up net zero and start again", The Herald, May 2). He has obviously chosen to overlook Sir Tony’s involvement as Prime Minister in the controversial 2003 invasion of Iraq, which provoked widespread opposition and was objected to by 139 of his own MPs. Not only did his popularity fall following that involvement, which included incorrect statements about weapons of mass destruction, it also led to him being accused of misleading Parliament.
Tony Blair appeared to operate under the inherent belief that he could conduct himself under some particular freedom to avoid telling the truth of a situation if there was some good reason, "good" being defined by him for such avoidance. With that credo in your locker there will be little need to give yourself a telling-off for getting things wrong .
Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.
Holyrood has been a failure
Although certain powers were devolved to the Scottish Executive in 1999 such as the Scottish economy, education, health, justice, rural affairs, housing, environment, transport and police, the UK Government at Westminster still retained control of key areas: foreign policy, defence and national security, immigration, citizenship, the constitution and various aspects of social security and employment law.
Over the last 25 years or so we Scots have seen very few signs that the experiment of a Scottish Parliament at Holyrood has been a success. The SNP has made the headlines, but not in a constructive sense heralding improvements to our way of life to the north of the Border. And their henchmen of the Green Party have only served to complicate their efforts.
Unless the present SNP leadership can bring into effect major changes to the way of life in this northerly region, the party will be ejected from Holyrood following the elections in the spring of 2026.
The likelihood of a return to a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition will I am sure result in sounder government. There is also, of course, the possibility that the Holyrood experiment could be declared a failure, with government being returned to Westminster.
Robert IG Scott, Ceres, Fife.
Children's Hearing system flawed
The report of a study by the University of Glasgow and the NSPCC around the impact on mental health of the care system for children, released on Friday, states: "The rate of children getting into a permanent placement in England, where a judge oversees the process, was nearly four and a half times faster compared to Scotland."
This matches our experience and that of many adoptive families we know. I have personally made submissions to the Children's Hearing Working Group, MSPs and committees explaining and evidencing why the Children's Hearing Scotland service (CHS) doesn't work for children needing permanence or adoption, why children are left languishing in care for years as a result of competing systems, including the courts, social work and the CHS. I have had no meaningful response to these concerns other than sound bites and platitudes.
The idea of the CHS as relevant or effective for children needing permanence and adoption is a shibboleth, This latest report is yet another damning indictment of the establishment in Scotland, who still believe a system designed in the 1960s (through the Kilbrandon Report) is somehow fit for purpose today.
The evidence is clear and our politicians should be ashamed for choosing to hear only what they want to hear.
Jamie Woodburn, Largs.
Demise of US manufacturing
With all the concern in the United States about the loss of jobs in manufacturing industry and the use of import tariffs to rectify this problem, it is interesting to look back to the Second World War and the case of Liberty Ships.
The US had joined Britain in declaring war on Germany and Japan only after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
American manufacturing was very strong, and in order to prepare for the invasion of Europe and keep the British people from being defeated through lack of supplies (German U-boats were sinking very large numbers of cargo ships in the Atlantic), a shipbuilding programme, using welded fabrication which was then in its infancy, was started to build large numbers of cargo ships (the original design was British).
Eventually 2,750 ships were built (the average time taken to build each ship was 41 days).
In the 1960s the Donaldson Line still was still sailing two of these ships between Glasgow and the St Lawrence Seaway to Canada ( the Laurentia and Lismoria), the Lismoria carrying 55 first class passengers during the summer.
This illustrates just how massive American manufacturing was at this time and explains why President Trump's concern over its demise through imports is understandable.
John Ewing, Falkirk.
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