Miliband’s folly, for he has completely wrong concerns

It's therefore gratifying that more and more people like Ian are saying enough is enough.  

The 57 Highland Community Councils, and 11 MPs and MSPs who attended a packed meeting at Inverness the week before last, to protest at the “unjust and unnecessary industrialisation of the Highlands" speak for an increasing number of Scots.  

As veteran politician Fergus Ewing said: "The biggest threat between now and 2030 is not the planet being destroyed through climate change. The biggest threat is the lights going out."

In his speech, Mr Ewing gave the example of the dunkelflaute of January 8 this year when, he said, the UK "came within a hairsbreadth" of a grid breakdown.

It's not just the visual and ground pollution caused by renewables which concern people.

It's the increasing share of weather dependent electricity entering the grid.

The more fluctuating wind power we have, the more difficult it becomes to maintain grid stability.

Virtue signalling does not generate electricity.

And because Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, plans to shut down (or blow up) most of our 49-strong fleet of gas-fired power stations (as was done with the giant 2GW 365/24 coal-fired generators at Longannet, Ferrybridge and Fiddler’s Ferry) things will become worse.

By 2030, all but one of our nuclear reactors, Sizewell B, will be closed, with Hinkley not powering up till the following year.

This will make things even more difficult for the engineers at  the Transmission Network Control Centre near Wokingham west of London, as they struggle to maintain frequency above the safe level of 49.8Hz.

If they fail, the grid will go down, and then a "black start " will be problematical.

 Net zero is an ideological crusade which ignores the reality of technological boundaries and economic foresight.

It must be stopped.

William Loneskie, Berwickshire.

More letters...

David Cameron's stupidity nearly cost us the Union

Nicola Sturgeon has called into question the entire ethos of her party

Robertson and Swinney have brought shame on Scotland

Jousting at windmills

I am sure that I am not alone in my reaction upon reading another announcement, about another wind farm, which will provide zillions of homes with ‘clean’ energy, while our electricity bills remain ridiculously high (“German giant submits plans for 70 turbine floating wind farm off Scotland”, The Herald, August 21).

Is it not about time we held our governments to account for their complete failure to deliver not just clean energy, but cheap clean energy.

Foreign energy companies seem to be the only participants benefiting.

Surely it’s time for the citizens to benefit.

Unfortunately, as citizens, we are being conned yet again.

We were promised cheap energy from the North Sea, but never received it.

We were promised clean cheap energy, with the proliferation of wind farms, and have yet to see any financial benefits.

It's about time Ed Miliband was held to account.

Where is your plan Ed? We are sick to death of Energy Companies, usually foreign, and our governments using these projects as cash cows for little financial benefit for the people.

Ian McNair, Cellardyke.

Gone with the wind

President Donald Trump’s hatred of wind turbines, or ‘windmills’ as he calls them, is well recorded, and it reflects the objections of many in Scotland, though for different reasons.

Wind energy is very expensive, due to the generous contractual arrangements offered to the developers, who are paid not to produce energy when it is too windy, and additionally when there is no wind.

This means wind energy will always be expensive, resulting in Scotland having the highest consumer electricity bills in the U.K.

And it will always need a back up, which at least doubles the cost.

Along with the above, Scotland's beautiful hills and glens are being permanently scarred with turbines and massive pylons carrying power cables everywhere.

It is with a sense of real urgency that the Scottish government must cancel plans for more wind turbine developments.

It’s time to find a better balance of energy for Scotland, including nuclear.  

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.

Concerns over school

As the mother of four boys who boarded at Keil School in the 1970s and 80s, I am horrified by Lady Smith's findings, as reported (“School pupils were ‘exposed to paedophiles’ amid ‘cover up’, inquiry finds”, The Herald, August 21). 

I have, over the years, spoken with concern to all four.

Whilst not disputing some of what is written, it bears no resemblance to their experience and memories of an education that equipped them for life.

Times have, of course, changed hugely, and no mother would nowadays send children to a school as described by Lady Smith and reported  in your article today.

I was unaware... or perhaps simply naive? 

O. Bell, Dunbar. 

Woolly thinking

The price of beef and lamb has gone up 25% in the shops, which seems to be a shock to the consumer.

Yet we watch programmes on television, such as Countryfile, which show large areas of land being used for tree planting, rewilding and flooding for wild birds.

These are fields which, for hundreds of years, have produced food for the population.

We cannot appease the net zero zealots and feed the country.

Which is it to be?

Sheila Kerr, Newton Mearns.

Road to ruin

Recent letters bemoaning the roadworks and diversions that delay travel around the country have me baffled. 

We whinge and whine about the state of our roads, then do so again, when they are getting fixed. 

Steve Brennan, Coatbridge.

The folly of  flummoxed foliage is traced back to the length of time a plant pot is unattended (Image: PA)

Browned off

I sympathise with David Gilchrist (Letters, August 20) regarding the withdrawal of peat from garden composts.

While I agree with the need to preserve peat, I now find that plants in pots, or other containers, dry out almost daily.

Leaving them for even a couple of days could result in a display of drooping brown foliage.

If any reader could enlighten me as to an alternative, I should be very grateful.

Thank you, from an over-worked right arm wielding a watering can every night.           

Malcolm Rankin, Seamill.