SNP aren’t great, but just look at the Westminster options…

In the immediate post-war years, the two main Westminster parties were led by Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee. Harold Macmillan and Hugh Gaitskell, if not quite of that calibre, were politicians of incontestable ability and integrity.

Edward Heath and Harold Wilson were decidedly lesser figures; John Major and Tony Blair represent an acceleration of that decline.

And look at the immediate past!

We thought there could not be a much worse Prime Minister than David Cameron and then we got Theresa May. For Mr Cameron and Mrs May read Mrs May and Boris Johnson; for Mrs May and Mr Johnson read Mr Johnson and Liz Truss.

Rishi Sunak, to be fair to him, was not actually a worse Prime Minister than Liz Truss; but what have we got now?

Lilliputian rather than pygmy is the adjective that suggests itself for Sir Keir Starmer as a politician; and nobody in his government, nor in the opposition party, is measurably better. How can Mr Hamilton, or anybody else, seriously want the governance of Scotland to be handed over to that crew?

John Swinney is assuredly no Churchill or Attlee (and no Alex Salmond for that matter); but he is head and shoulders above anything that Westminster can show.

By the same token, if the record of the SNP in government leaves a lot to be desired, it is better by a long way than that of successive Tory and Labour governments in the same period.

The SNP will be returned to power next month, not because anybody thinks they are brilliant, but because it is only through them that the increasingly urgent goal of independence can be achieved.

And if they do not pursue it with much more energy, determination and single-mindedness than they have shown of late, I do not know where we will turn for rescue.

Derrick McClure, Aberdeen.

More letters...

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Roadmaps out of lockdown ignore the very real problems millions will face in months to come

Re-introducing the wolf in the Highlands would help to alleviate the deer menace

SNP can’t deliver favourable Scexit

Over the years, many of your contributors have stated, quite reasonably, that, should Scotland become independent, the electorate would afterwards be free to vote for whichever party they liked.

This has been used as an argument for voting SNP, even if you do not believe they are governing well, simply to achieve independence, THEN vote for your party of choice.

I understand the logic.

But what these writers always fail to point out is that the negotiations for the terms under which Scotland would leave the UK would undoubtedly be undertaken by the inept SNP.

I'm afraid I have no more faith in their ability to deliver a favourable ‘Scexit’ than Boris Johnson did with Brexit.

Brian Johnston, Torrance.

Uniparty politics

“And they’re off!”

The Holyrood election is underway, with a big choice of candidates and political parties… or is there?

Reform UK, the Tories and Liberal Democrats have one thing in common: they want Labour’s Anas Sarwar as First Minister.

No matter what they say to the public, they stand as a ‘uniparty’ with one goal.

How can we have a Leaders’ debate when these parties secretly all want the same thing?

Should they not be standing on a common manifesto to keep Scotland as a colony?

Messrs Sarwar, Findlay, Cole-Hamilton and Lord Offord will be easily identifiable, for they’ll be accompanied by a fishy smell as they render this election a shabby fraud.

GR Weir, Ochiltree.

Confine asylum seekers

A picture is worth a thousand words.

This is certainly true of the photo that I saw of migrants rushing to board dinghies in Gravelines, France, en route to the UK, the land flowing with milk and honey.

It showed a disabled woman and wheelchair. Once in the UK she’ll probably jump the NHS queue, be seen by the NHS, and provided with a free electric wheelchair.

Emergency legislation must be passed, ensuring immigrants do not get NHS treatment, or any other benefits.

These Channel invaders shouldn’t be allowed to land on British soil. They should be confined in ships tethered far out to sea until processed, when most will be found not to be genuine asylum seekers.

Instead, they’re hoping to milk our welfare state and get housing, ahead of the 290,000 UK people who don’t have a permanent home.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow.

Reform UK eviscerated

My contributions to your esteemed publication tend to be light-hearted, aimed at giving readers something to smile about.

However, I feel it's time to come off the fence.

Kevin McKenna is a columnist, and very good he is, too!

However, in Wednesday’s Herald his astute and insightful description of the press conference held by Reform UK at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre was both informative and thought provoking ("Offord ‘stirs the dregs' as Reform UK targets city's poorest folk", The Herald, April 2).

His evisceration of both Malcolm Offord and Thomas Kerr should be mandatory reading for everyone who intends to vote for Reform UK.

If you haven't done so, please take the time to read his assessment of their ill thought out plans and intent.

To say nothing of Mr McKenna's reference to the even worse Robert Jenrick…

Brendan Keenan, Glasgow.

Shrugging off ferry crisis is shameful

It's not often I’m in complete alignment with the leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland.

But his petition to recall Holyrood MSPs to discuss the ongoing, now critical, national ferry crisis seems to have been swatted aside, with a jaw-dropping response from the Presiding Officer, who said she was “not minded” to, due to the election (“Demand for Holyrood recall on ferry crises”, The Herald, April 1).

Draw you own conclusions to that response.

If ever we needed more evidence that this SNP administration is not fit for purpose, then this in itself bears testament to that.

Of course, this is not a dramatic blaze taking place in the centre of Glasgow, which seemed to set fire to the backside of our First Minister, who was there in a shot to oversee matters. (Excellent photo opportunity.)

We’re almost at the point where any more reporting of ferry fiasco developments is becoming, dare I say it, boring.

This is because the situation has lasted so long, and cost the country an eye-watering amount, running into hundreds of millions of pounds.

And what for?

We’re all worse off than twenty years ago.

However, before accepting any creeping sense of boredom, spare a thought for the businesses going to the wall, damage caused to the fragile tourist trade, especially in this normally busy Easter period.

Also the sick and infirm who cannot get off the island for hospital visits/treatments, and the stress of having to manage any movement on and off the islands, which especially impacts farmers at this crucial time of year.

Plus all the rest.

Shame on the government for refusing to acknowledge this situation as a national, critical crisis for our island communities.

Colin Allison, Blairgowrie.

Conservatives: blame yourselves

It's generally accepted that the present CalMac problems reflect a lack of investment going back far more than the past two or three years.

Therefore it’s a bit cheeky of the Conservatives to blame the recent mess on the Liberal Democrats supporting the most recent couple of SNP budgets, especially as one of the concessions they extracted was extra money for ferries (“Demand for Holyrood recall on ferry crises”, The Herald, April 1).

Rather, the failure to invest in new vessels, which is the root of the problem, goes back to the first SNP administration of 2007-2011, when their budgets were regularly backed by… the Conservatives.

Jane Ann Liston, St Andrews.

Truth of bible

Do you still remember events from the 1990s? This question should help focus minds on issues raised in a letter by Doug Clark (Herald Letters, April 3).

Mr Clark surely misses a key point of importance which affirms New Testament truth.

If Christ died around AD 33, and Saint Paul was martyred around AD 65, then Saint Paul's vital written witness statement was made in the very earliest decades of the Christian movement.

Dead men do not write epistles!

Does Saint Paul's written witness statement strongly affirm Gospel accounts of the Easter resurrection, probably written a little later?

Saint Paul writes: “After that, he [the Lord Jesus] appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.”

Many of us in our middle years, or slipping graciously into old age, will still remember lots of 1990s events, or people, from sport and the news.

Direct or first-hand witnesses of the Easter story, who informed Saint Paul's writings, could surely have remembered events from around 30 years earlier (or less).

The Apostles' Creed faith is entirely credible.

The witness of Christ-Creation-Conscience is unmissable. Read ‘Your Verdict on the Empty Tomb’ by the late Val Grieve, a masterful 75 page paperback about Easter.

Mr Grieve was an Oxford law student and religious sceptic.

But applying the rules of evidence to the Easter story caused him to become a Christian during his Oxford studies.

I made a similar shift-from atheism to belief, when working as a GP in the Hebrides and Highlands twenty five years ago.

The Easter invitation of Our Lord perennially remains: "Seek and you will find."

James Hardy, Belfast.

Voting change required

I have just watched the Artemis 2 lift off, and read about the project (“NASA team aims for the moon in new mission”, The Herald, April 1).

It beggars belief that a country which can exhibit such vision, skill, talent and courage can elect such an ignorant, arrogant man as Donald John Trump as its President.

So much for one man, one vote and the American education system.

Perhaps it’s time to open a discussion about plural voting, as described long ago in Nevil Shute’s novel ‘In the Wet’, in which every person does get one vote, though extra votes can be gained by education, courage, good deeds and honourable behaviour.

Of course, in this age of dumbing down and the lowest common denominator, any such ‘elitist’ suggestion will undoubtedly be shot down in flames.

But the rise of Reform UK shows that something has to be done in this country as well.

John NE Rankin, Bridge of Allan.

Rockets of hope, rockets of despair

There is something of a peculiar juxtaposition going on in regard to the USA.

On one hand, they bomb the hell out of Iran and cause mayhem in the Middle East.

On the other hand, they send Artemis II into orbit around the moon for all of humanity.

All of humanity… apart from those they have killed, perhaps.

Steve Barnet, Gargunnock.

Journeying by train... unfortunately it's not rocket science.

To boldly go…

Am I alone in wondering why we can enable travel to the moon, but going by ferry, or many trains, this weekend is a lottery at best? I have no answer to that!

Olive Bell, Dunbar.