Co-leader of the Scottish Greens, Ross Greer, has definitely gone up in my estimation.
He has called the SNP plans to issue government bonds a "gimmick", which throws an unwelcome light on an independent Scotland's need to borrow. Apparently the bonds are known as ‘kilts’, not gilts, which made me think of a marketing campaign logo of Adam Smith, with a traffic cone on his head.
Mr Greer is also against massive AI centres, citing huge pressure on our water, degradation of rural landscapes and claiming the 24 data centre proposals would add 6,000 MW (6 GW) of electricity to Scotland’s 4GW peak winter demand, and threaten grid stability. Not good news for those for whom Scotland's abundance of water and wind is a key factor in the case for independence.
But it is welcome support for anti-windfarm infrastructure campaigns. For example, my local Hurlie substation, for which a one mile square area the size of Stonehaven needs to be cleared.
It’s also frustratingly confusing for those engaged in creating the planned total of 40W of Scottish offshore and onshore wind production.
Where are they going to sell the other 30GW of wind electricity, especially when the total planned for the UK is 93GW? Or will our wind be used at all for data centres that rely on 100% uptime, when, as I write, according to the National Grid ‘Gridwatch’ website, only 5% of UK electricity is produced by wind?
Thanks, Mr Greer, for drawing our attention to all these issues.
Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.
More letters...
Gaelic needs to be spoken at Holyrood
Grammar has so much to teach us
Great Repeal Bill is where SNP should focus its energies
Reason Reform UK’s popular
One statistic is sufficient to explain why all the attacks on Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and other Reform UK figures will make very little difference to their support in the country.
That is the horrifying statistic that in the 14 years of Tory rule, there were many millions of foreign immigrants to the UK.
While the East Europeans have very largely been a success story, the same is not true of the many millions of non-Western immigrants, especially during the Boris wave, who came with little or no skills, and no sympathy with our country or its culture.
A great many people know this and will never again vote for the Tories, who created this mess, nor the ‘progressive’ parties that wish to continue mass immigration indefinitely.
For millions of us, Reform UK is the only show in town.
Otto Inglis, Fife.
Politicians fear electorate
I read with interest Andrew Learmonth’s article about Malcolm Offord, Leader of Reform UK Scotland (“Farage opponents branded ‘feart’”, The Herald, July 9).
It suggested the legacy political parties were “feart of Farage”.
Feart is a great lowland Scots word, and it is great hearing its contribution to the beautiful alliteration of the phrase “feart of Farage”.
However, this explanation is only partly true.
It only partly explains their flaking on contesting the Clacton by-election and hiding behind a bin, as it were. (Incidentally,
I think when it comes to the local elections, they will be avoiding any and all association with bins. Votes to be collected on the issue of bins in local government elections for the legacy parties will be as few and far between as the bin collections themselves.)
The real overriding reason they have flaked on Clacton is not primarily that they are “feart of Farage”, although they undoubtedly are.
Nor is it fear of the already stated policy of Count Binface to cap the price of flakes.
It is their fear of the good folk of Clacton.
It is not good for our democracy when politicians seriously run scared of presenting their case to the people and refuse (no bin pun intended) to be answerable to them.
Dr Steven William Welsh Stornoway, Western Isles.
Educate politicians and electorate
When a clown dressed as a dustbin can stand for election to Parliament, we have surely reached the dead end of democracy.
In my view, all parliamentary candidates should pass an examination covering their duties as an MP, and then be subject to Continuous Personal Development, just as citizens with professional qualifications must do.
Similarly, anyone wishing to vote should be required to display a knowledge of world affairs. This could be an educational qualification. Very important with a voting age now reduced to school age level.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinnesswood, Kinross-shire.
Labour’s many failings
I would be keeping it quiet, the second anniversary of Labour’s election victory.
It is certainly no cause for celebration.
Quite frankly, Labour has proven to be a very unpopular government. A government that still has so many promises to fulfil, and a government that needs to go back and read its 2024 election manifesto again.
Yet last week at Prime Minister’s Questions a Scottish Labour MP, Douglas McAllister, had the audacity to rise to his feet in the House of Commons and suggest that this Labour government had achieved so much for his West Dunbartonshire constituency in only two years.
Oh, really Mr McAllister?
How does the following benefit your West Dunbartonshire constituents? Increased energy bills; continuation of the cost-of-living crisis (worse than ever); a cabinet in crisis with resignations, till finally the Prime Minister resigns…
And all of the above causing financial uncertainty and chaos in the country.
Finally, if as Mr McAllister suggests, things are going very well for the country under a Labour government, why on earth has the party’s leader and PM resigned?
And why do we continue to see an increased number of people relying on foodbanks?
Catriona C Clark, Banknock, Falkirk.
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