Why the plan to build catamarans was always doomed to sink

Then there’s the question of the £800m refund guarantee that would be needed. Given it is a pre-requisite it was incumbent on those claiming that their proposal benefits the taxpayer on multiple fronts to demonstrate that the banks are fully behind their idea. However, that vote of confidence seems to be missing from the offer.

We’ve been here before. The winner of the bid to build the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Children contracts had no record of building a hospital in Scotland and had built only one in England. Yet it was awarded the contract amid claims it could save the taxpayer millions with their innovative design.

It is now being sued for £73m by the local health board. Not only was it discovered that the water and ventilation systems were defective but they had also used cheaper illegal cladding on the facade with the taxpayer somehow ending up footing the bill for replacing it.

A further £11m has been spent remedying defects on one ward with another £33m currently being spent replacing yet more similar cladding in the atrium. In short, all the original promises proved to be nothing but hot air – and with catastrophic consequences.

Robert Menzies, Falkirk.

Ideal name for Hull 802

YOU report that the owner of Hull 802, CMAL, is running a competition for the public to name this ferry in anticipation of it entering service on the Arran crossing sometime next year (“Ferry owner launches name contest", The Herald, August 3) .

The choice is to be from a shortlist of three names with ties to Scottish heritage and the landscape on Arran, namely Glen Cloy, Glen Rosa and Claymore. Apparently these were drawn up by CMAL after consultation with islanders and local communities, which sadly excluded me, an avowed Arranophile. If I had been asked, I would have suggested naming it after the beautiful hamlet of Lagg to serve also as a reminder of the vessel being a mite behind schedule.

Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.

Read more: Anger as £800m Clyde shipbuilding plan to resolve ferries crisis sinks

The way to energy security

DR Gerald Edwards (Letters, August 2) argues strongly that "draconian measures" which will affect motorists and homeowners will be alleviated by Rishi Sunak’s decision to support the renewing of oil and gas prospecting on the North Sea. He is of course correct, unless, like other countries, the UK chooses to invest in disinvesting from fossil fuels.

Tax relief for green endeavours rather than for fossil fuel exploration is one way. David Cameron’s infamous "green crap” remark set us back years, as solar panels on all new houses and insulation strategies were quietly dropped. A concerted effort in these areas, and for renewables and battery storage is the way to energy security and reduced energy bills, not selling our oil to Big Business which will export it (81% is exported) and sell it where it makes the biggest profit.

Further, a look at the foreign press over the past few days shows the dismissive view that many of these countries have about the UK, countries where green investment is already reaping money, jobs and energy security. And of course we are missing out on this green jobs bonanza. This bonanza is exactly what Scotland needs as many of the support roles in the offshore wind sector will be relevant to the skill of the current employees of the offshore oil and gas industry. Instead of grasping the green opportunity we will be increasing unemployment as fossil fuel use decreases and the wells end.

Jill Belch, Scone.

The slavery of the young

CONGRATULATIONS to Neil Mackay on a superb piece of writing (“‘Selfish bloody idiots’ have sacrificed our children’s lives”, The Herald, August 3). I think he is absolutely right in describing us as waging war against the next generation. Just as one example, by allowing house prices to rise to such shocking levels we are forcing them to work longer and longer hours and indeed years for less and less, with so much of their money going into their accommodation and so little for themselves that it is a kind of slavery.

Many young people must now be wondering what is the point of existence with such a big mountain to climb. And the casual way in which we close our eyes to the impact of climate change is like the dinner party in Carry On Up the Khyber when the Governor and his wife calmly eat on with the band playing while the windows are blown out and the plaster falls down around them This needs to be said and said again, and I hope he keeps saying it.

Howie Forth, Elgin.

Read more: We are sacrificing our children. What's become of this country?

The UK lacks real leaders

I CONGRATULATE Neil Mackay on his article in which he points out: “Here we are - the older generation - raging about heat pumps and low emissions zones; sneering at young people, terrified for their future, taking to the streets over climate change”.

I watch in despair as our politicians backtrack on their net-zero commitments while wildfires rage all over the globe, the consequence, we are told by experts we must trust, of human-created global warming.

The UK lacks leaders such as Irish President Michael Higgins, who said it would be a “dereliction of our duty of care to our shared planet” should world leaders fail to take action following UN secretary-general António Guterres’s recent comments on climate change. Mr Guterres had said “the level of fossil-fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable. Leaders must lead. No more hesitancy. No more excuses. No more waiting for others to move first. There is simply no more time for that.”

With our politicians letting us down we must turn to our faith communities, the Church of Scotland for instance having already disposed of its oil and gas shares in recognition of the need to be “responsible stewards of God’s creation in the vanguard of change”.

The Right Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, the current Moderator of the Kirk’s General Assembly, said: "The effects of climate change make it increasingly difficult for fragile communities to escape entrenched poverty. Communities living with the devastating consequences of climate chaos have been consistently calling on us all to make the significant changes necessary to bring climate justice.”

John Milne, Uddingston.

The rot began with Clinton

STRUAN Stevenson ("Beware Russia and Iran - the new axis of evil", The Herald, August 2) is right to condemn Russia's new Axis of Evil with Iran, but does not mention its other close partners China, North Korea and Belarus, nor its many other effective fellow-travellers and apologists worldwide.

Over the past third of a century, the world's western and southern democracies have handed over our manufacturing and energy needs to that axis, due to our naive, myopic short-termist politicians, diplomats, academics and business leaders.

The rot began with President Clinton, who regrets that there was no major global event during his presidency to deal with – he did not and still does not realise that his prime and almost sole objective in office in the 1990s was to maintain Russia's fledgling democratisation and free enterprise initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev and developed by the early Boris Yeltsin, to enable it to cooperate with us in dealing with the world's problems and dangers.

But instead, a gangster monopolistic capitalism of oligarchs was facilitated, leading directly to the increasingly volatile, bibulous Yeltsin handing the Kremlin to the ex-KGB which naturally prefers other dictatorial and nazi-type regimes to democracies, civil society, the rule of law and a free press.

The rest sadly is history – for the foreseeable future, if Putin wins his war, and possibly for this century.

John Birkett, St Andrews.