Last week, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said Scotland’s public sector must become more efficient and “consider the scope for innovation that embraces entrepreneurship, improves value for money, offers opportunities for commercialisation, better manages assets, and brings benefit to the public”. At the start of the big SNP adventure Alex Salmond, faced with nine departments, 27 agencies, 32 councils and 152 quangos, said: “If you are going to have joined-up government you need less bits to join up”. I thought he was serious and gave the SNP one of my votes in 2011 in the hope that it would wake up and transform Scotland. Silly me and the other few hundred thousand who would never have believed the mess we’d get into, or the woke, fairness, social justice, inclusion, equality and net-zero prism that infests and neuters all Government reports and policies. I genuinely think Ms Forbes is doing the right thing and I think it is fair that the job of clearing up the mess and selling the benefits of it should be one for the SNP and Greens, by which time I hope the opposition can unite with the desire, ability and policies to complete the job and guide us out of this blackspot in our history. Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.