Nicola Sturgeon likes to portray herself as speaking for all of Scotland. Many of us know this isn’t true. Now it seems Ms Sturgeon has confirmed this. As the rubbish piles up ever higher, especially in Edinburgh, it appears that around 70 Scottish Government buildings, including Ms Sturgeon’s own residence at Bute House, have their rubbish dealt with by a private firm at taxpayers’ expense. Sensitive government papers etc ought not to be disposed of in a bin, nevertheless, this will be used as an excuse- while the rest of Scotland suffers a bin crisis the SNP/Green government do not. Are we really all in this together? Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.
In these putrid days of rotting refuse on our streets, as people wantonly throw their rubbish onto them, it is gratifying to know that one household does not have to worry about waste disposal. The bins at Bute House, the First Minister’s official residence, are emptied by a private waste removal firm funded by taxpayers costing £43 million. What was it Orwell said about some animals being more equal than others? Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.
Unlike some Herald readers, I am not outraged at Nicola Sturgeon’s five appearances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as she is merely playing to her skillset. She simply has no answer or solution to the myriad problems we presently face. So her strategy after eight years has not changed. Self-promotion while tirelessly banging on about an independence referendum has up until now served her very well indeed. She has played a blinder, but now events and public perception are finally catching up, people are less and less impressed by her empty celebrity brand of politics (I think of her as the Holyrood version of Kim Kardashian) and she undoubtedly knows this, which makes it understandable that she is putting herself in the shop window for future employment. For Scotland’s sake I wish her all the luck in the world. David Crawford, Bonhill.
As gas prices are now at seven times what they were last year and as Russia reduces supply to Europe. what happens if the price continues to rise to ten or 20 times the cost? This is not as ridiculous as it may appear as we go into winter and our gas demand increases. If Russia decides to stop gas supplies completely we are left with no backup plan to provide alternative energy to heat our homes. Unless we embark on a massive home insulation and conversion from gas heating programme the outlook for our energy future is very grim. Scotland must urgently change its energy policy to include nuclear power and gas fracking otherwise a very cold winter would take its terrible toll on low-income families. Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.