Scotland Matters Letters

The SNP and Conservative leadership campaigns are remarkably similar: a “car (or scooter) crash waiting to happen” candidate, and a “blindingly obvious” candidate who, despite powerful forces in their party plotting against them, are more popular with the electorate. Quite important, you’d think, for parties facing defeat at the next election. And if Forbes wipes the floor with Yousaf in televised debates, and SNP members inexplicably choose him, Yousaf may well crash, burn and resign, and Forbes takes over as our third First Minister in perhaps even less than Truss’s 49 days. Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven. Aberdeenshire.

Kate Forbes is coming under increasing attack over her faith-based views. I do not agree with all of them, but are we no longer allowed to have personal and professional opinions in politics? I have had to speak to people who have been charged with sexual offences against children, and people who have had convictions for GBH and attempted murder, for £7.50 an hour. These are far, far worse issues than the media are in a frenzy over regarding Ms Forbes. I manage this by just doing my job. Personally, after 5pm, I consider their crimes to be abhorrent. I’m sure the majority of us operate with a light touch of cognitive dissonance as we go through the day. Surely Ms Forbes should also be free to vote on issues as she sees fit, lest what’s the point of Holyrood? Is it just an inane facade where our MSPs nod obediently because Twitter told them to? Would her more “traditional” opinions change legislation? No. And in the case of gay marriage, I and the majority of Scots wouldn’t want it to change and this would be reflected by the other elected members. Is tolerance only for those with the “right” opinion in the first place? David Bone, Girvan.

I had to think what to make of the quote from Humza Yousaf in The Courier (February 20). Eventually, I had to laugh at his statement of intent: “I will continue the fight for independence and bridge divisions in society and politics:’ Does he think he is the reincarnation of Henry Kissinger? Mr Yousaf is obviously too young or naive in the extreme to appreciate 20th Century history. I think he would be well advised to concentrate on finding a way to build very sturdy bridges that are not one-way only before continuing what will prove to be most lamely an impossible independence. Without solid evidence of how to survive like other small oft-likened-to countries, the SNP will not encourage a change of attitude from any unionists towards independence. Do not forget that the Scandinavian countries often referred to do not have unemployment and other social problems that Scotland has As leader, you must sort these things first and demonstrate to us how to survive. Geoff Bray, Forfar.

Kate Forbes and her rivals are as entitled to their views as I am to mine in what is still a free country. What I do admire very much is her honesty, freshness and candour in answering questions, an honesty that has been absent for many years in Scottish politics, certainly since the SNP gained power. But the attacks on Miss Forbes from within the SNP, after it seems she has noticed the emperor is not wearing clothes and is not afraid to say so, are disturbing. Some in the SNP were prepared to go out on a limb to protect a double rapist in a women’s prison, yet sit back and whisper and apparently plot while a young mother, back from maternity leave, is attacked mercilessly from within her own party for stating what she thinks. What has the SNP done to our country? This kind of hatred and deep division, even from within, never existed before it came on the political scene. Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

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