Scotland Matters Letters

I’ve lost count of the number of times John Swinney has recited his “unite the party”, focus on delivery, social justice, economy, public services, people of Scotland, work with other parties, gain trust, make the case for indy” mantra this past week, giving the impression that the last item, the raw for indy, would naturally follow from surress in the other eight. If only Alex Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon had believed and done that, on September 19 2014, or November 142014 when she took over, as they could have transformed Scotland to the point where in 2024 we’d either be gagging for separation because we’d pulled miles ahead of the UK, or wanting to remain, because we’d done it within the UK. Either way, the referendum result would not be a disaster for either “camp’: But, as has often been said, the nationalists preferred to build a case that relied a lot on grievance and proved unable to run the place well, get on with their rivals, rebuild the already shaky 2014 case, or have any succession plan for talented people when the 2007 generation left the stage. So now, very few people believe a word they say. And no wonder when we now have a retread with no tread in charge. Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.

JOHN Swinney has said he doesn’t want a pact with the Greens and that he wants to work with the Unionist parties. Really? An SNP First Minister who is hell-bent on taking Scotland out of the Union? The same Mr Swinney is having the metaphorical gun pointed at his head by Scotland’s biggest traitors the Greens who were threatening non-co-operation before Swinney was even sworn in. Meanwhile, we still have the long-running Branchform investigation trying to find out which SNP ‘politicians’ have had fingers in which pies. The whole scene is a bit early for Christmas but what a script for a pantomime. Ian Balloch, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire.

It is reasonable to expect that John Swinney’s door will soon be chapped by the Principal of Edinburgh University bearing a big sack over his shoulder full of legitimate grievances and asking him, not only as an alumnus, but as First Minister, to reverse the disastrous policies of the SNP governments of Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, ones which have dealt harshly with the Universities and Colleges, as well summarised by Calum Ross (“University sector ‘at risk’ due to funding gar, 6 May). The SNP has adopted Scandinavian policies regarding student fees, in conjunction with US institutional funding levels, a combination that has particularly disadvantaged Scottish students, not only jeopardising their futures but betraying a historical tradition that has served the world well, one of valuing universities for their work and supporting them appropriately. After all, many decades before the foundation of Edinburgh, in 1583, Scotland already had three universities; Denmark had one, Sweden had one, and Norway and Finland had none. Hugh Pennington.

THE latest poll is predicting even more gloom for the SNP. John Swinney is charged with coming to the rescue but can he? If he had any good ideas where were they for all the years he was Nicola Sturgeon’s deputy? And where were the good ideas from Kate Forbes? There have been no hints of any ground-breaking policy changes mooted so far. Putting independence as a priority has already been dealt a blow as the claimed turnout at the recent march in Glasgow oscillated between 2,000 or a few hundred. The Greens still have to be dealt with and olive branches to the pro-Union parties will be hard to swallow for the diehard nationalists. There is no obvious way forward but there are a growing number of pitfalls waiting to set the SNP back. Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.

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