Readers Letters: Could Reform UK deliver Scexit?

It does have a certain logic and Reform's likely Scottish leader, Malcom Offord, has proposed a referendum in 2036, which should be enough time for a proper government to produce evidence of success and a sensible plan for separation, two vital things the SNP have failed to achieve in 19 years.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Ask Angus

It is surely time senior figures at the very top of BBC Scotland have a rethink given the absolute shambles referred to in The Scotsman letters page (1 January). The specific purpose of BBC Radio Scotland is to provide a public service, but clearly something has gone badly wrong given these arrogant and shambolic changes.

Many of us have already written to Culture Secretary Angus Robertson to ask him to step in. Given his remit, he's been strangely silent while others, such as the Scottish Music Industry Association and established artists such as Simple Minds, Del Amitri and Rod Stewart, have spoken out about the impact of these changes on Scottish musicians and the wider music industry. There was even an open letter signed by 300 artists demanding the axed programmes are reinstated until such time as a full public consultation has taken place.

And yet the Culture Secretary has remained completely silent so far. One can only hope he is corresponding with the BBC at the highest levels to demand a rethink.

To discover, through The Scotsman letters pages, that there is not even a timetabled replacement for Billy Sloan's world-famous show and that we are getting a repeat of a programme from December instead underlines what a shambles Radio Scotland is.

S Cameron, Inverkeithing, Fife

Crisis of faith?

The Church of Scotland's status as the national Church in Scotland is guaranteed under the Act of Union of Scotland and England in 1707, on the basis of the Kirk's adherence to The Westminster Confession of faith. From 1 January 2026, however, new ordination vows have come into use within the Kirk that no longer rely on The Westminster Confession, but use a book of confessions that provide shorter and less specific terms.

Changing ordination vows not only gives new office bearers and clergy the opportunity to reject some of the standards of the Westminster Confession (on the basis that they do not understand them and therefore can no longer be expected to believe them) but it creates a legal problem as regards the continuing status of this church as the national church in Scotland. The terms of the 1707 Act of Union was made in Parliament as an unalterable standard, tying the status of the national Church of Scotland to The Westminster Confession.

The Westminster Confession (1647) protected the Church from adopting sub-biblical and ill-informed conceptions of God and was considered the standard to which the national church in Scotland could be held. As the current church falls short of this standard, both in faith and now in theological practice, its status as the national church in Scotland is now in question.

Eve Hartswood, Stow, Galashiels

Road works

I was intrigued by the article in The Scotsman on the Coulport Northern Access Road, whose one-day-a-year closure shows a level of creativity not normally associated with the Ministry of Defence (31 December). But of more interest was the evidence in the photograph of a pristine road surface... not a pothole or “temporary” Tarmac patch in sight! I really must drive this rare example sometime soon before I forget what that experience feels like!

I wonder if the MOD could be persuaded to take over Edinburgh and West Lothian's road network, and work whatever magic they apparently possess to restore it to Roseneath Peninsula standards?

Iain Masterton, Kirknewton, Midlothian

Deify Donald

As Donald Trump enters his second triumphant year as US President and self-styled “President of the World” it’s maybe time to consider the legacy of the greatest incumbent to the post ever.

With golf courses and resorts around the world, and now the Kennedy Center in New York, all bearing his name, not to mention The Trump /Whitehouse Memorial Ballroom and the Trump/FIFA Peace Prize, isn’t it high time he appeared on a bank note? I would suggest he replaces George Washington on the one dollar bill as Trump has done more than the first president ever did and, let’s face it, the US Constitution is no longer worth the flimsy paper it was written on all those years ago.

But if the American people really want to recognise the most able and popular president ever, surely they could find room on Mount Rushmore to honour such a monumental figure? If space is tight the Abraham Lincoln head could be remodelled to represent The Donald, because what did Lincoln ever achieve compared to the countless achievements of the current Potus?

But why limit his greatness to planet Earth? The Trump/ Nasa Lunar Luxury Resort will have an exclusivity to it befitting such a man of the people.

And with the Catholic Church inevitably casting an eye in his direction, how many more miracles does it need? The fast track to beatification is all but ensured.

It’s no less than what he deserves.

D Mitchell, Doune, Perthshire

Write to The Scotsman

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