Readers' Letters: Lack of NHS app for Scots typical of SNP government

Scottish friends who have lived in England for many years visited us last weekend. During a discussion about the NHS they showed us “their” app whereby they can access all their medical history, scans, x-rays, waiting lists, prescriptions etc.

The SNP government declined to accept and introduce this app, many years ago, apparently because they didn’t like it (not theirs!) and would introduce one of their own. We are still waiting. Absolutely typical of the lack of foresight and thinking that marks this administration.

David Jerdan, Crail, Fife

Resist tyranny

We are told, increasingly, that politics is a choice between left and right. The real choice is older and starker: up towards freedom under law, or down towards the grey logic of totalitarianism, where intimidation replaces argument and brute force sets the terms.

Everyone prefers peace. The question is how peace is kept. There is one guaranteed way to secure “peace” instantly: surrender. History’s harder lesson is that accommodation of aggressive regimes rarely buys safety. It buys the next demand.

That is why Holyrood’s latest posturing is so dispiriting. SNP and Green politicians have been eager to denounce Western action and flirt with obstructing cooperation, as if Scotland’s devolved institutions can conduct foreign policy. Instead of tangling in reserved matters, they should show moral seriousness about the regime at the centre of this crisis, and then get back to the day job of serving the Scottish people.

Iran’s ayatollah-led system has a record that is widely documented: heavy use of the death penalty; suppression of free speech and protest; systematic discrimination against women and girls; persecution of minorities; reports of torture; enforced disappearances; and cruel punishments. Those are not marginal allegations. They describe an authoritarian system. If leaders cannot say that clearly, their moral lectures ring hollow.

Some will argue restraint is always safest. Restraint matters, but it must be paired with strength, readiness and clear red lines, otherwise it becomes appeasement by another name.

If we are wrong to resist tyrannies, then we were wrong to stand with Ukraine’s right to self-determination, wrong to resist aggression in the Falklands, and wrong to confront the dictatorships Britain has faced previously.

Scotland needs fewer gestures and more competent government. A focused state should do fewer things better, keep taxes lower, and concentrate on essentials, starting with public services that work and a foreign policy grounded in clarity, not theatrics.

Alastair Majury, Dunblane, Stirling

A better death

Surely the best solution for the Assisted Dying Bill which should keep both sides (moderately) happy is to markedly expand palliative care, first with a commitment to revisit assisted dying within an agreed timespan if there is still a clamour and need for it. This is based on two issues.

Firstly, in my experience as a non-palliative care consultant for 41 years I have observed that palliative care consultants can achieve much better results in terminal patients than any other doctor. And yet palliative care is woefully short staffed and underfunded in Scotland, with three health boards not employing a single palliative care consultant.

Secondly, this would avoid the unfortunate and insoluble consequences of assisted dying, such as coercion, slippery slopes, disenfranchisement of the disabled, doctor reluctance etc.

If, after palliative care becomes optimal for all, there is still a clamour and a perceived need for assisted dying, we might have to adopt it. In the meantime we could debate how best to mitigate the unfortunate consequences mentioned above because currently, in my view, no reliable mitigations have been proposed

Allan Struthers MD, Newport on Tay, Fife

Dreadful drop-off

I dropped my brother off at Edinburgh Airport this afternoon and discovered I had to pay £6 to escape from the drop-off car park (maximum stay five minutes = £72 per hour!).

What other business has been able to ramp up prices by 500 per cent in just a few years. Only monopolies can behave like this. This is the sort of thing that the Scottish Government could be protecting us from

Jim Sutherland, Lauder, Scottish Borders

A big loss

Gloating seems to be the prevalent response to the ignominious demise of the shortlived Alba party. This, I believe, is a grave error.

The party served two very useful functions. First, it offered a common-sense voting alternative to independence supporters and the wider electorate. For example, it opposed extremist SNP policies such as the Hate Crime Act, which has criminalised private speech acts in the home. It also fought harder than any other party against the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery, which has left Scotland as the only oil-producing country without a refinery. This makes no sense militarily, economically or even environmentally.

And secondly, Alba would have aided rather than hindered the cause of Scottish independence, which has stagnated recently. List votes for Alba in the forthcoming Holyrood election could have generated a large number of additional pro-independence MSPs, because of the minority-friendly design of the electoral system. A roster of highly able candidates was ready.

In short, the Alba Party, founded by the late Alex Salmond – arguably the most inspiring Scottish political leader since William Wallace – could have become an important force in the Scottish Parliament.

Alistair Duff, Cumbernauld, Glasgow

‘Dead’ will rise

As an ex-Alba member who left the party six months ago to begin policy review and reform within the sometimes ideologically challenged “mother” party, may I thank Jill Stephenson for her kindly obituary (Letters, 10 March) and her prophetic insights into realignments in the wider Scottish autonomy movement . The “serious conversation” she anticipates regarding the “value and utility” of Holyrood is also very gracious. So far as I can see, she wishes, for whatever cobbled set of justifications, the dissolution of devolution, and her euphemistic vocabulary hides nothing.

She, naively, attempts to overstate the antipathy between ex-Alba members and the grassroots SNP membership. I have found the opposite to be the case. There are emotional factors and forgiveness that will be necessary in due course and this is, in fact, proceeding. I can reassure Ms Stephenson that the fruits of this reconciliation will result in an unstoppable reinvigoration within the broader movement of folk doggedly committed to the transformation of life in North Britain aka Scotland to an independent international entity rather than a regional colonial battery pack and the theme park for Westminster lobbyists.

May is the beginning of the end of the “Union” and the start of a “Reunion” of our British Isles on a non-colonial, non-exploitative basis to which Ms Stephenson and friends are cordially invited

(Dr) Andrew Docherty, Selkirk, Scottish Borders

Material benefits

In Edinburgh residents repeatedly note that supposed pothole repairs hardly last a few months.

This implies repeated costly repairs. Could these expenses be avoided if different materials are used, saving ratepayers not only money but also the additional damage and costs of repairs to their vehicles?

The question is, why this situation is being allowed to continue? Who is responsible for the contractors and suppliers of these clearly unsuitable materials which leave all road and pavement users at risk?

This situation is unacceptable, especially when Edinburgh hosts engineering and materials research facilities at its universities which could identify the best materials to use for sustainable repairs.

An investigation needs to be urgently commissioned by Edinburgh Council or the Scottish government to address this issue. The present situation is as unsustainable as the unrepaired potholes destroying our roads and pavements. Above all, a change not only in materials used, but also of how pothole repairs are managed is long overdue.

Elizabeth Marshall, Edinburgh

Ass-A9 claim?

Jim Fairlie, SNP politician, driving past roadworks on the A9, praised the brilliance of Minister Fiona Hyslop on X: “Heading back from Pitlochry with Minister for Victims and Community Safety Siobhan Brown from the launch of the Wildfire Action Plan and it’s great to see the A9 duelling [sic] work cracking on, well done to Fiona Hyslop for driving this forward”

Two things: first, apart from Mr Fairlie's spelling, I did not see a solitary person doing work of any kind behind the safety fence in the stretch he had recorded.

Second, even with all the praise for “cracking on”, the A9 is still many years overdue. It reminded me of the painted-on ferry windows – another sign of an SNP project where image is considered much more important than reality.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

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