Readers' Letters: SNP 'mansion tax' would be punishing for little benefit

Why do they believe that owners of such homes are cash rich and can afford such a steep rise in Council Tax?

Why do they believe such owners would be willing to pay when the money they currently pay shows no demonstrable improvement in public or council services?

Have the SNP even considered (and almost certainly it has not crossed their minds) the impact of such a punitive Council Tax band on people’s spending priorities in other areas of the domestic economy, such as entertainment and retail?

Finally, it seems the potential revenue that might be raised will be minimal but still punishing for little or no overall benefit to anyone except the “left” of both the SNP and the Greens who will support it.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Helping ‘bairns’

John Edward, Fettes College’s new Chair of Governors, in helping us to understand the private school sector, has warned students from disadvantaged backgrounds are missing out on the private school experience due to the imposition of VAT on fees with the consequent “lack of bursaries” (your report, 4 July).

He adds that, “we like to pride ourselves on being all Jock Thomson’s bairns – so are the young people here,” and describes the educational service these schools provide as “not a luxury service”.

In the real world, though, Fettes College, with fees (from their website) for 13-18 year olds of £18,850 per term for Boarders and £15,900 per term for Day Pupils, when the average national annual full-time salary is £39,917, does not convince that the “Jock Tamson’s bairns” concept of common humanity to which John Edward alludes applies in his outline of pupil inclusivity.

But the main questions I am left with are that, if the VAT on fees is having such a detrimental effect on poorer families obtaining bursaries, why do Fettes and other schools in the independent sector not reduce costs in other areas of their service and make the overriding priority to protect the bursary provision? After all, they operate on a philanthropic basis.

And, to help John Edward to understand better the state sector, approximately £1.725 billion is raised annually in the UK from the levying of VAT on private school fees and this money is redistributed to, “address inequalities in educational funding” (GOV.UK).

Dowell Manson, Edinburgh

Disrespect

Andy Burnham has told his party's MPs that there will be no second referendum on Scottish independence. The SNP response was that he was “disrespecting Scottish democracy”.

That probably doesn't make sense to anyone who remembers that we had the largest-ever exercise in democracy in Scotland in 2014, and in that exercise, almost one quarter more Scots voted to remain British than voted to break up the UK. To emphasise the nature of that majority, in 2014 the majority was 383,937 and in the 2026 election it was 383,454, a difference of only 483 votes despite a much, much lower turn-out. That's democracy. A consistent majority for the Union.

It is the SNP which is disrespecting Scottish democracy and don't forget it.

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

OK computers?

Sandy Begbie tells Scotland's politicians to “face down the naysayers” with respect to data centres (Scotland on Sunday, 5 July). But he fails to make the distinction between the data centres which are keeping our modern economy moving, and the hyperscale AI data centres which are 20-100 times the size and are for the purposes of training and operating US Big Tech's large language model AI.

APRS have always been clear that our campaign is about a moratorium on, specifically, hyperscale AI data centres, until the Scottish government has done the necessary background research on their impact, and policies and governance have caught up with the pace of change. This is because of the sheer scale and environmental impacts: there are currently 6200MW of data centre capacity in planning or pre-planning, which would more than double Scotland's peak power demand.

They also bring extremely limited benefits, famously employing extremely few people, while profits flow to the US AI tech giants which are creating the AI that is actually reducing jobs and prosperity in our economy.

In comparison, the recent news that work has started on the UK's new national supercomputer at Edinburgh University is an example of exactly the kind of data centre development that should be celebrated. The Edinburgh supercomputer is publicly funded and will support hundreds of jobs in research and academia, and allow machine learning AI for public interest, medical, industry and curiosity-driven research. Our business leaders should be able to tell the difference between the data centres that are helpful to our economy by hosting cloud computing, driving university and medical research and our business and banking activities, and the hyperscale AI data centres. It is not a difficult distinction to make.

One can only draw the conclusion that those who are trying to conflate the data centres that keep the modern economy moving, with hyperscale AI data centres, have succumbed to the multimillion dollar lobbying of US big tech companies, or are seeing the opportunities of making a fast buck at the expense of Scotland's people and environment.

Kat Jones, Director APRS (Action to Protect Rural Scotland), Edinburgh

Take responsibility

The recent conclusion from the Treasury Committee that five million student loans were “mis-sold” is profoundly disingenuous. University students are adults of high intelligence, fully capable of evaluating their choices. Signing up for higher education is one of life’s major decisions, and these prospective graduates freely exercised their liberty to pursue degrees. To suggest they lacked the intellectual capacity to understand the contractual terms infantilises an entire generation.

Furthermore, the principle of “caveat emptor” applies. Prospective students were supplied with guidance on repayment structures. Blaming the government for subsequent financial realities ignores personal accountability. Graduates willingly chose to invest in their future earnings potential; framing a freely chosen investment as “mis-selling” undermines both freedom of choice and individual responsibility.

Doug Clark, Currie, Edinburgh

Bottom Trumps

Donald Trump’s interventions in Iran, Canada, Greenland and now attempting to give the US football team an unfair advantage in the World Cup by leaning on the FIFA supremo, the desperately sycophantic Gianni Infantino, have not exactly worked out the way he had hoped. He has caused only discord and mayhem around the world and, for the US team, humiliation against an angry Belgium.

May I suggest he intervenes for the opponents of Scotland’s next big football match? We need all the help we can get.

D Mitchell, Doune, Perthshire

Gaelic waste

May I thank Andrew Gray (Letters, 7 July) for confirming something I have long felt was at the root of language in Scotland. His statement as to why English is the primary language in the lowlands and border country explains why this intent of Gaelic being the Scottish tongue is wrong. Above the Highland Line, yes, but not below it. In my younger days, 1940-70, I could not understand why there wasn’t greater support for Gaelic, but looking at it from an historical perspective it makes sense. The finances spent on renaming everything in Gaelic in Scotland is a waste. It would be better spent concentrating it in the areas where it is natural.

Charles Lowson, Fareham, Hants

Going postal

A Royal Mail flyer proclaiming “2nd class mail is changing... to deliver a better all-round service” was delivered on 25 June. Despite the promise of 2nd class letters and cards being delivered every other weekday (which would indeed have been an improvement), mail continues to arrive in batches. This seems common across the country, with many friends recognising the pattern.

Royal Mail may have a noble desire to “offer a more reliable and sustainable service shaped around how our customers send today”. Sadly, the reality seems not to match the aspiration! Posties' jobs have changed greatly over recent years: delivery on foot, delivery with trolley, delivery in small van and now delivery in larger van as parcels are king with Royal Mail management.

Our local postie has adapted cheerfully and still gives the best possible service he can.

Moyra Forrest, Edinburgh

New ball game

Television coverage of Wimbledon this year is poor. Shots of the players in action are taken from a height and angle that includes several rows of spectators, and indeed, there are frequent and lengthy spectator close-ups.

This wider scope also makes the game distant, and the ball harder to follow.

Gone are the days when one could see the scars from operations on Billie Jean King’s right leg, and read the labels on various drinks consumed by players.

There is no longer a sense of being there.

Malcolm Parkin, Kinnesswood, Kinross-shire

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