Scotsman Letters: Government must talk to fishing communities to save industry

First it was Brexit and subsequent quota giveaways to our European neighbours and now it is offshore wind farm developments which will pose a real threat to our established fishing grounds (your report, 21 August).

The industry is vital to our Island and coastal communities and provides much needed employment in these areas while providing a major boost to the Scottish economy.

The industry is certainly in crisis and it is well overdue for government ministers to sit down with these communities and the Scottish Fisherman’s Federation before we lose a vital part of our economy.

DG McIntyre, Edinburgh

Too much heat

There used to be a maxim that journalists should avoid becoming the story. But in recent weeks we have seen opinion pieces from Susan Dalgety and Jenny Lindsay where both they and the books they wrote have become the subject matter for an increasingly antagonistic “debate” on gender issues and freedom of speech.

Reasoned debate only works if you listen to your opponent’s point of view with a degree of objectivity, irrespective of how distasteful you may find the opinions expressed. When you resort to decorating any criticism with personal attacks on the author then it not only diminishes the validity of your own stance but reduces discussion to nothing more than a shouting match.

On 19 July we had Susan Dalgety referring to a “sneering” Nicola Sturgeon while this week Jenny Lindsay dismisses those with whom she disagrees as “pitchfork-wielding children” or “kids bounced on their trampoline of shrieking self-righteousness”. To that can be added JK Rowling’s profanity-laden assessment of Sturgeon in what was claimed to be a book review.

I read commentaries like that and ask myself why gender critical women and their opponents think that choosing the path of abuse somehow makes their argument more powerful. For me it does the reverse. I simply disengage from any discussion.

Ms Lindsay talks of the subsequent “psychological harms experienced by women who have opposed gender-identity ideology”. Such harm was also cited in a weekend interview with the head of the Equality Network. She campaigns on behalf of trans people and others and claimed to be “burnt out” by the sheer level of abuse she has to sustain as a consequence. Much of this she blames on the media and the language being used to stir up opposition.

In that context, is it too late to ask both sides to pause and reflect on their use of language and the damage being done as a consequence?

Robert Menzies, Falkirk

Follow the law

What kind of government do we have that refuses to adhere to the law (“Council reveals guidance on single sex spaces in schools”, 26 August)? How can we have the absurd situation where Edinburgh Council calls out the Scottish Government’s existing guidance for trans-identifying pupils as “unlawful”?

Some councils, including Edinburgh, are making changes to guidance to ensure they are not acting unlawfully as they’ve given up waiting for the SNP government to issue updates following the Supreme Court judgment in April. Other local authorities are, however, still dithering as the new term begins.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said it is committed to ensuring the guidance remains “up to date and fit for purpose”. Why not ensure that the guidance is lawful? It isn’t rocket science, but of course this has nothing to do with intelligence, it is to do with stubbornness. How can we function as a country when we have a government willing to ignore the law?

Jane Lax, Aberlour, Moray

Wasted money

Jill Stephenson (Letters, 26 August) is correct in her assertion that the SNP has produced no financial case for independence from the UK. Instead, as has been the case in the SNP’s 18 years in Government, all we get are soundbites such as “close the attainment gap”. How is that going then? Ah, but look at Ireland, the keyboard warriors say, we could be like Ireland. Yes, look at a country sustained by low corporation tax. Low tax is anathema to the SNP, as it’s not “progressive”, even if it actually raises more tax, which surely is the purpose.

Scotland is the most heavily taxed part of the UK, and even where there were opportunities, such as business rate support for hospitality, the SNP chose not to spend the allocated share of funding on hospitality – spending it instead on ferries, special advisers, vested interests and whatever whim takes their fancy.

Unfortunately, as far as hospitality goes, the UK Government is also found wanting, having raised National Insurance and destroyed tens of thousands of jobs in hospitality in Scotland. This will be compounded when the local authorities impose their draconian visitor taxes. Not at £1 per night as originally envisaged, but at 5 per cent or more, plus VAT of course. Well, it has to be “progressive”, irrespective of the damage that will be done. And do we really think this money will end up being spent on cleaning our streets, getting rid of graffiti, fixing potholes, collecting litter? Fat chance.

We need a growing economy which encourages risk-taking and entrepreneurs. A growing economy brings in more tax; people have more money to spend, and that creates more jobs.

And we can all have independence by becoming independent from the state, but the SNP seems to prefer people being absolutely reliant on the state for their income. We want more tax income to help those who need it, but that will only be created by an economy that encourages business.

We cannot tax our way out of trouble – something the SNP, Labour, and indeed, even the Conservatives have found to their cost. Whoever will save us, it won’t be the SNP, and it most certainly won’t be independence. Those who think otherwise should get on their thinking caps on and produce a financial case to prove it… and any such case should not be produced with taxpayers’ money. If the SNP want to build a case, let them do it with their own money, rather than use civil servants paid for by our taxes.

Brian Barbour, Prestonpans, East Lothian

Place of peace

The whole question of opening the Tiberias Hotel on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in 2004, was, from the beginning, controversial (your report, 26 August). The decision as to whether it should be sold, to be taken at the General Assembly in 2026, is equally so.

In multiple ways, the timing is bad, not least financially, as the loss-making venture is due to go into profit by 2028. More crucially, it will be seen by Palestinian Christians to be a betrayal.

Perhaps, most crucially of all, this potential withdrawal is planned at a time when the state of Israel is in turmoil. The Tiberias Hotel has grown, over the years, into a haven of peace and harmony for people of all faiths and of none. If this sale is for purely for financial reasons, it should not go ahead. I see parallels between the Tiberias Hotel and Iona, as a place of pilgrimage and reflection.

This sale is a betrayal of more than Palestinian Christians, to include Muslims and Jews at a perilous time for them all. Blessed indeed are the peacemakers.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Drivers ignored

So now we know! Transport Convener Councillor Stephen Jenkinson, in The Scotsman’s report “Details of planned Edinburgh tram expansion costing up to £2.9bn published” tells us “Edinburgh is the fastest growing city in Scotland with more than 60,000 new residents expected over the next 20 years”. He goes on to state “...it brings real pressure… crucially on the city's transport infrastructure on which we all rely”.

However, announcing the tramline extension consultation exercise, he utters not not one word on the growing crisis of traffic congestion on the city's bypass.

He argues that our transport network must move with the times, yet ignores the delays, pollution and congestion occurring daily as through traffic – and private and commercial vehicles – seek to negotiate their way around the city.

Traffic planners must be aware of forecast volumes over the next ten years; perhaps they could share this information with the council transport committee whose focus stubbornly remains with pedestrians, cyclists… and trams.

Derek Stevenson, Edinburgh

Send crooks back

James Watson, in his excellent letter of 26 August, says a) bring in a law that no illegal immigrants will be considered for asylum and would be instantly returned to their country of origin; and b) any asylum seekers committing a serious crime would again be instantly returned to their own country. I would go further and say that any crime should merit deportation, since we already have enough home-grown criminals and our prisons are so overcrowded that the authorities are being forced to release prisoners early, whereupon many commit more crimes.

Each prisoner costs £50,000 every year. Since Labour came to power 50,000 young men have invaded our beaches. The figure for 2025 is expected to be 85,000. What exactly are our politicians being paid large salaries to do?

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

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