Letters to The National, October 26: Climate change is real and dangerous

It is ironic that he cites energy costs as the reason for Tata closing their steel plants in Scotland during the week when the UK Government is in the process of destroying the renewable energy sector, which employs 10 times as many people.

The perverse policy of the Tories to start levying a climate charge on green energy while removing the subsidies that are enabling the industry to grow will have the effect of further increasing bills for consumers and industry while causing Scotland and the rest of the UK to miss the carbon reduction targets we signed up for.

Were politicians truly captured by the green lobby, as Sillars feverishly imagines, we would be enforcing building standards that reduce heating costs for everyone, providing cheap, green energy and doing our part as global citizens to reduce the burden of climate change on the world’s poorest. The sad reality is that many of the least politically stable and poorest countries in the world are those that will be affected most by climate change. The civil war in Syria was in part triggered by a five-year drought, something that will become more frequent as climate change worsens. If we want to avoid the recurring human tragedies of drowning migrants; if we want to invest in sustainable and high-quality jobs; and if we want to keep Scottish industries alive, then we must not give in to the delusion that global warming is a delusion.

John Chivall
Glasgow

WHEN Jim Sillars recommends that we look at “the recent resignation latter from the American Physics Society of Emeritus Professor Hal Lewis”, he is using a very unusual definition of the word “recent”.

Hal Lewis, who died in 2011, wrote his letter in 2010. His accusations were disputed by the APS (the P in fact stands for Physical, not Physics), and he went on to join the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a “think tank” associated with Nigel Lawson among others, which has been heavily criticised for refusing to reveal its funding sources. The lobbying and scamming may not be located where Jim thinks they are.

S Fisk
East Ayrshire

No chance now for The Vow’s revival

PASSING Evel was the Tories’ fatal blow against Labour in a clever game of thrones spanning from “The Vow” until now. One could almost admire it were these party tricks not at the expense of the real issues of the country.

The Tories, effectively unaccountable to the Scottish electorate should The Vow falter, quickly disbanded the Three Amigos when David Cameron nailed Evel (which Labs and LibDems could not support) to The Vow on the morning of the referendum result. Grand promises evaporated, Westminster was punished the only way possible – evictions in the general election, and once the Tories’ opponents were ousted from their Scottish seats, any possible revival was rendered largely impotent with Evel.

It has never been about powers for Scotland, nor about fairness for England, it was simply a game of thrones in which the Kingdoms mattered not.

A Stagg
Isle of Jura

EYEMOUTH is situated in Berwickshire, just a few miles north of Berwick which, since late August in 1482, has lain in England. Just a blink of an eye really. For air travel, residents of both presumably look to both Edinburgh and Newcastle airports; they are both between 60 to 75 miles distant with decent, if not very modern, road and rail links. The residents of both towns have an equal interest in the future development of London airports because of the knock-on effect on business or personal travel south.

Is it in any way reasonable that the MP representing Berwick should have full voting rights in the UK Parliament on Gatwick or Heathrow expansion and the MP for Eyemouth in Berwickshire should not? The West Lothian question raised the spectre of a democratic imbalance detrimental to English voters. I can accept that argument in full but the solution which has been put in place, Evel, now results in an equal unfairness.

Of course, the argument does not apply only to Eyemouth but to all Scots air travellers from Stranraer to Shetland, and it applies to many if not all issues where Evel is used by Westminster – for example, issues relating to the health service or provisions for universities. I believe that the adoption of Evel is going to be completely unacceptable on a large variety of issues and my personal desire for full independence has strengthened considerably as a result.

Put in its most simple terms, a perceived anti-English consequence of devolution has been replaced by an anti-Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish measure. Such rank and clumsy incompetence and blatant disregard for the views of the people and representatives of the UK countries with devolved administrations will, I believe, create much resentment in the months and years to come, even if there was a genuine need for some action over the original problem. Sadly, one grievance has simply been replaced by another.

David Crines
Hamilton

TAXES are not hypothecated. This means there is no way that parliament can ensure that no Scottish tax revenues will be used on “English-only” affairs.

This, in turn, for the Scots, means taxation without representation.

A quick glance back will tell you that the USA took umbrage at that arrangement and took momentous steps to correct the matter, so need I remind you of the huge contributions Scotland will make to both the London-to-Birmingham fast rail and to the obscene Trident replacement if we don’t have independence soon?

The first we’ll not be allowed to vote on and the second we’ll be against but, for different reasons, they’ll both be Evel!

Christopher Bruce
Taynuilt

IT was thought for a while there that David Cameron had endangered his cover as a sleeper agent for the ‘’Scottish Planning Executive Committee for Tartan Revolution in England’’ (SPECTRE).

His introduction of Evel was thought to have drawn too much attention to his motives for such an unnecessary yet emotive piece of legislation. It was feared by the SPECTRE hierarchy that such a transparently divisive issue, so obviously intended to alienate Scottish voters, would be seen through for the Trojan Horse it was, but so far it has been swallowed by English MPs and the media .

Agent Number 2, Lord Ashcroft, tried to deflect attention away from Cameron’s faux pas over Evel with his ingenious ‘’Piggate’’ scandal and it appeared to distract the media for a time.

Even the rebranding of the ‘Scottish Office’ as ‘’The UK Government in Scotland’’ was also a touch cack-handed, but this also seems to have been missed by the myopic Unionist press, who fail to see the calculated long-term effects.

At first, agent Cameron’s handlers at SPECTRE HQ thought that retaining the name Cameron was a little too obvious, but hiding in plain sight seems to have worked. As it has for Agent Number 7, Kelvin MacKenzie, whose every anti-Scottish utterance is having a telling effect on polling numbers.

While Cameron has had his successes in increasing the prospects for Scottish independence, the long-term view is that when Agent Number 3, Boris, attains the premiership, victory is assured.

James Mills
Johnstone

WHAT an excellent article by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp (Promoting cycling is a win-win for our cities, The National, October 23). We in GoBike! The Strathclyde Cycling Campaign are delighted that he enjoys his commute by bike and that he argues so sensibly and persuasively about what needs to be done to encourage more cycling.

GoBike has been campaigning for some time now to improve things in Glasgow and the West of Scotland, but as Gordon points out, there is some way to go. We are now actively working towards the Scottish elections next May (and the council elections the year after) to make politicians and the public aware of the need to invest in active travel under the Scotland-wide banner of “We Walk, We Cycle, We Vote”.

In Glasgow we have two public meetings planned; the first on November 18 with leading speakers from Sustrans and Pedal on Parliament and the second, a hustings, on March 16 2016, with two leading MSPs and one prospective MSP already confirmed. Details are on our website: www.gobike.org

Tricia Fort
Convenor, GoBike! The Strathclyde Cycle Campaign

ALLAN Martin states that “winter deaths is a complex issue to solve” (Letters, October 23). This is true and many people will not take up government offers of insulation and draught-reduction measures. The problem will not be solved easily nor quickly. Nevertheless there are things which could be started.

Building regulations should be amended immediately so that all new housing being built must comply with insulation and draught-proofing measures before they are passed.

The buildings planned to replace the Red Road flats would be a good start.

Similarly when council-owned housing is being repaired or renovated it must be upgraded to the top standard before it returns to occupation.

It is obviously impossible to make effective thermal changes to all the houses occupied by the elderly in one winter, but unless things are started they will never get done. Also if some elderly experience the improvement it might stimulate others to follow suit.

With regard to privately let properties, it should be possible for the Scottish Parliament to produce legislation to compel private landlords to have their property assessed by a competent inspector before being allowed to continue renting any properties. This could also help to expose “shark” landlords.

If we don’t start making the necessary thermal changes in houses where the resident is willing to change, the winter death rate will never fall.

Evan Lloyd
Edinburgh