GETTING on with the day job is a statement often used regarding our politicians and I was heartened to see the Scottish Government clearly demonstrating, in two ministerial statements this week, that it is indeed doing so.

First, we had a statement from Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman giving the Parliament updates on “delivering social security for Scotland’s people”, and the establishment of a Social Security Agency based between Dundee and Glasgow, to assist claimants with all devolved welfare powers.

It was particularly satisfying to hear her state that the Scottish Government’s intention is to establish a system in complete contrast to the merciless current one of the DWP, one which treats claimants with respect and dignity. The establishment of agencies in Dundee and Glasgow has the added bonus of the creation of 1500 jobs.

This was followed by a ministerial statement by Housing Minister Kevin Stewart on the harrowing issue of homelessness as he launched an initiative “ending homelessness together”. Stewart did give some encouraging figures that homelessness applications had reduced by a third since 2010. He went on to say that funding of £50 million over a five-year period was being made available along with other funding for addiction services to tackle this issue.

It was pointed out during the ministerial statement that benefit sanctions and the rollout of Universal Credit were exacerbating the situation for many in housing crisis. In those ministerial statements, we see a Government in Scotland tackling the issues that are at the centre of a socially just society, getting on with the day job.
Catriona C Clark
Banknock, Falkirk

LIKE Hamish MacPherson, I well remember the launching of the last great liner on the Clyde (Skills of the Clyde embodied by the world’s finest liner, The National, September 19).

I was living in Peterhead at the time, and was awaiting the occasion eagerly; my pride and enthusiasm and that of many of my friends and associates were turned to dust when the name was revealed. A magnificent achievement was forever ruined, in Scottish eyes, by naming her Queen Elizabeth II, a flagrant disregard for our national sensitivity.

I cannot recall that song by Matt McGinn, but I do recall another one: “How can there be Elizabeth the Twa, when the first has never been.”

This dismissal of Scottish history helped Winnie Ewing win Hamilton in November that year; the ship was always called the QE2.
Jim Lynch
Edinburgh

IT is a great pity that MSP Andy Wightman and the Green Party are losing their radical edge for land reform in the announcement of a proposed tax on vacant land.

That 13,000 hectares of vacant land can only raise £200 million a year shows a distinct lack of ambition when the same ground could raise £2 billion a year for the public purse and on which more than 350,000 homes could be built.

May I suggest that Andy recovers his radicalism by joining the SNP, where a growing number of members, fortified by our Spring Conference vote, are developing a policy of Annual Ground Rent charged per square metre on land and floorspace which will deliver a transformation of the stewardship of land and its position as the principal source of our public funds.
Graeme McCormick
Arden, Loch Lomond

GEORGE M Mitchell is absolutely right to express his fears over the Brexit threat to the Scottish farming industry (Letters, The National, September 19).

It’s not too difficult to look ahead and see a huge trend of farms being shut down and/or being sold off at knock-down prices to be used for other purposes. Traditional ways of rural life will change and the landscape will never be the same again in many areas. The rich will expand their shooting parties and unscrupulous developers take over.

Farmers who can now see this future have to let it be known to their friends, industry representatives and politicians that they will vote Yes in the next referendum. Independence is the only way to save the farming industry from the jaws of Westminster politics.
Dennis White
Blackwood, Lanark