We can build a better society, but not if we’re using outdated tools

Alan is wise to draw this to our attention because much of what we hear about a new social environment in the new Scotland with far greater equality, far better distribution of income, and much greater opportunities for all in our economic and social life appears to be based on the failed institutions of the present UK.

We can’t build the new Scotland with old outdated tools and equipment. The SNP leadership’s obvious difficulty in rejecting the pound sterling is one example of this. The pound sterling is linked with the US dollar as an international currency and forms part of an international financial system in the process of decline.

READ MORE: Scotland will only be a better nation if we learn from mistakes of the past

Our new Scotland needs to be tied to a declining international fiat currency like it needs to be infected by an incurable disease. Scotland is a small country with remarkably good natural resources and an educated and skilled workforce; what it needs is its own domestic currency designed specifically to meet its domestic needs and kept out of the hands of international currency speculators and corrupt international banking hands.

Scotland will have sufficient supply of the plentiful pounds sterling, dollars and euros for international trading purposes because unlike most of European countries, England and the USA, Scotland is a net exporter of goods and services, so it will not require a national debt to service or expensive loans for international banks.

A self-sufficient, self-financed small independent Scotland will need to follow a different path, it will have to leave its valuable oil and gas in the ground, but it is blessed with renewable power in abundance.

It will have to use public investment on a much larger scale than ever before to realise its full sustainable growth potential and it will need major change and development in our health and social care system.

Scotland has the people, it has the know-how, it has the natural resources to do a first-class job and build a much better society for our children. But Alan’s is right that we have to ditch the old ways and embrace the new in order to do that. Are we ready? I’m sure we are.

Andy Anderson
Saltcoats

BORIS Johnson has to resign now. He has lied constantly to the country and the Queen herself and has become a loose cannon – a complete nightmare before Christmas. This PM has broken every promise and treaty him and his elite party touch. He has to go now.

Glen Peters
Paisley

MY neighbour has just told me that he and another 40 or so people in the area held a party in my house last Christmas Eve. They had food, crisps etc, loads of booze and were in my place until 3am the following morning. I had no idea. Must have been in the bath!

Alan Woodcock
Dundee

I JUST turned my TV on and saw the tail end of First Minister’s Questions. The final question of the session was from Graham Simpson, Conservative. He asked: “Does the First Minister think it’s appropriate that the government’s active travel minister to turn up to a bike ability event for kids and not to join them in wearing a cycle helmet?”

I couldn’t believe it. Is this the best they can up with? Considering what’s happening all around us, Westminster’s shenanigans, Covid on the increase, the struggling NHS, trading difficulties, poverty etc, the Tories took an opportunity to ask such an innocuous question. The highway code already indicates it’s a matter of choice. To ensure cyclists’ safety there are far better ways. Chris Boardman, cycling Olympic gold medalist as far back as 2014, said it was a red herring. The pettiness of the few Tories is all to see. When are they going to contribute to government instead of sniping from the sidelines?

Robin MacLean
Fort Augustus

THE Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr (below) was reprimanded on Thursday by the Presiding Officer after FMQs for shouting across the chamber at the First Minister. Surely this comes under the category of bullying and aggressive behaviour?

I know the Tories are hurting over the shenanigans in Westminster but it is not an excuse – although it was interesting to hear them opine that what was going on at Westminster was “nothing to do with this place” (Holyrood). How many of us wish this were true.

Does this mean that the Tories now want independence for Scotland, or is it only independence from the Tory party in Westminster, which they know is on the skids with Boris well on his way out? I and many others would be interested to know.

Winifred McCartney
Paisley

I’M sure that Stephen Kerr’s unparliamentary behaviour after First Minister’s Questions is a symptom of a Conservative party that is in a malaise of its own making.

I’m sure that in his quiet moments of reflection, if he’s capable of that, Kerr is fed up trying to put a positive spin on the blond buffoon’s growing number of gaffes.

Beset with frustration at the growing scandal of Tory knees-ups at various London locations while the public observed strict Covid restrictions, Kerr couldn’t contain his emotions and indulged himself in an unedifying scene worthy of the floor of the House of Commons.

Kerr’s thuggish behaviour is an absolute disgrace to the dignity of our parliament and he was reminded of such by the Presiding Officer Alison Johnson.

Alexander Gordon
via email