I WOULD like to thank Andrew Wilson for the article which was published in the Sunday National in which he explained some details concerning the preparatory work and motivation for producing his report on “Sustainable Growth”.
I think I now understand why he was so cautious about the introduction of a new Scottish currency … but I have to say, that as I read that article I also grew increasingly anxious.
He told us about how he had selected a group of financial experts to help him with that work – all of them experts in traditional financial arrangements, which included an expectation of further developing North Sea oil – but where, I wondered, were the experts on global climate change?
READ MORE: Andrew Wilson: Growth Commission is still relevant to Scottish independence four years on
That ongoing issue is probably the most important and urgent problem facing us with respect to national financial systems. Quite simply, it changes the rules of this game completely, and changes the kind of expertise that we desperately and urgently require.
I have a vision of Andrew turning up as the leader of a team of heavyweight wrestlers at some future Olympic Games, only to discover that the anticipated wrestling event had been eliminated from the games programme, and that they are all now expected to compete in the pole-vault or a long-distance cross-country ski race. Wrong shape and size, and completely the wrong expertise.
The contextual circumstances of Scotland’s future finance prospects have also changed in other ways as well. There is now a desperate need to do away with the need to to import Russian fossil fuels. But Scotland is sitting on a huge potential source of renewable energy. I anticipate that if that resource is properly handled, European countries (particularly Germany) would be willing to finance undersea cables which could go a considerable way to meeting that requirement, and as quickly as possible.
READ MORE: Scotland's new White Paper must do more to involve other parties
No need to wait until we are an independent EU member state. Just ask them if they (the Germans) would like to build and pay for the appropriate cable connections.
Other countries might also want a piece of that action. If we could nationalise Scotrail, we might be able to swing that one too. Set up a new Scottish company to put that in hand (and nationalise it when we become independent). I do not see why that could not also be a newly developed system, which did not supply its output to the UK National Grid. And even if Westminster finds a way to block or delay the idea, the furore the idea would create would help to drive home the message that exploiting our renewables wealth might not be too difficult or too expensive.
Forget the traditional ways of doing things. Break the leg-chains.
Hugh Noble
Appin
FRANK Wood (Letters, May 23) writes to complain about the lack of success of the SNP voting instructions in the recent council elections. He misses the point of the instructions.
The election results produced the results that the SNP hierarchy wanted, a partial success and a built-in excuse for 2023.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer should rule out indyref2 and working with SNP, Labour veterans say
The results mean that come next year they can use the Unionist council coalitions as the reason for not holding a referendum on independence.
They can sit back in their comfy seats and say the 2024 elections will deliver a referendum/independence until another “reason “ is found for postponing the much-promised happening.
How long can this treatment of voters go on for before the independence vote collapses in apathetic indifference? It’s time to stop playing “Grand Old Duke of York” with voters/supporters.
Drew Reid
Falkirk
FRANK Wood reiterates an obvious issue with voting for local councils. Yes, your first votes should be for the party you want, and once those have been used up, you should then use your remaining votes against those you do not want elected!
Not using a vote is a waste You should only not use the leftover votes if you cannot stomach the remaining candidates. The only time you only vote for one party is when they have a candidate for each of the available seats. Therefore it is also prudent for the party to put up sufficient candidates to take all their supporters’ votes. Yes, there will be additional costs involved but how else can a majority be gained in a system that is set up to make that very difficult?
Nick Cole
Meigle, Perthshire
SMACK in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, when inflation has hit a 40-year high, when energy costs are out of control and households are in crisis, what do we hear? We hear that one household need not worry – 11 Downing Street!
READ MORE: Labour accuses Rishi Sunak of using UK taxpayer cash to bolster public image
That is because the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and his wife have for the first time entered the Sunday Times rich list, in at number 222 with wealth of £730m, quite mind-boggling in the midst of such a crisis and surely clear evidence if that were needed that the Conservatives in government simply cannot empathise with reality.
Catriona C Clark
Falkirk
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