SIR, – I was somewhat bemused by Peter Macari’s claim that obtaining a vaccine passport was a breeze and yet in the same newspaper on the same day the first minister was reported as needing to apologise “for the calamitous rollout of the Scottish Government’s Covid vaccine passport app while blaming it on an issue with NHS systems”.
It seems that Mr Macari is possibly too avid a supporter of the SNP Government, and they are clearly beyond valid criticism.
An objective and critical assessment suggests the first minister was entirely right to apologise. To provide access to the new app less than 12 hours before the new law took effect was somewhat foolish and shows a complete lack of forethought.
The high level of demand at the beginning was entirely predictable. The attempt to pass the buck by conveniently blaming the NHS system for not transferring the information quickly enough suggests something of a disconnect between the app providers and the NHS. Who was managing the process? The Scottish Government?
Nationalism has a grossly overblown sense of identity and self-worth. It is accompanied by an exaggerated sensitivity to perceived slights and the identification of as many suitable scapegoats as possible. Supporting the SNP without question is a typical limitation of many nationalists.
A docile Scottish media under nationalist pressure have also unwittingly bolstered SNP power and influence.
Their record in the last 14 years has been disastrous in almost all aspects of devolved government performance if people just looked.
David Philip, Knockhall Way, Newburgh.
Energy impasse must be broken
SIR, – Thank you for highlighting once again the electricity distribution surcharge suffered by the northern half of Scotland.
Ofgem have big problems just now, but it is reprehensible that they have not yet removed this burden after years of representations from the islands councils in particular. Aberdeen and Dundee are also affected but, presumably, with less than a million customers in the former Hydro Board area, we are all seen as too few and too far away to matter.
I trust that today’s Sutherland Summit may be able to break through the impasse which has gone on for far too long.
R J Ardern, Drumdevan Road, Inverness.
Costly nuclear power is unwise
SIR, – I refer to Bill Maxwell’s letter on power solutions in which he refers to the Gaia Theory author James Lovelock’s support for nuclear power.
He also suggests that the £23 billion being spent on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station “might prove a wise investment” but admits that “radioactive isotopes constitute a serious long-lasting environmental hazard”.
James Lovelock believes opposition to nuclear power is “based on irrational fear led by Hollywood-style fiction, the Green lobbies and the media”.
Investing in nuclear power is not a wise investment as the cost of nuclear power per kilowatt hour to produce electricity is three times the cost of renewables. In addition the UK Government has been attempting without success for 40 years to find a site for a GDF (Geological Disposal Facility) for the 5.1 million tonnes of nuclear waste that will be generated and will have to be stored for 100,000 years.
So nuclear power – not cheap, carbon-free or environmentally acceptable.
Tor Justad Chairperson HANT (Highlands Against Nuclear Transport), Ord Terrace, Strathpeffer, Ross-shire.