Sir, – Once again the SNP want another referendum.
Sadly, the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has picked the wrong time to waste taxpayers’ cash in order to gain independence from the UK. At the present time many countries are having major problems and Covid has not gone away.
It would be better for the SNP to stop wasting cash on businesses that are not viable or profitable. We all had our say in the last referendum and, sadly for the SNP, the answer is still No.
Gavin Elder, Prunier Drive, Peterhead.
GPs didn’t retreat in face of Covid
Sir, – I would like to comment upon David Knight’s editorial from the June 12 and specifically his statement that GPs “retreated behind the barricades when Covid swooped in and are still in defensive mode, even though pandemic restrictions eased all around them”.
Throughout the pandemic, GPs and their teams have worked tirelessly to support their patients through what has been, and in many ways still is, a very challenging period.
Changes to general practice, including the expansion of online and telephone consultations as noted in Mr Knight’s editorial, have not been a “retreat behind the barricades” but rather a necessary transformation to ensure GPs are able to treat patients in a safe and sustainable manner.
The truth is that GPs have not shirked from patient care and do not have any desire to do so. The underlying issue is that the GP workforce is simply not big enough to meet the demands of a growing and ageing population, and GPs were already working beyond full capacity even before the pandemic.
A survey of GPs in Scotland carried out by RCGP Scotland earlier this year has shown that over 65% of GPs have stated that they are currently working at over 110% capacity, and only 28% are working broadly in line with their contracted hours.
In addition, 64% of GPs don’t have time to take a break of 10 minutes or more every day. Like many of our patients, we are also hugely frustrated by the pressures that general practice is currently facing and look forward to a time when we are able to offer our patients 15-minute appointments as standard, and consultations in a format that works for them as an individual.
This is the gold standard of general practice. However, to get to this point, urgent action is needed to boost the GP workforce. As a local GP, I would like to thank patients for their understanding during what has been an incredibly difficult time for general practice and indeed the entire NHS.
I’d like to reassure you that while the method of consultations may have changed, GPs have not and will not ever retreat from our duty to treat patients in an effective and suitable manner.
Dr Chris Provan Chair, Royal College of GPs, north-east Scotland faculty.
Criticising PM is not a career choice
Sir, – Either inadvertently or deliberately, Galen Milne’s response to my letter misses its central point about the widening gulf between politicians and those they purport to represent.
In doing so, he employs the typical politician technique of cherry picking some details used in support of the main argument and arguing against them as if they were central – much like arguing that the PM had been attacked by a birthday cake rather than having misled Parliament.
I attributed the apparent inconsistency of Lib Dems in allying with Tories in the Shire and SNP in the City as being motivated at least as much a desire to maximise power of particular groups as a real will to represent the best interests of the electorate.
Milne’s contention that Independents have no apparent party allegiance is disingenuous – some may indeed have none but at least one was the last leader of the Tory group on Aberdeenshire Council.
I notice that in the last week, Tory Leaders in both City and Shire have refused to express any view whatever about their confidence [or lack thereof] in the Prime Minister. Apparently, choosing between defending the indefensible or risking career advancement is too much to ask of people who stood and were elected on a specific party ticket.
That’s a further example of the type of behaviour I believe alienates voters and erodes local democracy. Mr Milne concludes, rather condescendingly, with the snide suggestion that I stand for election. I’m nearer 80 than 70 and far too old and arthritic to manage to face in two different directions at once in order to master the “grown up pragmatic co-operation” that he advocates.
Colin Keenan, Cowieson Crescent, Pitmedden, Ellon.
Water vapour talk is just hot air
Sir, – Your correspondent Charles Wardrop suggests that water vapour in the atmosphere is the cause of climate change. This is one of the distractions that climate deniers promote because it sounds plausible.
But it’s not accepted science. Climate Change used to be called Global Warming which is a better description of what happens. Due to the release of vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through burning oil, gas, coal and biomass, the sun’s energy is being trapped in our atmosphere instead of being released back into space.
This trapped heat energy is dramatically warming our planet and causing catastrophic effects such as heatwaves, hurricanes, forest fires and heavy flooding. Referring back to Mr Wardrop’s point, the warmed atmosphere also draws more water vapour from the oceans into our weather systems.
This explains, for example, the torrential downpours which we often experience nowadays. To reiterate: increased carbon dioxide is one of the root causes of climate change; increased water vapour is one of the knock-on effects.
Jeff Rogers, Waters of Feugh, Banchory.
Don’t be fooled by petroleum con
Sir, – The quintet of former ministers who’ve colluded with the clueless Offshore Energies to prolong the petroleum con in the wake of all things cost of living, Brexit and Ukraine show that old dogs cannot be taught new tricks.
For them, their ignorance is bliss. All the better to pretend the global environmental catastrophe isn’t a real thing or the words of Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary General, who knows the scale of delusional foot-dragging going on in the wake of the illegal war against Ukraine isn’t true.
They may also be ignorant of sea bird and wider bird population loss and have not a care for anyone trapped by the ludicrous fuel costs at the heart of the post-pandemic plight many people now face.
What they probably have not yet realised is that it is the oil economy that’s best scheduled for an extinction level event if human beings are to survive what’s yet to come.
Ian Beattie, Baker Street, Rosemount, Aberdeen.
Floodgates are open
Sir, – As the train drivers have now accepted a 5% increase this will be taken as the target for negotiations for the unions as a minimum target to avoid strike action.
The Scottish Government policy on pay restraint has now been blown out of the window as local authority workers, teachers, police will not accept less with inflation running at nearly 10%.
It could be a summer of industrial discontent and will test the SNP-Green coalition to their limits.
Dennis F Grattan, Bucksburn
A question of personal taste
Sir, – “Cum pan”(come on). Ainsley Harriott, UK born, with Jamaican heritage, came to Footdee and commented on our humble buttery by stating “you might as well just slap them on your thighs, that’s where it’s all ending up” (EE, June 7). Well, Ainsley, is Jamaican food delightful? Cow cod soup (bull’s penis), light (lungs), mannish water (goat entrails, head and feet), chicken feet, cow and pigs trotters, to name but a few.
My reaction would be to throw up in the gutter – that’s where it’ll end up.
T Shirron, Davidson Drive, Aberdeen
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