There will be no Blackford bounce when Kate leaves politics

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.
Letters: SNP MSPs should copy the Tories and rebel against their leaders
Letters: Labour and the Tories have reduced politics to a sorry state
Letters: Edinburgh Council is wrong to re-use misleading wording on Melville plaque
Poor things
THE article on whether Ian Blackford should be a candidate for the SNP at the next Scottish Parliamentary elections ('Politics is a 'brutal' place to be, says Forbes', The Herald, August 8), makes for some serious thinking.
Not just by the SNP, but also by the Scottish electorate in general.
There is the common belief, amongst said electorate, that the large majority of the existing and potential candidates are of poor quality.
The political parties should acknowledge that they are elected for the good of every citizen, and not simply for the aggrandisement of the particular party or individual.
Such a hope may appear to be utopian, but with a little more care and attention, it is achievable.
In the specific case of the suitability of Ian Blackford, and whether or not he would fit the bill, being politically close to Stephen Flynn, the SNP's leader in the House of Commons, should not provide the casting vote when it comes to his selection.
Mike Dooley, Ayr.
Local solution
UNLIKE Irene Munro (Letters, August 7), I feel no dismay at Kate Forbes stepping back from the Scottish Parliament.
Politics might benefit from her earning a living as a local councillor, where she could better grasp the realities of local governance and the way Holyrood has drained the life from public services and local democracy.
Should she choose to return to national politics after this experience, she may be better equipped to assess the cost-benefit of top-down policies like the misguided Community Wealth Building Bill - another layer of bureaucracy and expensive officer time in public sector bodies, delivering little in local benefit.
If Kevin McKenna is correct ('The last reason to vote SNP has just walked out the door', The Herald, August 5), then perhaps we can look forward to positive change.
Unlike Irene Munro, my dismay lies in the lack of attention to detail across all levels of government, including elements of the work of Kate Forbes in her role as Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic.
When asked to consider a regulatory change for Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), she said on 24 July 2025 that: 'the management and governance of BIDs in Scotland is not a matter in which the Scottish Government can intervene.'
Yet the Scottish Government funds the Scotland's Towns Partnership (STP) to the tune of around £700k a year, and it has a key role in developing BIDs.
By way of justification, she described Scotland's BID legislation as 'the most robust' in the UK.
If by robust she means that a barber with a single chair, paying rent, electricity, water and insurance, and then £312 a year to a BID company without benefit, redress or relief is robust, then indeed the BID legislation is almost bullet proof.
Where it stands on the scale of morality and supporting community wealth building is indeed questionable.
The Scottish Government could introduce through statutory instruments a requirement that BID companies keep within levy charge guidelines, or be vetoed, and then task STP to set guidelines that recommend the industry standard of 1% to 2% like the rest of the UK.
Kate, like her predecessor Joe FitzPatrick, seems to have a blind spot on this issue, and like many others appears to have been taken in by the greater unregulated BID industry.
As a former councillor, I am confident that most businesses would engage with a fair BID, like those in Linlithgow, Stirling, or Falkirk, or indeed in the rest of the UK.
But in Scotland fairness for the least powerful is what's missing, and adds further to the cynicism of politics whoever walks out the door.
Teresa McNally, Alloa.
Fighting talk
WITH no end to the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine in sight ('US envoy Witkoff in Moscow for direct talks with Putin over Ukraine', The Herald, August 7), despite the efforts of Western governments to intervene, it is now time for the rhetoric and platitudes to end.
Russian President, Vladamir Putin, is sanctioning the daily barbarous bombing of civilian areas of a neighbouring country, resulting in the murder of innocents. This cannot be allowed to continue.
Bullies like Putin will only respond to strength, and while accession of Ukraine into NATO is off the table at present, setting an early date for its admittance is far more likely to bring about peace than the deadline set by USA president, Donald Trump, to introduce further sanctions and tariffs on Russia and its Allies. Russia claims their invasion was provoked by the imaginary threat posed by the expansion of NATO on its borders, but under no circumstances would they actually countenance extending their war if faced with the combined might of this Western Alliance.
Christopher H Jones, Giffnock.
Common sense uncommon
HOW did it come to this, that you can lose your job over pronouns, but civil servants at the HMRC can arrange a 'guilty of being British seminar' and keep theirs?
Army veteran David Toshack lost his job as a trainee custody officer in Kirkcaldy because he refuses to use the pronoun 'she' for a male to female trans person.
Really there should be an attempt at a work around or compromise in situations like this.
Using the words 'they', 'them' and 'their' might well be the answer.
Similarly, in the Sandie Peggie case it would have been far better to try to find some sort of practical solution, such as giving Dr Beth Upton her own changing room.
While Dr Upton has got to be able to change somewhere, she really should have made an effort to see Nurse Peggie's point of view.
Of course, compromise and common sense are out of the question as long as transgenderism is a protected characteristic under discrimination law.
While mountains are made out of molehills over trans issues, civil servants are free to demonstrate their hatred of Britain.
These people are employed to advance the interests of the British state and people. They cannot do this if they hate our country, its history and culture.
In a sane world, it wouldn't simply be a matter of cancelling the seminar, but of dismissing those responsible and barring them from all future employment in the public sector.
The reason we have got into this mess is that our politicians and civil servants have long since forgotten that their duty is to serve us, not to spend their time promoting revolutionary social change.
Otto Inglis, Fife.
Fast and loose with truth
AM I the only person who gets irritated when a Scottish Government spokesperson claims that they "are working at pace" to deliver some policy or other?
This statement was used by the spokesperson who explained why only 2% of buildings with Grenfell Tower type cladding had been addressed after 8 years. Clearly the opposite of "at pace".
After the Glen Rosa ferry exited dry dock for repairs and maintenance due to the age of the vessel, the spokesperson grandly told us they were working "at pace" to deliver an 8 year late vessel.
Repeated Government spokespeople tell us they are working "at pace" to cut medical waiting times.
Oh no, you are most certainly not.
I'm sure it's been used to describe progress on the A9 road, too.
Can these spin doctors please stop insulting us, the taxpayers, with this outrageous lie 'at pace".
Oh, and throw "no stone unturned" into the bin with it.
Ian McNair, Cellardyke.
Hot and bothered
AS the authoritarian ideology of net zero steers us into the stygian darkness of economic failure ('Push to net zero too slow, councils admit', The Herald, August 7) one wonders why the global warming enthusiasts never mention Earth's orbit around the Sun.
Probably because nothing can be done about that, and a lot of people would lose a good living from trying to get rid of CO2, which makes the crops and plants grow. Not a good idea really.
Plus, it also makes Britain the place to be for mad inventors and subsidy junkies.
But back to reality. There is Earth's wobble, for example, which once made a lot of Africa green. Then there is the elongation effect, caused by gravity from other celestial bodies, which produces hotter summers as we get closer to the sun, and colder winters as we get further from the sun.
Currently we are in a near-circular orbit, which yields conventional winters and summers.
CO2 doesn't have anything to do with it, but gives the global warming industry its expensive lifestyle, and the politicians something to lecture us about, to take our minds off economic failure.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinross-shire.
Demand and supply
I'M surprised that you published Neil MacKay's opinion piece ('Us vs them: why the rich like Musk and Bezos are destroying our world', The Herald, August 7), though in another way I'm glad that you have done so.
I hope that you get a great deal of response to it.
Neil's conclusion is hopeful… if our political classes can act and do so without fearing the reaction from the rich and powerful.
Do our politicians, for example, have enough power to destroy society and rebuild it how they decide it should be?
Meanwhile, I would suggest a change to Neil's concluding sentence; where he says: 'There is hope. You just have to want it."
The last sentence should perhaps read: 'You just have to demand it.'
Ian Gray, Croftamie.
Bog standard
I REFER to the correspondence concerning the desirability, or otherwise, of residing in Bearsden and / or Milngavie (Letters, August 7).
Ian W Thomson asserts that one positive of living in Milngavie is being able to make your way to the start of the West Highland Way.
This is true, but a word of warning. Before you do so, make sure that you have dealt with your toilet needs. Unbelievably, there are no public conveniences available.
Yet another own goal from East Dunbartonshire Council.
James Martin, Bearsden.
Mussels should never be missed (Image: Image: Contributed)
Mussel-ing in
I WAS very interested to read about the variety of life in one of Scotland's remotest lochs ('Divers reveal a wealth of marine life thriving in remote loch', The Herald, August 8), but astounded to see no mention of mussels, which swamped the area some 40 years ago, when I picked up a bag to take home to Beauly, where my father cooked them and served them to his bar customers, free of charge.
George F Campbell, Glasgow.