Readers' letters: Forget listening, Daniel, it’s time to act

No wonder Daniel Johnson is so ineffective. His advice on how to address catastrophic climate change is for Scotland to listen to the rest of the world (News, October 18).

Our independent Nordic neighbours, Denmark and Norway, have successfully moved away from fossil fuels to renewables, not by listening but acting.

Unlike the UK, Norway didn’t squander its vast oil wealth on tax cuts to Big Oil nor did it sell off its state-owned energy company. As a result, it has generated £386 billion more than the UK in tax revenues since the onset of oil and gas production and has wisely invested in renewable energy capacity.

For decades, Denmark has invested in green energy and leads in solar, wind and biomass technology, which supplies two-thirds of its electricity. It’s a leading exporter of that technology, a position Scotland should enjoy had it the powers of an independent nation.

May I remind Daniel that thinking about what happens in Scotland is his job. And what’s happening is the UK government is undermining our Parliament, taking a wrecking ball to our export industries, underinvesting in our people and economy, using our land to store its nuclear weapons, while continuing to exploit and squander our natural resources.

With the number of our MPs set to shrink to 57 while England’s swell to 543, our marginalisation within this Union will worsen.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.

Why Scotland is losing out on happiness

We learn that for the third year in a row, Scotland is the least happy place to live in the UK. We should not be surprised to learn that many SNP politicians took to social media to advise us that this is because we are not an independent country.

These politicians can’t see or won’t acknowledge that it is within their power to make our lives better. They have powers as the governing party of the last 14 years to make an impact on the education system, the health service, our care system and drug deaths, to name but a few issues that are impacting on our lives.

One has to ask how long the electorate will continue to vote for SNP politicians who constantly point to the rainbow in the distance which can only be reached through independence.

To quote Eldridge Cleaver “If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem”. I think it is clear that the unhappiness Scotland is suffering is due to a governing party failing to make our lot better.

Jane Lax, Aberlour.

Did Brexit cause hardship in US?

I have read several letters in these pages recently on how damaging Brexit has been to our economy.

Brexit apparently is directly responsible (among other things) for empty shelves in supermarkets (putting Christmas at risk), fuel shortages, shortage of HGV drivers, hospitality workers, care workers and also rampant inflation.

I watched CNN news over the weekend and it turns out the USA is experiencing almost identical problems to us with the exception of the fuel shortage.

They have millions of tons of goods stuck in ports with nobody to move them, hospitality businesses closing or reducing operations due to lack of staff, empty supermarket shelves, rampant inflation.

Could this be Brexit affecting the USA as well? Seems unlikely when you consider the USA have never been in the EU.

It’s just possible that Brexit isn’t the reason for all our ills here in Scotland and the answer lies closer to home I suspect, starting with this SNP/Greens government and their highly paid spin doctors.

David Smith, Prestonpans.