Readers' letters: Greens are no threat to sensible government

"The Greens are a moderate left-leaning party who obtained eight per cent of the regional vote”

Scottish Green Party co-leaders Patrick Harvie (left) and Lorna Slater (right) and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (centre) in the main chamber of the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, as the Scottish Green Party co-leaders are formally appointed as junior ministers. Picture date: Tuesday August 31, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Scotland. Photo credit should read: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Greens no threat to sensible government

The Greens joining government with the SNP has been likened to an extremist Taliban takeover rather than the accommodation of one of the significant minor parties into a co-operative democratic political model.

Claims that the Greens are anti-business, anti-personal freedom, anti-economy (what does that even mean?) and “aim to close down scotland’s industries in their entirety” are, of course, unsubstantiated with anything approaching facts.

The Greens are a moderate left-leaning party who obtained eight per cent of the regional vote and follow an environmental agenda which science, politicians and the world in general are accepting is a sensible and indeed essential direction of travel.

I accept that there are those who disagree with the need to act decisively on environmental issues. However, when the majority accept the need for these actions they should be allowed to proceed.

There are those who may hate this, but that is the way democracy works. I believe history will judge who is on the right side of this debate and I don’t believe it will be the naysayers and climate change deniers.

David Morris, Dalkeith.

Time for GPs to see patients in person

I see that GPs do not want to go back to the "old" system of seeing patients face to face (News, August 26).

They want to continue with the present system of speaking to patients over the telephone.

I personally think this is totally unacceptable, as often you simply need to see a doctor face to face rather than trying to explain your problems remotely.

Will GPs be happy to accept lower salaries as they are certainly not fulfilling their contracts?

How is it that we can visit dentists, chiropodists, hairdressers etc for face to face appointments yet not our doctors?

Sylvia Wilson, Maxwell Street, Edinburgh.

New Ian Rankins are harder to find

The crime novelist Ian Rankin tells us that it is now harder than it was for him in the 1970s and 1980s for ‘working-class kids’ to progress from school to university and then into ‘creative industries’.

A major reason for this is that many children do not receive the kind of primary schooling that equips them to succeed. A quarter leave primary school without adequate literacy and numeracy skills. I think we can be sure that the level is higher among children from schools in poorer areas.

It is a damning indictment of the SNP administration that with powers over education fully devolved, this level of inadequate schooling persists.

Some 80 per cent of prison inmates in Scotland are illiterate - many no doubt frustrated by a world of written communication.

Why is the money that is poured into SNP vanity projects, SPADs, secessionist plotting and encroachment on reserved issues not spent on ensuring that all our children emerge from primary school with the basic skills that fit them for further learning and a fulfilling adult life?

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

Fuel for thought

Because the new regular E10 petrol will damage the engines of my mower, strimmer and pressure washer, I have had to buy premium E5 petrol for these machines. The extra cost for just five litres is 90p.

Of course, the E10 petrol with 10 per cent bio-ethanol will not do any good, because the Chinese, the Indians and others are rapidly increasing the amounts of coal and oil they burn.

Otto Inglis, Crossgates, Fife.