SO there we have it. Apparently, independence supporters are just a bunch of “separatists” who should be “faced down”. And, clearly, it doesn’t matter what the Supreme Court decides and however Scots vote, the British establishment has no intention whatsoever of relinquishing its hold on Scotland? And why should they?
The fact is that England needs Scotland and her people. Among so many other things, they need us for our wind and tidal power, our gas and oil, our water, our whisky, our food, our deep-water lochs for their obscene weapons of mass destruction and our young folk as cannon fodder for their illegal wars. Let’s face it, they simply cannot afford to let us go. So, they won’t.
There’s no point in appealing to their sense of democracy, because they simply don’t believe in “rule by the people”. They believe in aristocracy, “rule by the highest class in society, the nobility, the wealthy, the privileged and the powerful” – in short, them.
Surely it’s beyond time that the Scottish Government seriously considers some alternative strategy to this meek, craven, continual begging to be permitted to secede from the UK. Maybe our elected representatives should consider a programme of sustained defiance to Westminster by, for example, hindering or even stopping the nuclear convoys from crossing the border, refusing to assist immigration officers from serving detention orders, anything that annoys or frustrates our colonial masters in Whitehall. Is it not time to get off our knees and show some resolve?
Duncan Henderson
Glasgow
All Yes groups need to be aware that the UK Government is introducing a new requirement for voters at the next UK General Election to show photographic ID when they vote at in person. This new requirement won’t apply at Scottish Parliament and council elections.
The UK Government claims that 96% of people in Great Britain hold some form of recognisable photo ID, with passports (91%) and driving licences (81%) being the most commonly held forms. However, some groups have been identified as less likely to hold a form of ID: those over 85, trans and non-binary people, disabled people, some ethnic groups such as people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, homeless people and those in refuges.
A new form of identification, the Voter Authority Certificate, will be introduced as a form of ID available to those who do not have another form of eligible ID.The new requirement will be in place for the first time at the English local elections in May 2023.
If the next UK General Election becomes a proxy vote on independence, then all campaigning groups need to ensure that their supporters have a valid photographic ID and know to take it to the polling station.
Ian Richmond
Springfield
IT took three years to get nuclear fission going as a working reactor and 12 years after World War Two Second World War, the first commercial power plant began operating. Fusion is taking how long? 60 years and counting. Maybe North Ayrshire should not be too disappointed that Rees-Mogg chose Nottinghamshire.
Fusion has problems with electricity consumption, loss of tritium fuel and excessive cooling demands to name only a few of its issues. There’s a dual meaning for “fusion power”. Does it relate to the heat produced or the electricity? And the oft-quoted figures are misleading – 500 megawatts of power from an input of 50 refers to the
heat measurement. It ignores all
the power required for cryostat, vacuum pumps, heating of
buildings, ventilation and cooling – all of which must be maintained, regardless of whether the plant is operating or going through a maintenance process.
Do we really want tritium from the heavy water in Canadian or South Korean power plants? How would it get here? Can the operators guarantee there will be no leakage of tritium into the environment via cooling water? (Wikipedia tells me the quantities of Tritium already released into the Irish Sea, but maybe that’s not a reliable source.)
Is it too soon to ask about decommissioning costs and remind ourselves about the robot scavenging radioactive particles underwater at Dounreay, or has the Government learned its lesson on nuclear safety?
Instead of the quest for more, why not invest in saving electricity with better insulation for buildings and improved battery storage?
Jane Guz
Dundee
There's one thing wrong with your story of September 30 headlined “Designer chosen for low-carbon hydrogen plant project”. The plant described is supposed to be low-carbon because its carbon emissions are captured for storage under the North Sea. This does not work now, has never been shown to work at any significant scale, and is not guaranteed ever to work. It’s disturbing to see apparently both The National and the Net Zero Secretary Michael Matheson taken in by a fossil-fuel company whose claim to a low-carbon project rests entirely on unproven technology.
Hydrogen can be made without using fossil fuels at all – what is known as green hydrogen. Using fossil fuel is totally unnecessary.
If people believe that carbon capture and storage can work, then it allows the fossil fuel companies to continue to trash our planet and our grandchildrens’ lives.
Eileen Duke
Glasgow
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