ANDREW Bowie, undersecretary for nuclear, is pushing expensive and dangerous nuclear power onto energy-rich Scotland. That’s insane.

Nuclear power has consistently failed to deliver energy on time or on budget. The much-touted Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) don’t yet exist, are heavily dependent on government subsidies to come on stream and will generate more toxic nuclear waste for which there is no safe disposal.

Unlike renewables, where costs are falling, nuclear costs keep climbing. The UK Government has flung billions at Hinkley Point C, guaranteeing £92.50 per MW hour over the next 35 years, twice as much as is guaranteed for wind. When finished, Hinkley Point C will be one of the most expensive power stations in the world. And Scottish households will pay £80 a year for nuclear on top of already exorbitant energy bills.

READ MORE: Scotland's nuclear power ban close to 'criminal negligence', claims Tory minister

Energy expert Prof MV Ramana wrote that nuclear isn’t viable because it’s uneconomic. Private industry won’t risk investing in these projects. For the same reason, nuclear decommissioning and waste disposal costs are also underwritten by the government.

Scotland is self-sufficient in renewables and produces most of the UK’s oil and gas. We don’t need nuclear. We do need a public energy company that serves Scotland. Private companies and foreign governments own our energy, which is why the Scottish people don’t benefit. We also need a public energy grid. The privatised National Grid charges Scottish companies ten times more than English companies. Scotland is subsidising the rest of the UK, paying more to provide it with our renewable energy and then more to buy some of our own power back.

To end the insanity and control our energy future, we must end the Union.

Leah Gunn Barrett
Edinburgh

HENRY Kissinger, one of the most vile, bloodthirsty war criminals of the 20th century, is dead. Good riddance. Kissinger was a liar, a murderer and a genocidal maniac. For someone like him it’s is a shame hell does not exist. Kissinger would have been a strong candidate to spend eternity there.

The corrupt media are sanitising Kissinger’s legacy. Kissinger began his political career helping Nixon to sabotage the Vietnam war peace talks. These could have ended the war in 1968.

READ MORE: Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger dies aged 100

Kissinger used a back channel to encourage the government of South Vietnam to reject any deal, promising them something better from an incoming Nixon administration. Four years later exactly the same deal was signed and Kissinger had the cheek to be awarded the Nobel “Peace” prize. During that period some two million people died in the war, all due to Kissinger’s political expediency.

During that conflict Kissinger and Nixon conspired to illegally bomb Cambodia. All this was without Congressional authorisation. Kissinger dropped the equivalent of five Hiroshima bombs on an agrarian society. Such was the devastation, it gave rise to the Khmer Rouge.

Kissinger instigated a coup against the democratically elected government of Chile. He organised the overthrow of President Allende. All in secret and simply because he did not like the choice of the Chilean people. The coup lead to the murders of some 4000 people and the torture of tens of thousands.

Kissinger was also responsible for massacres in Cyprus, Bangladesh and East Timor.

Kissinger’s acolytes include Tony Blair and Hilary Clinton. Kissinger should not be romanticised or praised. That he didn’t meet justice for his crimes during his lifetime is a scathing indictment of the so-called international justice system.

Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

THE world’s media will no doubt be marking Henry Kissinger’s death in tones of solemn respect. It’s just too bad Christopher Hitchens didn’t live to see it, as he was relentless in reminding people of Kissinger’s responsibility for crimes against humanity in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Chile.

Indeed in circumstances which appear worryingly parallel to today’s situation in Gaza, Kissinger ignored his National Security Council deputy Viron Vaky who argued that overthrowing the Chilean government of Salvador Allende would be “patently a violation of our own principles”. He also apologised to Pinochet’s foreign minister about human rights being on the agenda of a meeting, saying that the State Department was full of people with a vocation for the ministry but “there were not enough churches for them so they all joined the State Department.”

READ MORE: Tony Blair hails Henry Kissinger as 'artist' in tribute to former US diplomat

This contempt for human rights and genuine diplomacy is all too evident in the way “the West” conducts itself today.

In an independent Scotland we could revive the idea of an ethical foreign policy as the late, great Robin Cook once attempted to introduce in the early days of “New” Labour. Sadly the spirit of Kissinger lives on in the behaviour of Biden, Blinken and wannabe Blair.

Marjorie Ellis Thompson
Edinburgh

LESLEY Riddoch’s film on Denmark is indeed a revelation. Having visited the Nordic countries, for me Denmark, with none of the assets of Norway, consistently stands out.

Along with other small successful independent nations, similar in size to Scotland, Denmark regularly tops the global happiness index. A tolerant and friendly people, the Danes live in a mostly fair and contented society. As one of the least corrupt counties in the world, it has rates of violent crime among the lowest on the planet.

In truth compared to imperial Great Britain, Denmark is a virtual paradise!

Grant Frazer
Newtonmore