I READ with interest your bit regarding the proposed plans put forward by the Government’s Roseanna Cunningham (Climate plan aims to cut car journeys by one-fifth – December 17), and while these

are desirable, and even necessary, aims to pursue, a few things which are hugely relevant have to be borne in mind.

Firstly is the fact that a huge part of Scotland’s success story revolves around our tourist industry. Without which our future would be very bleak indeed, just see the effects that Covid has had over the past year. We are a widely spaced-out country and motoring around is basically the only way our visitors from all around the world can enjoy it. The recently promoted NC500 route emphasises this.

The other modern enthusiasm is the rush to all electric vehicles. The reality is that only a very small percentage of the population of rural Scotland has any hope of being able to afford such a vehicle.

In worldwide terms there is also another consideration. My own particular car is 34-years-old, and while a new vehicle would use a little less fuel and therefore produce less emissions, it would take about 10 years for these emissions to break even with the quantity produced just to manufacture the new vehicle and transport it half way around the world for sale here.

A final thought, if one gets stuck late at night in a serious snow blizzard and is forced to remain in the vehicle overnight, how do you keep hypothermia at bay without incapacitating the ability of an all-electric vehicle to move itself?
George M Mitchell
Dunblane

SO Housing Minister Kevin Stewart has got round to apologising 57 days after the issue of homes in Scotland having to be fitted with a plethora of new alarms was first aired on The Nine on October 20. (The National, December 17).

Even with the postponed deadline of February 2022 for all homes to meet a new “tolerable standard” requirements, there is plenty room for “anxiety and distress” from sole and/or elderly householders being demanded to pay £250 or more by someone flashing a paper with the Government logo.

I didnae check how many homes there are in Scotland. Did the minister and his team?

How realistic is it for all that his legislation says has to be done to actually be done in such a short timescale?

What has not been told to the Scottish people is what are the risk factors that are driving this legislation that few people are aware of, and even fewer were consulted on. More importantly, why the urgency?

Equally important, if accepting the premise that there is a sound case for urgency because of a real or perceived risk, why the laissez faire approach of leaving it up to pro-active door-to-door operators and concerned and solvent householders to engage someone they know.

Why not a national strategy, like to empower local authorities to set up arm’s length companies to systematically upgrade ALL homes and “at cost”.
Willie Oswald
Blanefield

THE reported remark by Tory minister Kevin Foster that the SNP want to “rebuild Hadrian’s wall” revealed a clear lack of awareness within Unionist ideology.

I can’t believe he is unaware that part of northern England, perhaps approximately the size of Cornwall, lies north of Hadrian’s Wall.

READ MORE: Kevin Foster says SNP want to 'rebuild Hadrian's Wall and make England pay'

Surely the Unionists don’t seriously believe that an Edinburgh government would annex even such a relatively small part of our neighbour’s territory.
Douglas Hunter
Ancrum, Roxburghshire

THERE has been much talk recently of the need to design a circular economy, aimed mainly at protecting resources by cutting out waste, reusing, redesigning, etc.

I believe, however that there is already a fully functioning circular economy in operation, which has taken off as never before during the pandemic.

Boris and co have allocated highly lucrative contracts to their families, wealthy friends and supporters, regardless of whether they have any experience or expertise in the relevant field.

Next, their millionaire cronies and family members who own huge companies have been compensated for their Covid-produced losses. All this with our taxes or on our debt profile.

So how does this become circular? These beneficiaries are exactly, almost to a man/woman, the main donors to the Tory party, who simply stash their ill-gotten gains in tax havens, in order to avoid paying back anything towards the costs of the pandemic, until they give it back to the very people who handed them this bonus in the first place. Taxpayers money, therefore, simply goes, tax free, into safe keeping until the Tories need it back – tax free, of course.

Is this what we mean by “circular economy”?
L McGregor
Falkirk