Whatever way you count it, SNP are winners of Scottish election

As we all know both Tory and Labour over the years –and the majority of the mainstream press – have defended the first past the post system for UK elections. What has been conspicuous by it’s absence, however, are any complaints that we don’t have the same system for our ones.

It’s crystal clear why this is the case. With 59 constituency seats in 2016 the SNP had a massive overall majority of the 73 seats, 81% of the total. Using that Belgian fellow, D’Hondt’s system, however, provided no majority at all. In the 2019 UK election, regarded by almost all political commentators as being something of a landslide for Johnson and his chums, the Tories won 365 out of the 650 seats, 56% of the total.

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My O Grade in arithmetic has assisted me in calculating that proportion is 25% less than that achieved by the SNP, yet much of the press up here in 2016 raved about how well Ruth Davidson’s Tories had done, not about the winners.

I hope whatever the outcome of the 2021 Scottish election, political commentators bear this in mind when comparing the successes or otherwise of parties in Scottish and UK elections. I’ll not hold my breath though!
Ivor Telfer
Dalgety Bay, Fife

UNINDICTED war criminal and liar Tony Blair decided to throw his oar into the Scottish election. He said that he does not think that the people of Scotland want another independence referendum, even if the SNP get a majority on an explicit pledge of holding one. Blair’s Iraq war lies led to at least one million Iraqis dead and four million refugees.

Provincial LibDem branch manager Willie Rennie has echoed Blair and said a referendum should be refused in any and all circumstances. The Unionists have the same view of democracy in Scotland as the Chinese Communist Party do in Hong Kong. Douglas Ross the Tory leader speaks the same guff in robotic mind-numbing cliches.

Back in 2010 the Tories decided that working people should pay for the crisis that bailed out the banks. Taxes on the very rich were slashed. Austerity was introduced. This was responsible for some 120,000 deaths. Not to be outdone Boris Johnson the lazy incompetent clown presided over 130,000 Covid-19 deaths and declared that he would rather see “bodies piled high” before ordering a second lockdown.

Such callous disregard for life is the core of the Tory/Unionist philosophy. Scotland continuing in the Union means there will be many promises. The reality is staying in the Union is a manifesto for mass death and suffering.

The Roman Emperor Caligula once ordered that a pontoon bridge to nowhere be built. This was so he could ride his horse across it. Grain ships were requisitioned. This led to the population starving. All for Caligula’s vanity and debauchery. Boris Johnson commissioning a new Royal Yacht for £200 million to be named after Prince Phillip is a similar vanity project to Caligula’s Pontoon Bridge.

The UK is drowning in sleaze and corruption. The Tories are looting as much as they can. A referendum on independence needs to be called within the next 18 months.
Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

DROSS says he was a “reluctant remainer” not liking the bureaucracy of the EU. Has he asked the fishermen of Moray and the North East if it is any better now?

He also says he is a democrat and accepted the vote to leave the EU.

Why then does he not accept the democratic vote of Scotland if the majority vote for indy parties to have another independence referendum.

Which is it DRoss – are you a democrat or not?

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As for Sarwar – he can just sit this one out – the fence you are sitting on has already torn the Labour Party asunder. Millionaire leaders of parties who don’t have a clue about working people are just the same as millionaire football club owners just using politics or football for their own ends.

Anas Sarwar isn't a fan of taking a side

Just don’t get me started about the Greens – Lorna Slater calling us get back to nature, to re-wild the environment while being prepared to pump young people with chemicals if they want to change gender – hypocrisy on stilts.

The LibDems go even further and accept funding from the pharmaceutical makers of the chemicals for young people to change gender.
Winifred McCartney
Paisley

I AM expecting the Scottish branch manager of the Liberal Democratic Party to resign his leadership, and membership at the same time, as soon as Scotland becomes an independent country.

He will be in a compromised situation with himself and his Party. Why? Because he has stated in no uncertain terms that, “under any circumstances at any time”, he will not support a second independence referendum. And that’s allowing him a wee bit of time to reconsider after a successful independence referendum.

Whatever the necessary time it will take to establish the necessary institutions to run an independent Scotland might just make Rennie think more about becoming a leader of a Scottish Liberal Democratic Party. Now there’s a thought!

He will, of course, have to make his own decisions on where his policies on education and mental health would fit in with, let’s say, an SNP government policy. No longer will he be able to rely on help and advice from his bosses in Westminster.

All of the above would apply also to the Tory and Labour party leaders. Perhaps they might just develop a conscience and all resign enbloc in protest. Chance would be a fine thing.
Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife

SO, Boris Johnson cannot cope with a salary of only £157,000 per year. If that is the case surely, he shouldn’t be trusted to lead the UK as Prime Minister.

I am sure that he has enough dodgy contacts that he could walk into some lucrative consultative positions and directorships that would give him far more money.

That would leave a vacancy that I would like to apply for. I would be happy to become PM for £100,000 and I would very quickly bring huge wealth to the country.

For starters I would re-join the EU which would immediately get trade moving. On day two I would ensure that Scotland would get independence. I would make the same offer to Wales and Northern Ireland.

Day three would see the fast rail link project being cancelled. That would save the country billions of pounds. Day four would see me using the saved billions in investing in the NHS so that there would be no space for private medicine.

Day five would see that all low paid workers got real pay increases that would allow people to climb out of the poverty trap.

Not a bad start, eh? Wonder what could be achieved next week. Thought they said that politics is difficult?
Harry Key
Largoward

THIS is a story that I figure most people have experienced. Many years ago we learned that Scotland had discovered vast quantities of oil in the North Sea.

Headlines in the Scottish newspapers carried the sentiment IT’S SCOTTISH OIL.

I thought at the time that this was greatly unfair. You see, Scotland had always shared the fortunes of Great Britain. There was a steel industry, coal industry, motor industry (remember Albion).

But when these industries failed, only England kept going with full employment. We then saw the real effect of a so-called equal partnership. The oil money began to be squandered in the most appalling way.

For example, it was deemed a sensible course of action to renew Trident. Problem is that only the Americans were to have total control of the firing codes. This made the concept of independent nucleal weapons systems total mockery. In any case to have Britain’s weapon system based near Glasgow was outrageous. If the was to be an exchange of bombs then the plan was that Glasgow would be sacrificed rather that London.

I hope that this terrible concept and the implications dawned on voters on Thursday and like me they voted SNP.
Harry Schneider
via email

WHAT matters most: pandemic or independence?

Nothing, not even the pandemic, is more important than having control over your own resources and destiny.

From the outset, Hancock blew the pandemic UK wide by exercising his interest in holding a highly popular mass spectator horse racing event at Cheltenham in March 2020 when any clear thinking individual could see this was a fool-hardy decision to make.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock

Johnson, the leader of the UK having recklessly wandered around in the early days seemingly devoid of responsibility for his own health, ended up in intensive care. On numerous occasions since, the same guy dragged his feet over urgent issues before acting to avoid further outbreaks.

Lack of forward thinking or procrastination, make up your own mind, however, who in their right mind wants to be under the control of such administration for our health and well-being, before, during or during reparations after the pandemic?
Tom Gray
Braco

THE current threat to remove RBS control to London is old hat. It was flagged up in 2010 in the Holyrood enquiry into the banking crash.

As a member of the Economy Energy and Tourism committee I heard evidence from the then RBS CEO Stephen Hester. The committee welcomed his “commitment to the continuing headquartering of RBS at the Gogarburn site in Edinburgh. However, it noted the evidence of other witnesses suggesting that there is already evidence of a continued drift in corporate functions to London.”

The hypocrisy of RBS branding on Scottish branches must be ended. Let them trade as National Westminster. Meanwhile Scots should save with Scottish banks, join credit unions, mutuals and demand the Scottish Government opens up the Scottish Investment Bank to small savers.
Rob Gibson
Evanton, Ross-shire

I WONDER if other readers of The National share my fears about the increasing antagonism towards wildcats? The Scottish wildcat is one of our most iconic species and should be preserved and protected. One of the few remaining areas in which the wildcat is known to breed is Clashindarroch forest in Aberdeenshire, which borders Douglas Ross’s Moray homeland. One hopes that the introduction of enlightened polices will help to extend its habitat more fully into Moray.

I also want to point out to Douglas and indeed to Nicola and the other leaders, that far from being illegal, wildcats do in fact enjoy protected legal status.
Alan Short
Aberdeen