Isle blunder shows SNP’s out of touch
WHILE superficially funny that SNP MSP John Mason thinks Skye might not be an island, it does raise questions about the party’s inability to understand anything beyond the M8 corridor. It’s why rural communities have problems with accessible schools; why NHS facilities are distant or nonexistent; why public transport is a problem. The urban fixation even leads to madcap schemes such as Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to get rid of petrol and diesel vehicles. Electric cars might be great for a hop into town if you mean from the suburbs into the heart of Glasgow or Edinburgh or Dundee or Aberdeen. But what if ‘the town’ is 50 miles distant? And as with broadband, who will be first with charging points — towns and cities or hamlets up singletrack roads? We ‘out in the sticks’ accept that we’ll never have the 24hour this-and-that which city dwellers enjoy. But we do want a government that can see beyond the urban sprawl.
JIM CAMERON, via email. ANOTHER day, another set of SNP politicians parade their ignorance of rural matters. First John Mason shows his unsuitability for the rural affairs committee at Holyrood by mistaking an island for a bit of the mainland. Then Richard Lochhead tries to pretend Brexit is damaging to agriculture. As damaging as, say, the fiasco over European payments to farmers?
R. COLqUHOUN, Cupar, Fife. I SEE Transport Secretary Humza Yousaf had the time to assure John Mason that Skye is indeed an island. Not an expert on transport, but a leading light on geography, it seems. Perhaps he might like to help out John Swinney at Education and take a teaching post? One school vacancy filled and a chance for someone who does know about transport to get the country moving. Win-win.
ANDREW RITCHIE, Glasgow.