History lesson

Some years ago, a writer was mocked and derided for suggesting that history was coming to an end, but a similarly absurd proposition now passes without comment. Every day there are letters and statements from people who seem to be convinced that history started abruptly about ten years ago. There is no doubt that, during the life of the Scottish Parliament, the SNP has adopted some bad policies. Examples include the antinuclear stance, the failure to cancel the PFI contracts and the creation of Police Scotland. However, most of today’s problems in education, the NHS, housing and the paucity of local representation are directly traceable to political decisions taken over many years, before the Scottish Parliament existed.

It was not the SNP who imposed the present bureaucratic management structure on the NHS; it was not the SNP who presided over the chaotic privatisation of the railways and the energy industry; it was not the SNP who sold off much of the council house stock and dismembered the coastguard service, nor did the SNP invent the party whip or pioneer its use to suppress individual opinions in favour of a party line. The shambles of the banking industry following deregulation was not created by the SNP and the deterioration in school education is the consequence of decades of relentless tinkering by educational theorists and social engineers. It is perfectly fair to criticise failure by any party when it can be attributed directly to that party’s political decisions but it is unfair and dishonest to blame all contemporary problems on whichever party happens to be in power at the moment.

PETER DRYBURGH Falcon Avenue, Edinburgh