Nothing changes

The German philosopher Hegel said “governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it”. Audit Scotland’s criticism that the Scottish Government has failed to plan for increased demands on the NHS, hence the current workforce shortages, mirrors exactly those that followed the recommendation in the mid-1950s by the Tory ex-health minister, Sir Henry Willink, that medical student numbers should be reduced by 10 per cent. The difference between Willink and Nicola Sturgeon is that his recommendation was soon reversed; she cut the number of medical students not once, but twice.

HUGH PENNINGTON Carlton Place, Aberdeen It never ceases to amaze me how the SNP attempt to spin statistics to suit themselves. Two reports this week are good examples of how gullible they take us to be.

Firstly, health secretary Shona Robison trumpets that in the week ending 16 July 95.3 per cent of patients were seen and discharged within 4 hours, beating the government’s target of 95 per cent. I took a family member to the ERI on 25 July. The waiting room was virtually empty and we were seen by the consultant ten minutes early . When we commented on this he told us it was down to it being the holiday period.

Secondly, in rebuttal of a report that delays in the planning system were worsening, a spokesperson claimed the situation was improving, with 27,000 applications being approved within 9,2 weeks. I spent my working life in development and the system is that the clock only starts ticking when the application is registered. The statutory requirement is that planning applications should be determined between 8 and 13 weeks, depending on the size of the development. The timingof thatregistrationisdown to the planners, who will register the application only when they are ready to deal with it, hopefully within the statutory period. That may be months or yearsafterthedeveloperoriginally submitted his plans.

As Mark Twain is said to have said: “Figures don’t lie but liars sure do figure.” DONALD LEWIS Beech Hill, Gifford

East Lothian