Will the Greens be joining a coalition of pointless fights?

IT seems that the two Green ministers are to be additional to the 25 SNP ones already in place, as there is no word of any of the 25 losing their jobs (“Green ministers’ responsibilities overseen by Sturgeon lieutenants”, The Herald, August 31). Ministerial inflation is now out of control.

In 1999, Donald Dewar’s Government, excluding law officers, had 10 ministers and 10 deputy ministers. In May this year, Nicola Sturgeon appointed 10 Cabinet secretaries and 15 ministers (these being the inflated titles brought in by Alex Salmond – a harmless, but nevertheless rather pathetic, SNP affectation). That was a 25 per cent increase in ministers (and of associated private offices and the like) since 1999. Sadly, with our public services in disarray (a problem which pre-dates the Covid pandemic) there is no sign of a 25% improvement in ministerial delivery. Indeed, the truth is quite the opposite.

But, to be fair, Dewar’s ministers’ duties did not include picking pointless fights with Westminster and manufacturing grievances, a duty which every SNP minister pursues with such devotion. Despite the help of Boris Johnson and Co, grievance manufacturing must take up much of each SNP minister’s time, leaving limited time for more traditional ministerial work.

Will the addition of the Green ministers improve matters? With the not-really-a-coalition Agreement not listing picking pointless fights and manufacturing grievances as one of the issues excluded from the agreement, I very much fear that the answer is “No”.

Alistair Easton, Edinburgh.