Not a hate crime

I fully agree with Vivienne Stirling that former chancellor George Osborne’s remarks regarding his ex-colleague, Prime Minister Theresa May, were tasteless and, quite frankly, beneath him (Letters, 18 September). I do, however, find Ms Stirling’s analysis of the situation rather interesting.

She is of the opinion that if Mrs May were foreign, Muslim, lesbian or disabled, Mr Osborne’s voiced wish that she should be “chopped up in bags in a freezer” would be labelled a “hate crime”. This suggests that people in the categories mentioned are the only ones entitled to claim victimisation of this kind, but as a UK citizen who does not qualify under any aspect of the above description, it is simply verbal abuse, so just ignore it; “sticks and stones”, etc.

WALTER J ALLAN Colinton Mains Drive, Edinburgh I refer to Dr Richard Dixon’s comments that electric cars could be recharged from streetlights as part of allowing only electric vehicles in Scotland from 2032, concurrent with phasing out all dispatchable energy such as coal, nuclear and gas, thereby relying on mostly wind and solar. I wonder if he and others (including politicians) who think this is feasible ever look at National Grid Status. On Monday afternoon wind accounted for 1.88GW or 4.81 per cent of demand and this morning wind contribution has fallen to 0.65GW or 1.72 per cent of demand. Uk-installed wind capacity is over 16.3GW, so we are currently getting 4 per cent of installed capacity from wind. The projection is that all electric vehicles will demand 30 to 50 per cent more energy generation capacity on a regular basis.

Can anyone please explain how wind and solar will provide energy certainty when the wind and sun refuse to cooperate? JOHN PETER

Monks Road Airdrie, Lanarkshire