Readers' Letters: Greens climbing the Magic Money Tree with rail promise

It would appear something similar to the miracle that was the growth of saplings from the Sycamore Gap tree is happening here and now in Scotland. The Great Scottish Money Tree, which the SNP hacked to death over the last 20 years, must be showing shoots of regrowth. That can be the only explanation for the ludicrous plan by the Greens to give out a “millennial rail card” to be used by those aged 31-49 (Scotland on Sunday, 25 October).

They allege it will be paid for by taxing frequent flyers, but we all know that even if such a tax was introduced, the monies would be used on other navel gazing projects, so the Magic Money Tree (ScotTaxpayers.com) would have to pay the bill for another subsidy for “the people of Scotland”. It takes me back to the good old days at Liberton High School when, in sixth year, I plastered a flag of the USSR on the common room wall, all of us rabid socialists/communists rebelling against Thatcher et al.

Unlike 99 per cent of those in that common room, the Greens are still sitting in circles on the floor, holding hands and singing Kumbaya, instead of growing up, getting a proper job and trying to better the sad world we live in. Watching Friday the 13th is less traumatising than watching the Greens make their ridiculous claims on everything from “Zionism is racism” to the mad anti-nuclear policy. Let’s hope the Magic Money Tree of Scotland has plenty bountiful branches!

David Millar, Lauder, Scottish Borders Baggage failure Arriving at Edinburgh Airport last Friday from France after two difficult, weather-affected flights, the baggage handling by Ryanair agent Swissport yet again failed, thwarting the expert hard work of the aircrew. Their consistently awful service needs urgent attention from those managing tourism in Scotland, Last Friday’s experience was the latest of several incidents of endless waiting in the baggage reclaim over the past few years.

And by far the worst. I landed at 15.50, just half an hour late given the dire weather, but didn’t arrive in the baggage hall for another half hour, because no steps were provided to disembark. Thereafter I was unable to leave for home for over two more hours. No information at all was provided by Swissport, other than an eventual bland apology for the delay, citing the weather, and “operational issues”. Thereafter my flight, RK8605, vanished for ever from the carousel information boards.

There were helpful, patient staff at the baggage office in the hall, but as they represented other airlines, they couldn’t solve my problem. Swissport couldn’t either, as they choose not to provide any personnel on the spot, preferring instead a lower profile presence elsewhere in the airport. And anyone leaving the hall to seek clarification directly in the Swissport office will not be readmitted! The company don’t answer queries on the phone.

Finally my frustration was solved by pure chance. I suddenly saw my suitcase moving along a random carousel, inside the hall at long last but completely unannounced. Wherever the case had been, it was left uncovered from the driving rain as the contents were wet. From start to finish, there was a completely unacceptable lack of customer information Friday’s tourists from abroad who were sharing my carousel vigil were clearly underwhelmed by their first experience of Edinburgh.

But the key question is this. Is this Airport is up to handling next year’s visitors for the Tour de France, and their luggage? Those bikes are very expensive! Anthony O’Donnell, Edinburgh Wrong direction Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth bizarrely implied that the consistently declining attainment levels in Scottish schools measured by Pisa is actually false (your report, 19 October). She attempted to discredit this internationally respected study at an SNP conference fringe event by deriding its methodology as favouring “crude rote learning”.

Let’s not forget that Alex Salmond was careful to withdraw Scotland from the PIRLS and TIMSS research programmes some years ago when they identified similar shortcomings in our “progressive” Curriculum for Excellence, a mysterious doctrine which downplays knowledge in favour of what it describes as “skills-based learning”. Equally disgraceful is the fact that EIS teaching union general secretary Andrea Bradley openly supported this outrageous anti-scientific drivel at the same event, with an extraordinary statement that both the OECD and PISA had “done a very, very good marketing job of making the world believe that that is a very good measure of how systems are performing.

It’s a really good marketing job that they’ve done.” Speaking from personal experience as a former EIS representative, such an outburst isn’t particularly startling since their leadership’s ideological direction of travel has been painfully evident for some time now. Martin O’Gorman, Edinburgh Thank you crews During Storm Boelo, our power went off and suddenly our warm, comfy house wasn't so warm or comfy. I live on Skye, so we're somewhat buffered by the Outer Isles, but still, in the wee small hours, Skye went dark.

It's natural to feel aggrieved when our lives are disrupted, but spare a thought for those crews, possibly risking their lives to give you your electricity back. Too many people think restoring power is simply a matter of flicking a switch. It isn't. So, while we might moan about the loss of electricity, remember the crews doing their very best to get it back to us. Judith Campbell, Portree, Highland Help with heat On average, energy customers in Southern Scotland, including older people on low incomes, pay among the highest electricity standing charges across Great Britain, simply because of where they live.

This postcode lottery means that today the typical household in Southern Scotland is charged around £24 more in electricity standing charges annually than the average customer. When compared to customers in London, who are charged the lowest in the country, Southern Scotland households pay £67 more to access their electricity supply. This means many of the older people on low incomes we support at Independent Age across Southern Scotland are being forced to stretch already strained budgets.

They are making heartbreaking decisions to keep their energy bills down, from not turning on the heating to sleeping in their winter clothes. With electricity prices expected to increase this January, many more older people in financial hardship will face both higher unit charges and standing charges, forcing them to ration their energy use to keep bills down. We are urging the UK government in the Autumn Budget to directly fund an increase to the Warm Home Discount from £150 to £400 and expand it to more people.

This help currently only goes to people receiving means-tested entitlements, so many pensioners on low incomes miss out as nearly 40 per cent of eligible older people don’t receive the Pension Credit they are entitled to. Long term we also need a more comprehensive energy social tariff to ensure that regardless of where we live, we can all heat our homes in winter. Morgan Vine, Independent Age, London Energy question Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay states that “The Green Party has been proudly anti- nuclear for a very long time” (your article, 26 October).

However, what not a single MSP at Holyrood can tell us is where the base load generation capacity required to keep the lights on in Scotland is. There is around 18GW of wind power which fails to deliver a single iota of power under dunkelflaute conditions. Again, solar is useless should the sun fail to shine hence, under maximum demand conditions in winter, there is only the 1.2 GW gas unit at Peterhead and the 1.2 GW unit at Torness to meet a demand of around 5GW.

What the SNP and Green energy policies highlight is that Scotland is totally dependent on importing the output of English gas turbine plant to maintain supplies to schools, hospitals, ATMs and supermarkets freezers under dunkelflaute conditions during the winter. Ian Moir, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway Well I Nether Thanks for an interesting article about “The other painting of Duddingston Loch skating” (Scotland on Sunday, October 25).

At the Scots International Church in Rotterdam, we are especially proud of the fact that The Skating Minister, Robert Walker, learned to skate in our city, Rotterdam. His father, William Walker, served as the minister of the "Scots Church" – as we were known then – from 1760-1774. Robert learned to skate here in Rotterdam as a child, back when the Netherlands still experienced “real” winters with ice suitable for skating. He continued to skate after he went to Scotland to study theology and eventually became a minister himself.

Whenever I happen to be at the National Galleries in Edinburgh and notice Dutch visitors looking at the painting, I’ll stand behind them and whisper, “he learned to skate in Rotterdam as a child”. Ruud Witte, Consistory clerk, Scots International Church, Rotterdam, Netherlands Write to The Scotsman We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to lettersts@scotsman.com including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details.

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