Readers' Letters: 'Value' of rich vs poor comes into sharp focus

It’s a horrifying and disgusting contrast. The willingness to allow certain people to die, while every effort is made to save others, is a dark reflection on humanity.

Thousands more articles appear to have been published about the submersible than about the migrant boat. Yet it’s a hundred times as many people, forced to flee their homes and look for safety, who are feared to have lost their lives. It’s hard to not be cynical about the state of society that this story has gripped us during a constantly rising refugee crisis, with more and more people dying daily, yet not getting nearly as much attention.

Hundreds of people risking their lives in search of safety deserve the same respect as the lives of those on the Titan.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

Same old story

While noting your 22 June article about the translation of the Bible into Scots, or the Doric variant thereof, it is worth noting that the first person to translate the New Testament into Scots was James Murdoch Nisbet, an Ayrshire man, and he did this almost 500 years ago. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!

John Nisbet, Auchencrow Mains, Scottish Borders

Fatal flaw

Jackie Baillie enthuses about Sir Keir Starmer’s “exciting” policy commitment to establish a National Energy Company headquartered in Scotland (Perspective, 20 June), but does not acknowledge that it is far from new. In 1975 Labour set up the British National Oil Company, headquartered in Glasgow as a sop to Scotland, whose oil-rich waters were to be its playground. It did little more than exist in the shadow of commercial “big oil” and was certainly not transformative in the way Statoil was in Norway, before being killed off like, so much else, by Margaret Thatcher.

This episode illustrates the fatal flaw in Labour’s revival of the idea: it is the child of Westminster politics, to be put to death as soon as the Tories are next returned to office and, under the aegis of Whitehall, could never have the freedom of action and funding available to the international oil majors. Nor would it have the focus on what Scotland needs and deserves as the major player in the green energy revolution.

The desirable alternative would be a Scottish champion set up by Holyrood but that, alas, cuts no ice as it stands for, without independence, the Scottish Government does not have the powers or financial freedom to make a success of such a far-reaching initiative. Instead, we have to settle for window dressing by the UK parties.

James Scott, Edinburgh

Oil betrayal

The SNP is struggling to find some sort of relevance after the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon, condemning further oil development, being investigated by the police, with arrests of several of its leading figures, and an MP looking likely to be deselected. The Greens have presided over the deposit return scheme’s demise, the failure to upgrade Scotland's roads and the attempt to stop many remote communities from fishing their own waters, except, of course, that they haven't been told which waters will be included! They and the SNP are also pursuing another divisive piece of legislation to hammer owners of grouse moors. The aim is that the owners should prove their innocence if persecution of birds of prey is suspected. Positively Transylvanian justice, as our legislative norm is to prove guilt, whereas proving innocence is almost impossible.

Now, Labour, in the form of Sir Keir Starmer, has stated that an industry which employs 200,000 in the UK – 90,000 of them Scots – will ban all exploratory work in the North Sea, despite 75 per cent of UK energy coming from there. His respect for the north-east was shown by the fact that he made his official announcement in Edinburgh. The former Labour Council leader of Aberdeen, Barney Crockett, is so disgusted that he has left the party.

The SNP have already betrayed the people of Scotland over oil and gas and now Labour is doing so too. It seems that, for all their faults, there is only one major party that actually wants Scotland as a whole to prosper by introducing two freeports in Scotland and supporting further oil and gas exploration to benefit the north-east in particular. That party is the Conservatives.

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

Stoney ground

Alison Campsie’s piece on the legends surrounding Midsummer’s Day in Tuesday’s Scotsman was, as usual, of huge interest.

One story involving standing stones in Orkney is worthy of note. A single stone, standing well apart from the much-publicised Ring of Brodgar, is reputed, on Midsummer’s night, the shortest night of the year, to uproot itself and walk down to a nearby loch, refresh itself with a cooling drink, and return to its position where it has stood for a very long time.

A gentle story and a far cry from the other sun worshippers who go to the more publicised stone circles.

Sandy Macpherson, Edinburgh

Light fantastic

I don't know what websites Tim Flinn (Letters, 22 June) was consulting when he says that they show that the Summer Solstice of 2023 can be on either the 20th, 21st or 23rd June. Certainly not Nasa, not the Met Office, nor the BBC, IBM's Weather Channel or, my favourite, Time and Date. When the Earth's tilt reaches 23.5 degrees from the vertical the northern hemisphere is most faced to the Sun, so that the far north Arctic has 24 hours of sunlight and the far south Antarctic has 24 hours of darkness. If Mr Flinn is right the 10,000 people who gathered at Stonehenge on Wednesday to view the wondrous spectacle which the ancients had also observed, must be wrong.

William Loneskie, Oxton, Lauder, Berwickshire

Digital denial

Access to essential services in remote communities is an issue that affects many in our country. Banking and postal services are crucial in remote areas and are often the only means of communications with loved ones and the community at large. Service providers are more and more assuming that we all have digital access, something that is a myth and is excluding many from integrating with society.

This approach by providers is not only excluding many from society, it is exacerbating loneliness, it is leaving many communities isolated. So it was very encouraging to hear a ten minute rule motion being presented to the House of Commons this week by SNP MP Drew Hendry. This motion was calling for minimum service standards for the provision of banking and postal services in rural areas. I only hope for the future of our rural communities that this motion makes its way successfully through parliament.

Catriona C Clark, Banknock, Falkirk

Tax tourists

Beyoncé, Harry Styles and Bruce Springsteen made May a bonanza month for Edinburgh’s hotels. Laying their lugs in the gravy that boosted every weekend, their room prices and profits went up like rockets. Someone paying more than £300 a night for a three-star hotel room would not quibble about a small tourist tax on top.With June, we are into the main tourist season, rugby internationals and festivals boosting the coffers of our hospitality trade. Its only problem is staffing, courtesy of Brexit. Many of the tourists are from Europe because of our weak pound, and they are accustomed to a tourist tax.

With Taylor Swift set to make next June just as lucrative, and Edinburgh’s infrastructure creaking under the influx of visitors, it is time to let tourists and hotels take some of the financial strain. It is a pity that Edinburgh Council’s Labour and Conservative coalition is not brave enough to stand up for Edinburgh's ratepayers.

Frances Scott, Edinburgh

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