Sir, – I’ve never been so incensed by anything written in your columns as I have been by every single article penned recently by Jenny Hjul.
However, I think she has just made herself look silly (May 27) with her ridiculous piece in which she attempts to further defame the SNP and the First Minister in her defence of Alistair Carmichael.
She insinuates first that the falsehood published in a national newspaper caused “considerable embarrassment to the SNP leader”. No it didn’t because in order for it to have been embarrassing there would have had to have been the slightest possibility that it was true, which there was not.
She goes on to say that the “nationalists demanded a Cabinet inquiry”. Well why wouldn’t they?
She reports that the civil servant “recorded accurately what he thought he heard”. But no explanation has ever been given for why the civil servant was recording the conversation in the first place?
Our First Minister played no role in this incident, except to be slandered by the staff of the Alistair Carmichael about the topic of a conversation held privately between two people.
It is evident that the whole story was a smear attempt to persuade the Scottish public that Nicola Sturgeon was not an honourable and honest politician.
If after the furore all kicked off, he had put his hand up and owned up, he might have come out of the debacle with egg on his face but gained some little measure of respect.
Jenny Hjul asks: “What is worse during an election, an MP authorising the leaking of a memo, or Natalie McGarry endorsing the harassment of Margaret Curran on the grounds she was a fair target?”
Well, that’s an easy one to answer.
It is the MP and cabinet minister with responsibility for Scotland authorising the leaking of a false memo about the First Minister of Scotland during an election.
Whatever Natalie McGarry said about Margaret Curran was the truth; all politicians are fair targets for the opposition but all opposition should be fair.
I can tell you, I was so mad when I finished reading this stupidly scurrilous piece of mud-slinging nonsense, that it was not Alistair Carmichael’s scalp that I was hoping to claim.
Carol R Burgess. 19 Strathview Place, Methven.
An essay in hypocrisy
Sir, – Jenny Hjul is disingenuous in her article defending Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael.
She is very close to the participants in the Frenchgate smear campaign.
The memo was sent by Carmichael’s special advisor to two journalists at a national newspaper.
One of those journalists, Alan Cochrane, is Ms Hjul’s husband, a fact which she fails to mention.
The newspaper ran the story just days after Carmichael ceased to be Secretary of State for Scotland. Mr Cochrane wrote of “stinking hypocrisy” and accused Nicola Sturgeon of chicanery and insincerity.
Even now Ms Hjul is attempting to propagate the myth that: “the essence of the matter is open to conjecture”.
Is she calling the French ambassador a liar? They do not care whether it is true or not, they only want to fling mud at the opposition in the hope that it will stick.
It is a symbol of the depths to which politics in the UK has sunk.
Ms Hjul accusing Ms Sturgeon of hypocrisy smacks of pots and kettles. I am not a member of the SNP and I did not vote for them on May 7 but I know on which side the hypocrisy lies.
Alexander Cumming. The Coach House, Abernyte.
Publish detail of diplomatic chat
Sir, – Surely the solution to the Alistair Carmichael debacle would be for the comments made at the meeting between Nicola Sturgeon and the French diplomat to be published.
l am not suggesting the entire transcript, just the few sentences that have created this row would suffice.
Let the public have an insight as to whether there is nothing in it, or if the Scottish First Minister has used a storm in a tea cup to throw dummy hand grenades.
Colin Cookson. Stenton, Glenrothes.
SNP sidestep substance of row
Sir, – You have to hand it to the nationalists for mobilising their mob to deflect attention from the real substance of the leak row. The impartial civil service states that Nicola Sturgeon did express her preference for a Tory government.
Yet she spent the election campaign promising to shut out the Tories.
A curious position.
Robert Anderson. Kirkton, Arbroath.
Democracy is the loser
Sir, – Lossiemouth, Hopeman and Burghead Branch of the Scottish National Party are trying to find out which church Alistair Carmichael is an elder of so they can initiate proceedings to get him ousted from that too. Daft, misguided and unlikely but this seems to be the way democracy is going in Scotland.
Allan Sutherland. 1 Willow Row, Stonehaven.
New anthem suggestions
Sir, – It is perhaps a sad reflection on current Scottish attitudes that Bob Ferguson’s comments (May 26) on Flower of Scotland as our putative national anthem can hardly be disputed.
It is most often sung en masse at belligerently-supported sporting events, usually after savage booing of the opposing side and the rhythm of the three-legged racehorse resounds from Twickenham to Murrayfield.
But I have reservations about his idea of “commissioning” a new anthem, as the winning submission would have to be a paean of praise to the SNP to ensure selection in our very nearly one-party state.
And in any case, at least two highly suitable candidates already exist. Examples are Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia, and Land of Light by Dr William Jackson, the artiste formerly known as Billy Jackson of Ossian. The latter also has the advantage that he carefully devised it to scan faultlessly in both English and Gaelic.
Alasdair Maclean. 6 Clive Street, Maryfield, Dundee.
Where did white rose come from?
Sir, – I watched the state opening of parliament and wondered since when was the white rose as worn by Alex Salmond and his troops claimed to be the white rose of Scotland?
Mona Clark. 9 Millbay Terrace, Dundee.
Rent-a-mob rule in Scotland
Sir, – I agree with yourcorrespondent Gordon Kennedy and his letter, Christians must take a stand.
However, leading up to, during and since the independence referendum last September, Scotland has becomea different countrywith a rent-a-mobmentality.
It is difficult, indeed foolhardy, especially for senior citizens, who are considered surplus to requirement by many, to raise their heads above the parapets to show their support for either the United Kingdom or Christianity for fear of incurring the wrath and verbal abuse of the mob.
During the referendum campaign, I met an elderly gentleman on the streets of Dundee who was in tearshaving received verbal abuse because he was wearing a Union Flag badge on the lapel of his jacket.
I am convinced if that badge was replaced by a badge stating: “I am a Christian,” the verbal abuse would be the same.
Returning to the subject of Mr Kennedy’s letter, gay rights, can anyone explain to me, an 86-year-old father and grandfather, how a male who has fathered a child can then decide he is gay and enter into a same-sex marriage or relationship?
R H L Mulheron. 28 Cowgate, Tayport.
Ashamed by Holyrood
Sir, – In years to come, Thursday May 27 2015 will be known by many as a very sad day for democracy.
It was not only the day that the Scottish Parliament threw out the Assisted Suicide Bill but also the day that democracy failed this country.
I, with many others who sat through the debate last week, were quite flabbergasted by some of the contributions made by MSPs who were against the bill.
It was obvious that they had either failed to read the bill or were incapable of understanding it.
There was, in particular, one MSP who suggested that as money gets tighter, the accountants in local authorities would put pressure on social work staff to coerce clients to go for assisted suicide.
This was just absolute rubbish and an appalling contribution to the debate because it was misleading and misinformed.
Others suggested that doctors would be forced to participate in assisted suicide against the terms of their Hippocratic oath.
Again, this was wrong and pure scaremongering.
This was an entirely free vote for all MSPs and there was no party whip involved.
Democracy took a turn for the worst when, in the last 15 minutes of the three-hour debate, at least 30% of MSPs decided to turn up to vote on this important issue without having been present to hear the arguments for and against.
Although opinion polls put support for assisted suicide in Scotland at around 70%, the MSPs voted 36 for and 85 against.
Is that what democracy looks like?
Rudi Vogels. 1 Barassie Drive, Kirkcaldy.
We must face this dilemma
Sir, – Dignitas provides a much-needed service to strong-willed and assertive individuals like Jeffrey Spector who want to die as they have lived.
At present we force citizens facing terrible deaths to fly out prematurely to Switzerland since they must be sufficiently fit to travel.
As a society we are refusing to face this matter head on and are off-loading our ethical dilemma to another country.
This is morally unacceptable.
Rev Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.