To finish the week our readers discuss how landowners have hijacked the electricity feed-in tariff, the SNP’s majority and the perils of independence.
Feed-in tariff hijacked by landowners Sir, I welcome the interest shown by L. J. Jenkins from Gwbert in Cardigan in protecting Scotland’s landscape from the intrusion of more and more wind turbines.
The Welsh landscape is being decimated by wind farms so the writer knows what he/she is talking about.
What I cannot understand is the bit about the Scots electorate seeing a few extra shillings in their sporrans.
Unlike Robin Hood, who robbed the rich to give to the poor, the Scottish Government is robbing the poor to give to the rich.
Through the Renewable Obligation and the recent feed-in tariff, money is being taken from those in fuel poverty and on modest incomes and given to multi national energy providers and rich landowners and this is going to get worse as energy prices rise.
The feed-in tariff, which was introduced to encourage small-scale renewables, with a reasonable return as an incentive and to allow individuals to generate the electricity they consume and sell any excess to the grid, has been hijacked by landowners and we are all paying through the nose while they make a fortune.
I, too, am worried about our tourism and he is quite right: visitors do not come to Scotland to see an industrialised landscape.
Graham Lang.Coaltown of Callange,Cupar.
More power to the people
Sir, Much has been written of the need for adequate checks and balances on the new SNP Government, which commands an outright majority. One such way is to transfer more power from the Parliament to the people.
So-called “Citizens’ Initiatives” provide the means to do this, with mini-referendums being held once a certain number of names on a petition have been collected.
The Citizens’ Initiative is a form of direct democracy common in the US, where it operates in almost half the states, and in Switzerland and New Zealand.
Voters in Zurich recently rejected proposed bans on “suicide tourism.”
Implementing Citizens’ Initiatives would revitalise our stagnant political process and restore credibility and trust in the political system, engaging people directly and giving them a real say on issues that matter most.
It is time we gave power back to the people and this direct democracy measure could do just this.
Alex Orr.Leamington Terrace,Edinburgh.
SNP story has a familiar ring
Sir, Are there parallels to Scottish politics today in the stories of the Emperor’s New Clothes and the Pied Piper of Hamelin?
Wearing the persuasive, if non-existent, garb of freedom, the Pied Piper of the Scottish National Party chants a tune of ‘independence in Europe’, smiting his clansmen with a mesmerised insight into a Scottish Utopia.
Scottish voters supported a discredited Labour Party at the general election but in the never never land politics of Holyrood the Pied Piper’s pibroch led them all the way to the ballot box and SNP victory.
The philosopher George Sorel taught that a myth didn’t have to be true, people just needed to think it was and most politicians seem to operate on that basis unconsciously . . . or not . . .
Is the Piper creating another myth? Not so much going for independence as having Westminster think he is? That should strengthen his hand in negotiating for whatever he desires. Double-mything everyone, so to speak.
Andrew Lawson.9 MacLaren Gardens,Dundee.
The costs of independence
Sir, May I respond to Ron Greer and Thomas Murray’s letters and thank Ron for recognising, and measuring, the subtle influence of my doubtmongering.
Influence, at all its levels, can be measured by war/peace, victory/defeat, prosperity/austerity and so on.
When I was last in Norway (in the early 1980s) a prominent member of local society, asked me (slightly embarrassedly) to obtain a bottle of whisky for him. In Norway at that time that item cost £32.
In the local bar a half litre (approx 1 pint) of beer cost £5. There has been some inflation since then.
Yes, Norwegian armed forces are quite well equipped in aircraft. The navy is small and the army depends greatly on reservists, who are allowed to keep small arms and some ammunition at home.
When I last spoke to my Danish friends they were bemoaning the fact Denmark’s rate of income tax was running at 50%. Membership of NATO does give them some influence.
Mr Murray’s view of the armed forces of an independent Scotland are worthy of costing.
All I ask the proposers of independence to be aware of is that there could be a downside.
A. T. Geddie.68 Carleton Avenue,Glenrothes.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.