RISHI Sunak continues to parrot his catchphrase “the plan is working” in response to any and all questions, most recently those around the reduction in inflation. What he never explains is what the “plan” is, or what aspect of the plan actually influenced the outcome he happens to be talking about.
In this case, the Bank of England is supposed to be responsible for inflation, and if it was going the other way I’m sure Mr Sunak would be making that very clear rather than claiming it was all down to the “plan”.
READ MORE: Latest inflation figures show slight drop but still higher than expected
Interestingly, when inflation was rising it was always blamed on external factors. Now, of course, it’s coming down because of “the plan”, whatever it is.
Meanwhile, Labour have their own “plan”, partly no doubt because not having one leaves them open to criticism from the Conservatives, whose entire policy is built on theirs, so clearly anyone without one can’t be credible. Labour apparently can’t explain what their plan is until they find out what they inherit from the Conservatives, but they have one anyway.
I’m all in favour of plans. I spent my entire working life developing and executing them. The only ones that didn’t work were the ones that couldn’t be communicated effectively. Without coherent detail, a plan isn’t a plan. It’s an aspiration.
Cameron Crawford
Rothesay
THROUGH all the negative machinations emanating from Westminster, Scotland’s social democratic tradition – from 60 years since Winnie Ewing won Hamilton to 25 years of a devolved Scottish Parliament – is still thriving.
Tory governments with no Scottish mandate have inflicted more than a decade of misery on Scotland and with no hope of change from Labour, exiting a broken Brexit Britain is the only option.
READ MORE: Scottish independence billboards appear across Glasgow
The SNP Holyrood administration has tackled, to the best of its ability, poverty, the concerns of children and old folk, along with health, housing and education, and has given hope to those who feel abandoned.
Against a hostile Unionist media, decades of Westminster lies have been exposed. Confidence has grown in believing that a well-endowed Scotland could do so much better as an independent country, in control of all of its many economic assets.
Grant Frazer
Newtonmore
MY father and his three siblings were brought up in a tenement in Govan in the 1920s. He served as a private in the army during World War Two. He worked the rest of his life in local engineering factories except for a term of enforced unemployment under Thatcher. My mother worked in the Paisley thread mills from the age of 14.
They brought me up in a council house. I joined the SNP more than ten years before the current First Minister was even born. I was not privately educated and did not study at Glasgow University. My parents never owned an accountancy firm or a property portfolio. My work career was varied and not limited to working as an aide to other SNP politicians. I don’t have a salary of more than £150,000.
READ MORE: The only answer to Labour’s poverty failure is Scottish independence
I have therefore never considered myself “part of the far right”, however as someone just a wee bit uncomfortable with the First Minister’s now infamous 2020 “everyone white” speech, which has sadly echoed around the world, he has apparently branded me as such.
If I dared to make a similar speech I might now be taken from my home, put in a police van, taken to a police station and charged under his new hate crime legislation. Despite that fact, he still writes to me on a fairly regular basis asking me for money to fund SNP election campaigns.
I do begin to wonder if after nearly 50 years, and 25 as an SNP councillor, he and I can continue to share the same political party.
Brian Lawson
Paisley
SO now we have it officially – the Scottish Government has given up on the climate catastrophe. What is the point of independence when the future of humankind has been abandoned to greed and profit? I’m 76. I have no wish to see starvation and a total lack of hope of feeding ourselves. I’ve been trying to save – and even, indeed, generate – electricity to help the planet’s future. Why do I bother? It’s become pointless.
Tony Kime
Kelso
THOUGH Drew Reid (Letters, Apr 18) stereotypes those who attend classical music and opera, he is right to imply that, in the UK, enjoyment of such music has long been a class monopoly. For it to become genuinely popular, as it is in other European countries, obviously this monopoly has to be broken. I don’t think I’m an elitist snob for thinking along these lines.
Alastair McLeish
Edinburgh
REGARDING Rishi’s smoking ban bill. As an ex-smoker of 45 years, I weel ken how hard it was to kick the habit. I think that the marketing of the ban is wrong. It is not smoking or vaping – it is nicotine consumption, nay addiction relief.
Alistair Ballantyne
Angus
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