This deadly plan is about saving the lives of the Tories

This is a blatant attempt to garner votes for short-term electoral gains at the expense of long-term needs. Rishi Sunak is presumably an intelligent man, but instead of using his intelligence to find long-term solutions to the climate emergency, he uses it to find excuses for policies he knows to be wrong. Democracy has hit a new low in this country (Britain).

Surely Mr Sunak cannot overlook the apparent loopholes in Tory Party policy? First, if you were faced with an emergency that could have devastating effects, would you rely on proven technologies like wind, solar, or nuclear power generation, or would you rely on a completely unproven carbon capture technology? No one knows if carbon capture, unlike the other technologies mentioned, is a viable solution to rising CO2 levels. Even if this is the case, experience has shown that it usually takes years for small prototypes to become fully functional large-scale systems. We need solutions now because we have seen through recent events around the world that the effects of climate change are already affecting us.

Next we will hear that the government has no means to invest significantly in supporting further renewable energy development. We have funds to subsidize oil companies, we always have funds for wars overseas and we have funds for the high-speed rail link between Birmingham and London, which even the government regulator says is an unattainable goal. Lack of money is obviously no excuse.

And then we’ll hear that new oil and gas are needed to keep prices down. This really is the most absurd of all excuses. The reason renewable electricity is so expensive is simply because its price is linked to the electricity produced in gas-fired power plants. Why isn’t the government doing anything about this link?

No, this is just about votes. Perhaps the most inadequate and incompetent government we’ve had in a generation, if not more, is trying to save its money with short-sighted measures designed to appeal to its constituents. We can only hope that the general public will see through this nonsense and oust the government in the next elections. While an alternative hope is independence, this will not stop the appalling government of the “rest of the UK” from taking life-threatening measures.

John Palfreyman, Coupar Angus.

Read more: It’s Westminster that pushes the boundaries of democracy

The carbon capture does not work

I see leaders arguing about the delay in awarding the new carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility to Scotland. When the other two (in England) were awarded I was relieved that Scotland had escaped such a project being undertaken here.

CCS has been declared a failure by many research groups reporting on the internet. Thermodynamically, it is a futile attempt to reverse entropy on this finite planet.

John M Caldwell, Both good.

Flynn has a short memory

AS Local MP, Steven Flynn reluctantly managed to say something positive about today’s Good Morning Scotland (31 July) on the jobs and carbon capture announcement. However, he couldn’t help it and managed the two standard SNP measures that suggested the SNP could have done better or differently… “pulled out of the EU” and “transferred powers”. Like many SNP MPs, he forgets important facts.

Firstly, had Scotland won the independence referendum, Scotland would have left the EU before we did and we would have no hope of re-entering as Scotland’s debt is too high and we have no central bank. Secondly, we have a lot of devolved powers, for example through the NHS, roads and ferries, and for the SNP to address these issues would not give confidence to the public in their ability to implement a carbon capture scheme.

elizabeth hands, Armadale.

The facts about heat pumps

I was a little surprised by YOUR front-page report today (“Half of Scots back Harvie’s plan to phase out gas boilers”, The Herald, 31 July).

Were the 2026 respondents to the Survation survey commissioned by WWF Scotland told that heat pumps run on electricity, which is currently the most expensive way to heat a home? Have they been told that they are least efficient and most expensive to run when running at full power in really cold weather? Have they been told they’re ugly, cumbersome, and loud enough to make your windows rattle, especially when installed in clusters in cities? Were they told that for most people the installation would require fitting an additional or even complete replacement of their radiators? Were they told where the £33billion Mr Harvie estimates it would cost would come from?

Note that Scotland’s total annual budget is around £50 billion. Do I have to keep going?

robert dickson, Galston.

• Today’s headline reminded me of the old saying “There are lies, damn lies and statistics”. And on top of that, you can add “polls”. I find it hard to believe that a human study in 2026 could result in half the Scottish public supporting a plan to phase out gas boilers.

It is unfortunate that the survey did not expand to look for existing heat pump users, where conventional wisdom suggests that 50% would happily throw them away and return to warm, quiet and reliable gas.

For reasons best known to developers, Stirling is currently experiencing an amazing boom in new build housing and a few phone calls have revealed they are all being sold with gas heating.

Andy Trombala, Stirling.

It’s about quick money

NEIL Mackay was right when, in a recent article, he pointed to humanity’s “suicidal short-termism” and its inability to hold views other than short-term (“Will we yell about eco-fanatics when Scotland is under water?”). , The Herald, July 25).

Although Mr. Mackay’s remarks dealt primarily with climate change, his point of view could be extended to many areas of social and economic life. Many problems, even crises in our society can be traced back to this way of thinking: health, social welfare, transport, education, housing, environment. For example, CalMac’s inadequate and aging ferry fleet is a symptom of this malaise. Another consequence is the serious impact of bed blocking on social welfare.

However, this system is not emerging in a vacuum, it is the result of a predatory capitalism dominated by speculation, hedge funds, private equity and the quest for quick bucks. As an economic system, it is incapable of solving mankind’s greatest problems. This is in no way to underestimate the important role that small and medium-sized enterprises have to play in our economy. The problem is big business and financial speculation.

Of course, this system is most closely associated with the Tories. We have seen ample evidence, such as Covid treaties, that Nye Bevan’s characterization of the Tories as “organized spies” is true. Unfortunately, as a former Labor voter, I am aware that this rapacity and unbridled greed reached its peak under New Labour. The vocabulary of toxic assets, subprime mortgages, negative equity, short selling, banks selling ‘products’ and the grandfather of all, self-certified mortgages came to the fore when New Labor ran the Treasury.

With the UK general election approaching, I am neither enthusiastic nor inclined to return to the Labor Party. I see no evidence that Sir Keir Starmer and his team considered what went wrong between 1997 and 2010, let alone have an analysis of the system that inevitably collapsed in 2008. They are too busy organizing a break with progressive politics.

brian harvey, Hamilton.

The failure of communism

JOHN Milne (Letters, July 31) is absolutely right when he thinks that the current form of capitalism needs to be replaced. I suspect that Karl Marx is ruminating in his grave as he sees how communism in Russia has failed to remedy capitalism’s shortcomings. The fact that we have the computing power to make communism work must be even more annoying to Marx.

Sandy Gemmill, Edinburgh.