Readers' Letters: Scottish workers must knuckle down for success

It was hugely encouraging to read two articles in The Scotsman of 22 October: “After the approval of Jackdaw, Labour must now grab £50bn North Sea prize” by David Whitehouse, and “An Industrial renaissance can be within Scotland's grasp” by Simon Best.

Both writers see Scotland and the UK's potential to lift themselves out of the downward spiral we have been sucked into since the banking collapse of 2008. Mr Whitehouse urges Andy Burnham – he might have added John Swinney – to “build on the Jackdaw decision by approving Rosebank, unlocking a longer pipeline and creating the tax policy necessary to sustain investment and support homegrown industries”. Prof Best believes the Jackdaw decision opens the way to a prosperous future because we already have the seeds of growth; a “university sector full of experts in a range of subjects, many of whom have research outputs that may well be marketable”.

In other words, with the right financial support from Westminster and Holyrood, we have the skills and the workforce to lift the country out of the present impasse.

Jimmy Reid, UCS Shop Steward, at a Clydebank mass meeting on 1 October 1971 (Picture: Allan Milligan)

What's missing? Perhaps the inspiration Jimmy Reid, in his 1971 speech to the Upper Clydebank Shipbuilders, gave them. “We are not going to strike. We are not even going to have a sit-in strike… the world is watching us, and it is our responsibility to conduct ourselves with responsibility, and with dignity, and with maturity”.

If the money and political will exist, as Mr Whitehouse and Prof Best believe they do, and our workforce adopts Jimmy Reid's philosophy, I don't think there's a country in the world which can outperform us.

Lovina Roe, Perth

Fare comment?

In her rebuttal to McGill's Buses criticism of the SNP's plans to re-regulate the bus services, Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth stated that McGill's owners, the Easdale brothers, were “significant donors to the Labour Party”.

I would like Ms Gilruth to cast her mind back to 2006. At that year’s SNP conference a commitment was made to re-regulate the bus services. In March 2007, the SNP received a donation of £500,000 from Brian Souter (the owner of Stagecoach buses). One month later in the SNP election manifesto of that year the pledge to re-regulate the buses was nowhere to be seen. Not surprisingly, the SNP said there was no link between the donation and change of policy.

I will leave it to others to decide how true or not that is.

James McLeod, Glenrothes, Fife

Reform hypocrisy

The great Ken Dodd once said: “What a wonderful day to go into Trafalgar Square, throw whitewash over the pigeons and say, “See how you like it!”

I was reminded of this anecdote on reading of the defection of Amanda Bland from the Reform group in the Scottish parliament. Reform leader Lord Offord, rather than relaying his shock and embarrassment about the recent ITV undercover programme revealing the repugnant views of Reform candidates in England, chose to vent his anger at her refusal to resign her seat.

It has clearly slipped the Reform leader’s mind that Graeme Simpson had done the same thing some months ago from the Tories, while the Reform company in England had welcomed failed Tories such as Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick with open arms without suggesting they stand in by-elections. Given Reform’s dishonourable history of political defections, one can’t help but remind Lord Offord, “See how you like it!”

D Mitchell, Doune, Perthshire

Vote stability

John McLellan (Perspective, 24 October) raises an important point about changing the voting system to a form of PR. He notes that all systems have faults, hence change may mean “out of the frying pan and into the fire”.

All voting systems have strong points and weak ones – proportional representation may mean small extremist parties gaining a foothold; it will almost certainly lead to coalition government, which may be unstable; coalitions will be made after polling day, and decided by politicians not voters; there will be a programme of government not voted for by anyone.

Majoritarian systems, which lead to single party government, of which first past the post is one, tend to give more stable government. The faults of first past the post are obvious, so maybe another majoritarian system would be preferable – Alternative Vote system, Supplementary vote system anyone?

William Ballantine, Bo'ness, West Lothian

Test AI skills

Alyn Smith’s column on Scotland’s AI ambitions (Perspective, 23 October) makes a welcome promise: the proposed Future Jobs Observatory will study employment, skills and job quality.

It should measure one additional outcome. Ninety days after completing AI training, can an employee spot a convincing error, explain the correction and finish the task without relying blindly on the system?

An employer could test this through an ordinary anonymised work example. Give a trainee an AI-prepared customer response, technical summary or scheduling decision containing one realistic mistake. Ask what they would check, whom they would consult and what they would change.

The September 2026 US Census research on firms’ AI exposure and adoption reinforces a useful distinction: the presence of AI opportunities tells us little about what workers actually learn to do.

Scotland’s economic ambitions deserve measures of human capability alongside company investment and model use.

Publish the results by sector and career stage, then direct funding toward training that closes the gaps.

Gleb Tsipursky, PhD, Columbus, Ohio, United States

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