RICHARD Mowbray's assertion that the SNP are “collapsing” does not appear to be shared by voters in Stirling, Aberdeen, Irvine, Glenrothes and Linlithgow who returned SNP councillors at by-elections held only last week. Indeed, throughout the summer, the SNP has celebrated a raft of local government by-election wins all over Scotland.

Among his many complaints against the SNP Mr Mowbray cites under-achieving in universities, schools and the NHS. There are now five Scottish universities ranked in the world's top 200 universities, and a record number of school pupils passed Higher exams this year. And on holiday in Norfolk, while waiting in the queue in the local chemist, I found it quite shocking to see the man in front of me hand over his money in exchange for his medicine.

However, the most dangerous and despicable part of Mr Mowbray's letter is to accuse the SNP of “distasteful hatred of the UK” and “visceral Anglophobia”. The truth is that the SNP's membership includes people who come from all parts of the UK, and the First Minister, like myself, has English blood in her veins. It is not hatred to want your country to be governed by the party the voters elected, not by a party the voters rejected. That is democracy. It is not hatred to want your country to independently decide its own future. That is normality.

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road, Stirling.

RICHARD Mowbray presumes too much. Equating the latest “go” at the SNP over an otherwise typical instance of property dealing in Edinburgh to “collapse” and engaging in the popular media sport of fantasising about SNP-in-government failures, scarcely adds to any “portfolio” for the promotion of free market ideology.

Nor does Mr Mowbray improve his arguments when he warns of “both creeds” of “Corbynism and Sturgeonism” aiming at nationalising the banks and the railways, given that the politicians he ostensibly approves of had no qualms about nationalising the banks when they had blundered themselves into bankruptcy territory, and are untroubled by rubber-stamping the subsidies bankrolling the so-called private rail networks. It seems to me that nationalisation is more how you see it and how you don’t see it even when it is there. This is not to mention how “our” ownership of bailed-out banks is being transacted away by the same free market politicians without a by-your-leave from us, or maybe I missed a letter in the post asking agreement for the sale.

As for “pressing the button” re Trident it is my understanding that the US is the ultimate button-presser and Britain but an operative for any such nuclear procedure.

Ian Johnstone,

84 Forman Drive, Peterhead.

COLETTE Douglas Home’s article on the increased productivity achieved in Sweden by adopting a six-hour day (“Six-hour working day can be productive in so many ways”, The Herald, October 6) reminds me of the late Ted Heath's brilliant idea during his first miner's strike. Not long after the strike started he declared a three-day week to save electricity and of course to try to break the strike. It was in fact soon found that productivity hardly decreased at all. Three cheers to Ted. Unfortunately he did not recognise the brilliance of his idea and the country soon reverted to a five-day week after the strike was settled.

Now of course we have the "workers’ party" champion Jeremy Hunt telling the country we should work as hard and as long as the Chinese with their poor standards of workers’ rights. I wish he and his partners in crime would inflict this iniquitous sprint to the bottom on himself and his like rather than the rest of us.

Phillip Jurczyk,

Gormyre Cottage, Torphichen.

APPARENTLY Theresa May thinks immigration makes it difficult to create a cohesive society. Funny - I thought it was elitism and massive wealth disparity.

Amanda Baker,

65 / 1 Saughton Gardens, Edinburgh.

THE news that Scottish scientists are investigating the cloning of pandas to ensure the survival of the species ("’Hopeful’ scientists looking to clone zoo pandas”, The Herald, October 5) must be of great interest to Ruth Davidson. Given that the electoral process has failed to produce them, perhaps the researchers could turn their attention to the cloning of Scottish Conservative MPs.

Ian Hutcheson,

161 Beechwood Drive, Glasgow.

NICOLA Sturgeon isn’t having a good week.

As if scandals rocking her party in both Westminster and Holyrood weren’t enough, now it looks like Scottish Secretary, David Mundell, could deliver her – horror of horrors – devolved tax-raising powers a year early in 2017 (“Tories urge Holyrood to use new powers as early as 2007”, the Herald, October 6).

So John Swinney prevaricates by demanding yet more. He even suggests he’ll refuse the powers on offer. Isn’t it time he rolled up his sleeves and explained how he’ll actually raise £11bn that will no longer simply be handed over under the Barnett formula? This is the same SNP Finance Secretary who was to be managing the economy of an independent country next March. You couldn’t make it up.

With Jeremy Corbyn nibbling away at SNP support, the nationalists must deliver on their anti-austerity rhetoric, so they may need to increase income tax in Scotland above rates in the rest of the UK. Tax rises would have to form part of the SNP’s 2016 manifesto. Hardly a vote winner in next May’s Holyrood elections.

Rock and a hard place, Ms Sturgeon?

Martin Redfern,

Royal Circus, Edinburgh.