Sir, The United Kingdom General Election will take place almost exactly 75 years to the day since Winston Churchill entered the House of Commons as Prime Minister and made one of the most famous speeches in the history of this country.
Memorably, he told the house: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
Our nation’s very survival was at stake and the message brutally forthright.
Times have changed and thanks to the sacrifice and suffering of my father’s generation we have since enjoyed unquestionably the most stable and affluent period in this country’s history.
To those of us who can remember post-war living conditions, we can only feel that to describe today’s population as facing the hardships of ‘austerity’ is risible and almost embarrassing to listen to.
The Scottish Government have successfully appealed to the notion of entitlement among a large number of the electorate.
The evocation of ‘blood, toil, tears and sweat’ has little attraction for these people whose mantra is more likely to be ‘want, demand, need’ and just for good measure, by the way, ‘someone else must deliver’.
We are encouraged to believe in a forgiving world order where security, wealth, fairness and equality is attainable by merely saying so.
I can see no evidence that the SNP has formulated a plan to deliver this Scottish Shangri-La.
The United Kingdom increasingly looks like it will be facing a period of political instability post election with no clear leadership by one party and disruptive elements determined to pursue their own agendas.
Churchill’s 1940s speech ended with a call that we would be wise to heed today: “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength”.
I hope the Scottish electorate will think long and hard before setting the cat among the pigeons.
Iain G. Richmond. Guildy House, Monikie.
Consider real nappies
Sir, It has been suggested that the reason more nappies and wipes are being found on beaches might be due to the extension of bin collection times in Fife.
It is perhaps too early to reach a conclusion on this.
However, it may be of interest to readers that Scottish Water at present runs a campaign to educate people on the problems caused by flushing items such as cotton buds, wipes and nappies down the toilet, while the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, the Marine Conservation
Society and Keep Scotland Beautiful, have received funding from Zero Waste Scotland for a secondary school project that will educate students about what can and cannot be flushed.
Also councils throughout the UK have been supporting the Real Nappy Project. Modern real nappies are very attractive and around £500 can be saved per child if these are used.
Extended bin collection times will hopefully encourage people to recycle and send less to landfill.
Isla Browning. 23 Braehead Avenue, Edinburgh.
Assess effect of buzzards
Sir, Duncan Orr-Ewing of the RSPB states (March 25) that “speculative optimism is misplaced or irresponsible” when applied to mountain hare populations.
He ignores the fact that his own organisation, together with Scottish Natural Heritage, display these traits on a daily basis.
It is time for an impact assessment of the actions of buzzards and their like, or does he think the public are stupid enough to believe that these predators have no effect on the number of our much-loved birds such as lapwings, grey partridge and curlew?
Too many predators can negate the benefit of good habitat.
Michael C. Smith. Threapmuir Farm, Cleish.
Kirkcaldy buses needed
Sir, When Kirkcaldy’s Tesco store closes, it is to be hoped that the remaining supermarkets, in conjunction with Stagecoach, will run a half-hourly service from the bus station to all the main supermarkets, right up to their main entrances. Also, what is required is new taxi ranks, again, close to the doors of the supermarkets.
Ian and Mary Forrester. 8 Bennoch Avenue, Kirkcaldy.
Curiosity of Gaelic spelling
Sir, Garry Barnett (March 31) makes an interesting point on Gaelic spelling.
I note that almost every railway station in Scotland has a Gaelic translation of its name below the English.
Is Gaelic the only language that translates proper names?
Bob Ferguson. North Muirton, Perth.
Danger posed by cyclists
Sir, I am becoming more and more alarmed by the discourtesy of cyclists.
They have taken to using headlamps with the illumination strength of car lights. No harm in that, in fact it should be encouraged for their own safety.
What concerns me is their failure to dip these beaming lights on country roads.
It is only a matter of time before a cyclist dazzles a motorist and causes an accident. Are these lights fitted with dip switches?
Robert Anderson. Kirkton, Arbroath.