Sir, I read with interest your article on May 8 regarding Dunfermline MSP Cara Hilton taking Fife Council’s closure of my beloved former primary school Pitcorthie for review to the Scottish Government.
Her words seem plausible enough. However, as was the case during her election last year, questions need to be asked regarding the Labour Party and Ms Hilton’s roll in this whole affair. She takes “being all things to all men” to extremes.
Having two jobs as an MSP and a councillor is good for her bank balance but is clearly damaging her influence. Through every phase of this school’s flawed consultation and during the by-election she has maintained a stance against the closure.
Yet throughout she has been unable to get any Labour members of either the executive committee or the education scrutiny committee to agree with her, so they close the school anyway totally unabashed. Only SNP members have voted against closure from the start.
Something’s fishy when no-one seems to have any complaints against the school, it seems to be in reasonable condition and is ideally located. The only “fault” seems to be that some bureaucrat says there are too many primary school places in the area.
Well, pardon me, but is this not the area that has the largest new house build in Fife since Glenrothes was built?
Also, Pitcorthie is full to overflowing? So what is going on here? Does new housing not mean more children? Shut this school, disrupt a school full of kids and a year later we’ll be short because they’ve built more houses. Bring on the wooden huts again? Great!
It doesn’t need much imagination to see that the Labour Party want to close the school for reasons known only to themselves and then blame Mike Russell and the Scottish Government for the closure.
Playing politics with our children’s future?
Brian Macfarlane. 10 Beck Crescent, Dunfermline.
Hope it goes well, but . . .
Sir, I have read with interest the responses from people in the Courier Referendum Roadshow. As a Dundonian who left 26 years ago and an active member of the Parti Qubcois (Quebec equivalent of the SNP) for many years, it will be clear how I wish the referendum to go.
Qubec and Scotland share a lot more in common than many people realise.
One thing that I have noted in the debate from many people in the No camp is a lack of self-confidence. Fear, ignorance and negativity are powerful tools which Better Together have used to their advantage. I sadly believe, unfortunately, that this lack of self-confidence will lead to a threefold loss for Scots in the years to come.
A “no” to independence which will almost guarantee a Tory majority government (with none or few extra powers for Scotland) which will subsequently lead to a UK vote to leave Europe. I would be more than happy to be wrong on all three counts.
Ashley Watson. Directeur de Dveloppement des Affaires, Quebec.
Can we trust his judgment?
Sir, “Bluff and bluster” were the words used when Mr Salmond reacted to the unanimous decision by all of the UK’s political parties’ intention not to have a shared currency. “Oh yes they will!” he exclaimed when they reiterated that there would not be.
An “unpardonable folly” was his description prior to the eventual and successful intervention by British armed forces in Kosovo, bringing the Serbs vile and inhuman campaign of genocide to an end.
He described the pound sterling as a “millstone around the neck of Scotland” yet he now considers the pound as essential for a successful Scottish economy, and alluded to Scotland as a “nation of drunks” while praising President Putin. With this track record should we trust his judgment and assertions on independence or consider what he has to say on the subject as merely . . . “guff and fluster”?
Iain G Richmond. Guildy House, Monikie.
“The prize of a better country”
Sir, As a Yes supporter I have to take issue with Angus Brown (letters, May 8), who seems to think independence is all about the past and settling old scores. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Re-establishing Scotland as an independent nation is “project future” and how we can create a successful, confident, vibrant economy and a more sustainable and fairer society than the one we live in now.
After “yes” I may not see all the benefits of being a self-respecting, ambitious, independent nation but this is the very legacy I want to leave to my children. Scottish writer Alasdair Gray put it succinctly when he said: “A ‘yes’ vote means we can have the prize of a better country. It really is as simple as that.” I couldn’t agree more.
Douglas Chapman. 38 Pitbauchlie Bank, Dunfermline.
A leaner Kirk will survive
Sir, Thank you for the recent fair comment on the drop in membership in the Kirk. I am sad that good people have left because of the same-sex issue they have not been lost to the Christian Church as a whole.
I joined the Kirk as an adult because of the good work of minsters, elders and members in the communities in which I lived and taught. I am confident a leaner, fitter Kirk will be resilient and continue to be a good influence. Terminal decline? I think not.
Jim Gordon. 57A Keptie Road, Arbroath.