Sir, – I was at Edinburgh Airport on Saturday saying goodbye to family as they started their journey back to Tokyo.
The airport is undergoing some sort of renovation and the temporary system is a disaster.
Once they had checked in, my family members then had to go to the back of a long queue with their tagged luggage.
All airline check-ins were filtering into this queue so how far away your check-in desk was determined how long you waited.
It was basically a human conveyor belt replacing the normal luggage conveyor belt.
It was like being in a queue for a Disney ride!
The poor baggage handlers were having to manually lift every piece of luggage on to the only belt.
Surely a better temporary system could be put in place?
Eventually we made it to the security area where we said goodbye and then had the pleasure of being charged £18 for parking because of the airports’ bad management.
It was an absolute shambles at what is a peak travel period.
Elaine Grant.
1 Sheila Road,
Blairgowrie.
Election highlighted disparity within the UK
Sir, – I write in response to Phil Tate (Sold on the altar of Indyref2, Courier, December 27).
Mr Tate makes a series of claims that bear no resemblance to the fact.
It must be worth noting the SNP did not vote for the December election.
The Tories and Labour walked through the same lobbies to deliver the vote.
However, that election did highlight the disparity between Scotland and the rest of the UK.
In total, 90% of Scottish MPs returned at the election are pro-EU. 80% of those MPs are pro-independence.
We now face yet another government we didn’t vote for, intent on dragging Scotland out of the European Union.
The SNP won more seats from the Tories in Scotland than any other party managed across the UK.
The complete failure of Labour to have a credible and electable platform has meant Boris Johnson now enjoys a huge majority, derived largely from Labour heartlands.
How anyone can claim this is the fault of the SNP beggars belief.
Mr Tate further states the SNP spent more on the Shetland by-election than on the vote in 2016.
Mr Tate omits the fact every single major party in Scotland campaigned in favour of Remain.
And, as much as many unionists do not wish to accept, Scotland voted 62% to Remain.
That position should be respected by all, regardless of our position on the independence question.
But here’s the ironic thing; as much as the Liberal Democrats and Labour might wish to stay in the EU, they are prepared to stand hand in glove with the Tories to prevent Scotland becoming an equal European nation.
If Labour and the Lib Dems wish to retain their pro-EU credentials, they must accept that UK union and European Union membership are now mutually exclusive.
Lloyd Melville.
East Garden Cottage,
Duntrune,
Angus.
Indyref2 could spark unrest
Sir, – The latest fantasy is to think the EU will agree a zero-tariff, zero-quota free trade agreement next year, even if the Tories make no agreement to line-up with its rules in future.
Boris Johnson’s government is seeking to change Britain into a deregulated, low-tax, low-wage haven for big business off the shores of mainland Europe.
The EU fears that any economic and trade advantage it is able to secure in negotiations will facilitate trade war measures in the future.
Next year, the Scottish Government may hold an independence referendum without a Section 30 Order.
In these circumstances it cannot be ruled out that the Tory regime would seek to emulate the Spanish police’s bloody assault on peaceful voters in the Catalan referendum, and the repeated police crackdowns on mass protests in Catalonia.
These were carried out in blatant violation of international law.
Johnson is the perfect person to preside over the end of the UK.
He embodies all the negative national stereotypes and none of the good ones.
Alan Hinnrichs.
2 Gillespie Terrace,
Dundee.
Renewables power failure
Sir, – Yet again on Christmas Day fossil fuel allowed the country to keep the heating on and cook the turkey.
However there was an event which few people know about and it should serve as a warning.
The only renewables that can be deployed at large scale are wind and solar. But at 5.25pm on Christmas Day, when there was no solar energy, wind generation collapsed to 279 MW out of a theoretical capacity of 15,287 megawatts.
In fact wind generation remained woefully low for about 14 hours as an anticyclonic weather system passed over.
Meanwhile it’s freezing outside.
I wish the alarmists would go back to the original phrase “global warming”.
Geoff Moore.
Alness, Highland.
Game-changer for child health
Sir, – The approval of Golden Rice by the Philippines government is a game-changer for childhood malnutrition and blindness.
Golden Rice is the name for various varieties of rice, which have been genetically modified by adding three genes to produce beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A.
The World Health Organisation, estimates 2.8 million preschool-age children are at risk of blindness from vitamin A deficiency, and the health of 251m others are seriously compromised.
Growing Golden Rice could greatly reduce these figures. In Britain we have been fortifying wheat flour with iron since the 1940s and in countries such as the US fortification with folic acid to prevent birth defects is compulsory.
Golden rice just takes the process of improving nutrition a stage further.
We should welcome progress and be more opened minded about GM foods generally.
Otto Inglis.
6 Inveralmond Grove,
Edinburgh.
There is always tomorrow
Sir, – As we consign the last days of this turbulent decade to the dustbin of history its important to remember that for some these will remain the best years of their lives.
The pessimism of Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebels and others hides the fact that for more and more people around the world, life got better.
In the UK, levels of “life satisfaction” are at their highest since such surveys began while absolute poverty, unemployment, male suicide rates, cigarette and alcohol consumption are at record lows.
Improvements in sanitation, disease control, child mortality and nutrition resulted in African life expectancy rising by five years during the decade and at last it is starting to follow Asia out of penury.
To those for whom this decade was a joy I offer my congratulations.
To those who had a hard time, I offer the thought that tomorrow the sun will rise and you never know what a new day will bring.
Rev Dr John Cameron.
10 Howard Place,
St Andrews.
Christmas over for a few months
Sir, – Well that is Christmas over for another nine months!
Alister Rankin.
93 Whyterose Terrace,
Methil.
