Madam, – I have been following Prime Minister Theresa May’s chaotic attempt at trying to broker a deal to leave the EU which is acceptable to Parliament.
This is impossible. Labour will never vote for a Tory deal and vice versa, and the European Research Group (ERG) do not have enough MPs.
The solution therefore is to give it back to the people to decide.
Not by a binary choice but by the method that the Tories use to elect their leader.
There would be three questions on the ballot paper.
Leave with no deal, leave with Mrs May’s deal or remain in the EU.
If there is no outright winner then the lowest polled choice is removed and the other two fight it out.
This is too serious a situation to leave to Parliament. Party loyalty comes into play and there are whipped votes.
This decision can affect generations and the three question choice covers most options.
If the civil servants put all arms to the mast then I’m sure we could have an election before the EU elections in June.
Dan Kelly.
1 Old Craigie Rd,
Dundee.
Huge potential for destruction
Madam, – The Scottish Government has finally decided to give the beavers protected status, thus ensuring the destruction of valuable agricultural land can continue more or less unchecked.
The environment secretary has ridiculed those who opposed the decision, refusing to send in “kill squads” to remove these rodents, stating she did not recognise the “somewhat apocalyptic” view put forward.
I suggest she search the internet for “beavers in South America”.
The results are frightening
The search results disclose that 50 imported beavers were introduced to Cami Lake, Argentina, in 1946.
As here, there are no natural predators to control the population which, in 2011, was estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000 individuals.
It will probably be more by now.
The result of their activities is described in Wikpedia as being “akin to having bulldozers thrashing through the area.”
Far from increasing bio-diversity they have diminished it by laying waste to a huge area of forest.
Their continued expansion now threatens the Tierra Del Fuego national park and 16,000,000 hectares of forest. In addition their dam building has flooded areas that were producing food.
I find it astonishing the minister responsible for the decision to protect the beaver population in Scotland seems to be ignorant of the potential for destruction which will flow from it.
George Thomson.
44 Viewforth Place,
Pittenweem.
Out vote means UK has to leave
Madam, – All I hear at the moment is deal, deal, deal.
I am sorry, but I cannot remember that word on the 2016 ballot paper.
I also hear Mr Corbyn banding words around like crisis, chaos and other inflammatory statements.
May I remind those too young to remember, we have been through two world wars, national strikes, rationing, multi conflicts, recessions, financial downturns, along with many more problems that some have forgotten. But we are still here.
I think we have paid our dues to Europe and proof of that lies in the many military cemeteries in said area, notwithstanding being the second biggest contributor to the European pot.
I voted to stay but will abide by the majority who voted to go.
If we go down the road of this area voted no and this area voted yes, where will it end?
The ballot paper said Leave or Stay.
There was nothing about deals for those who wish to hang on to what they have. Out is out.
Rob Scott.
13 Hawthorn Street,
Methil.
Lay the blame where it belongs
Madam, – Instead of pointing out the deficiencies in the UK Government’s handling of the Brexit negotiations, Jenny Hjul uses her As I See It column (Courier, March 20) as an excuse to pontificate on the supposed division in the SNP and fails to point out where the real division is.
She could attack the fact that this hapless government has wasted almost three years of precious negotiating time creating the bourach of all bourachs in what was described by a leading government figure as “the easiest deal to negotiate in history”.
She could stress the impasse at Westminster seems to have no solution except The PM’s deal or no deal.
She could have described the fact that the May deal, in both guises, has gone down in history as the worst and fourth worst defeats in voting records in the House of Commons.
But no.
Once again Ms Hjul uses her column to peddle her opinion on this fictitious “civil war” in the SNP instead of the real battle which is being waged in the ranks of the Tories.
Come on Jenny. Change the record and start laying the blame where it belongs, at Theresa May’s door.
Graham Smith.
Charles Avenue,
Arbroath.
Treat staff better than patients
Madam, – Regarding the sudden closure of Fernbrae hospital, I can only hope that BMI Healthcare give more consideration to their staff than they are showing to their patients.
Three weeks ago I had a consultation there before booking a hip replacement operation on April 9.
Now the operation has been cancelled.
It is possible to have the operation at another of BMI’s hospitals, but the original consultation will not be accepted, necessitating another one and another payment of £200.
This seems a strange way of “looking after our patients” as BMI is quoted. I hope the staff receive better treatment.
Alison Gibson.
5 Park Road,
Dundee.
Outlandish Outlander
Madam, – In The Courier of March 18 there was an article by Mike Donachie with which I found myself in complete agreement (Scotland is so much more than titillation in tartan).
I watched part of Outlander but turned it off when I saw so many occasions which were very much non-Scottish and totally inaccurate.
Why was Scotland chosen? Why not Devon using the traditional bucolic characters?
I thought ‘Hollywood Scots’ were confined to that fanciful airt, but I was wrong.
James Gordon.
41 Saint Vincent Court,
Broughty Ferry.
Land ownership conundrum
Madam, – Who owns Scotland? It is certainly not the Scots.
Working in Holland and talking to Dutch farmers and Danish inspectors they were amazed that any one with money can buy any land they like in Scotland.
The Dane I spoke with said if they had not stopped sales the Germans would have owned all the houses on the coast.
Here we have a similar situation with holiday homes where the local young people have to move out of the village as they can’t compete.
Then there are the vast estates. One landowner is building a fence around his estate and putting wolves inside and Scots will be kept out.
Our SNP government should put a halt to this as others will follow suit.
John G Phimister.
63 St Clair Street,
Kirkcaldy.
