Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, I was saddened, but somehow not surprised, by your Leader of November 21, in which you state that there is no alternative to the demolition of Perth City Hall. You also say that the final decision rests with Historic Scotland. Alas, even this may be incorrect.
Not content with trying to run local services Perth Council wants to act as developers, using public monies. We have been here before: in the 1960s and 70s, narrow-minded, Philistine, Labour Party apparatchiks destroyed many fine buildings.
This mentality is now being re-branded as the SNP, who are flexing their derigiste muscles. They will be organising the number of tractors produced ere long.
It is absurd to argue that budget cuts are a reason to flatten the City Hall, as this will cost the public purse over £4 million. What is going on here is the old ‘power corrupts’ theme that has been played out for so long in Scotland.
My head is in my hands at this unfolding tragedy for Scotland’s heritage. Is this the independent Scotland we will be asked to vote for?
Robert Booth.Simpson Place,Perth.
Building wouldn’t receive approval
Sir, With reference to the letter published in The Courier (November 18) from John Pelan of the Scottish Civic Trust, does he realise that if the space occupied by Perth City Hall were vacant, and a planning application was submitted to build it, Historic Scotland would, as a statutory consultee, refuse the application point blank?
The reason for this is that, in terms of their current protocols, the hall would ”adversely affect the setting of an A-grade listed building”.
That would be St John’s Kirk, which the hall has been ”adversely affecting” and preventing people viewing satisfactorily for about 100 years.
Cllr Alan Grant.Deputy Leader, Perth & Kinross Council SNP group.
Send the defunct nuke subs south
Sir, After the Tory government had spent millions on a huge basin at Rosyth to allow the refit of Trident submarines, in 1993 the then Conservative Secretary of State for Defence Malcolm Rifkind, who must have been living in some parallel universe at the time, managed to work out that it would be cheaper to start all over again and do the work at Devonport in the Tory heartland on the south coast of England.
Over the following years this cost thousands of jobs at Rosyth, but I’m sure the Conservatives managed to pick up a couple of hundred more votes in the south.
Now it’s a Conservative government again, or nearly, I think we should allow them to take all the scrap nuclear subs down to Devonport and break them up, as they really are a disaster waiting to happen.
You never know, it may win them a few more votes; then again, maybe not.
John Strachan.23 Beechwood Avenue,Glenrothes.
Tory tactics stay true to form
Sir, It should come as no surprise that George Osborne and David Cameron the Tory Burke and Hare representatives of the richest one per cent have decided to sell off Northern Rock to multi-billionaire Richard Branson for the knockdown price of £740 million. This represents a loss of £400 million to the taxpayer.
It is the same sort of fire sale of assets as in the 1980s when the Tories sold things for a fraction of their worth.
This is yet another example of the Robin Hood in reverse ethos which has become the hallmark of Tory governments.
What this sale masks however is that the taxpayer is still liable for the ”bad part” of Northern Rock’s toxic investments, which are estimated at some £20 billion.
The signal that this sale will give to the city hoodlum’s crooks and robber barons whom are the Tory paymasters who pay no tax is that they can pick up the good parts of other nationalised banks like RBS, HBOS and Lloyds TSB for next to nothing whilst the hard-pressed taxpayers will still be liable for the bad debt.
The Tories don’t think the bankers who caused the crisis should have any culpability for their actions. They believe that things should go on as before and everyone else should pay with a cut in wages, pensions and living standards.
Alan Hinnrichs.2 Gillespie Terrace,Dundee.
Thank heavens for a real tree
Sir, I cannot begin to tell you how delighted I was to see that Dundee City Council have once again permitted us a ”real” Christmas tree in the city centre, instead of the ghastly decorated cone of recent years, and that we are to celebrate Christmas again instead of some obscure winter festival.
I am now cynical enough to believe it is because of an upwelling of public opinion, rather than a sudden enlightenment on the part of local councillors.
The celebration of Christmas in Britain surely offends nobody, whilst the refusal to accept it seriously offends the many Christians for whom it is of prime importance.
Wishing Dundee a happy Christmas, in the true sense of the celebration.
Pam Smith.120a Ferry Road,Monifieth.
Good reasons not to bury waste
Sir, George K. McMillan suggests that land be reclaimed from the sea using waste materials.
I’m sure my constituents in Dalgety Bay, currently dealing with the radioactive contamination of their beach, could give him chapter and verse on why it is downright foolhardy to make up land using waste.
Alice McGarry.SNP councillor, Inverkeithing & Dalgety.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.