Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – Vicki Unite (May 11) and my old friend Jim Crumley (May 15) remind me of the pet shop owner in the Monty Python sketch who refuses to accept that the parrot which the customer has brought back is dead as dead as any proposal to demolish Perth City Hall.
Historic Scotland’s decision was expressly issued on behalf of Scottish ministers and is therefore final.
Yet they both still persist in flogging this dead horse. It is ironic that the very people who accuse those wishing to preserve the building of wallowing in nostalgia are now themselves living in the past!
How does Vicki suppose that the interests of the Chamber of Commerce are served by her refusal to face reality?
Why adopt a dog-in-the-manger, sour grapes, attitude, which can achieve nothing, instead of supporting a constructive proposal such as ours?
As for dear Jim, he knows everything about wildlife and the countryside, about which I know as much as he knows about property development and planning, which is zero.
His idea of a ”simple solution” is to spend £4 million of our money (which could otherwise be spent on eradicating several of the numerous eyesores which blight the city) in order to turn the central area into a building site for over two years, while many more businesses close, resulting in an open waste space as useful as the square in front of the Caird Hall in his native Dundee or that squalid nuisance called Festival Square in Edinburgh. It is as ”simple” as civic suicide.
What a tragedy if interested parties who were hitherto advocating urgent action now want to look backwards or else merely to procrastinate.
Vivian Linacre.21 Marshall Place,Perth.
Shame on those who are responsible
Sir, – The national insanity proceeds apace.
It has just been announced that when our forces leave Afghanistan in 2014 they will leave behind the greater part of our armoured vehicular force valued at c. £2 billion.
The political dribble in explaining this latest appalling surrender of our dearly bought military equipment ranges from bleating that the Afghan National Army will be more able to maintain law and order if they possess adequate armoured vehicles: otherwise, the paper-thin excuse that Pakistan will likely prevent the homeward embarkation of our army from Karachi thus requiring an unthinkable overland journey.
It is idle to speculate how soon the corrupt Karzai regime in Kabul, if it still survives till 2014, will sell off the £2 billion worth of our vehicles. But at a time when our soldiers are being required to pay out of their meagre wages for additional kit to remain safe in this criminal political expedition those responsible for it, and for this latest logistical felony, should feel black-burning shame for their conduct.
Alastair Harper.House of Gask,Lathalmond,by Dunfermline.
We need to look and learn
Sir, – I was interested in the comment by Drew MacFarlane-Slack of Scottish Land and Estates (Warning of beaver damage, May 17) that the Scottish Government should have ”all management options” in place before approving a legal reintroduction of beavers to Scotland.
There already is a reintroduction of beavers to Scotland in Argyll, from which there is almost certainly no legal, political or PR exit strategy, irrespective of what the Scottish Government might have told landowners to reassure them otherwise. One unintended consequence of that reintroduction is that the Tayside beavers will almost certainly have legal protection as well, and we therefore must regard this as a situation that we will have to live with.
A Tayside Beaver Group has been set up to monitor impacts, and advise on research priorities and methods of mitigation. We need to make sure that we find a system that works in Scotland.
It is very easy to photograph beaver-chewed trees and then say that this constitutes ”damage”. In terms of riverside woodlands, I have yet to see any instances where beavers have caused economic or ecological damage, although that is not to say that this will not change when numbers increase.
We will need to look, learn and adapt. I think we are capable of doing this.
Victor Clements.Native Woodland Advice,1 Crieff Road,Aberfeldy.
Must be seen in context
Sir, – I am constantly bemused by the scaremongering commentary on the supposed ”crisis” befalling the eurozone.
With the UK currently enjoying stagnant economic growth, latest quarterly economic statistics indicate that 11 of the 17 eurozone countries have higher growth rates than the UK. In Finland for example it was 2.9% and in Germany it was 1.2%.
This year the UK economy is forecast to grow by 0.5%, an economic growth rate surpassed by nine of the 17 eurozone countries. And in terms of GDP per capita we are eclipsed by 12 of the eurozone economies, including Ireland and Italy.
While we all seem to be getting excited about Greece and the threat to the euro, the Greek economy amounts to less than 3% of the eurozone economy.
The issues currently affecting the eurozone need to be explored in context, and if we in the UK are critical of this situation, it is maybe time we held up a mirror to our own economic performance.
Alex Orr.Leamington Terrace,Edinburgh.
A right to express views
Sir, – It is disgraceful and opportunistic of Jackson Carlaw to suggest that because the BMA is balloting members on the coalition Government’s unfair and unnecessary pension reforms, doctors are not focused on their clinical responsibilities (More than 10% of Scottish doctors still not washing their hands, May 17).
The BMA encourages doctors to comply with local infection control procedures and will continue to do so.
However, as trade union members, doctors have a right to express their views on industrial action and for Mr Carlaw to condemn them for this is completely irresponsible.
(Dr) Brian Keighley.Chairman,BMA Scotland.
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. Letters should be accompanied by an address and a daytime telephone number.