Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – I see from your business section (August 15) that Alex Salmond is going big on ”clean energy” buses.
I should think he will be smiling graciously on the Stagecoach Group being that the SNP got a handsome donation from its chairman not so long ago.
Mr Salmond is behind the times by more than a few years 35 in fact.
In 1977/78 while at a Dundee business college, I did a study on the UK transport industry and was very, very supportive of electric cars and public service vehicles (buses and trains) and indeed had correspondence with Sir Michael Edwardes, who was not only chief at BL cars but also CEO of Chloride who were Britain’s only builder of electric buses.
With regret, successive governments have failed to come up with the help for companies trying to make clean energy transport a reality.
The current bunch at Westminster want passengers to fund, up front, a clean railway system, while subsidising the train operators and other companies.
Dodged corporation tax is a subsidy by stealth. This country needs an integrated transport system, clean and cheap. You will not get it from windmills, but you will get it from hydro-electricity and wave power.
But look out Mr Salmond, when this comes it will make your oil pretty worthless.
K MacDougall.Logie Avenue,Dundee.
Time for a radical change of mind
Sir, – Mr Tom Fisken’s complaint (Letters, August 15) is well made about our council’s and some councillors’ attitude to such a wonderful asset as our City Hall, which has great potential for redevelopment.
They are ignoring majority opinion in the Fair City in seeking to kill two birds with one stone, ie demolition of an historic building and its replacement with a nonsensical civic square, fit only to attract ne’er-do-wells and rain.
The council’s recent record of a planned but failed footbridge over the Tay, destroying part of an historic golf course, the disposal of the Perth Agricultural Mart and the granting of outline planning permission for an incinerator by the river is far from reassuring about their judgment, good sense or financial expertise.
Now, they seem hell-bent on destroying a building which could house Perth’s tourist information centre at present so remote it might as well be in Methven and rejecting, without fair consideration, many other ideas put directly to them and in these columns also. They also discount the dire impact of a protracted demolition/building site likely to kill off the businesses of the already threatened city centre.
They ought to be ashamed of themselves and their would-be wrecking officials. Time for a radical change of mind.
They should, moreover, nominate people from their organisation with the insight and ability to take part in the City Hall’s long-overdue revival, for the greater good of our city and its visitors.
Isabel and Charles Wardrop.111 Viewlands Road West, Perth.
Historical point on sea ice
Sir – An excellent article on the history of the Terra Nova by Caroline Lindsay (August 15).
I would also recommend South with Scott (Collins, 1948) by Admiral Evans a lieutenant, RN, on Scott’s last expedition.
An interesting point from Caroline’s and Evans’ work is the reported variation on the extent of the sea ice in the Antarctic over the three summers of the Terra Nova’s support for the expedition.
Obviously there were climatic variations then, accepted as ”normal”. (There was also much coal-fired industry then).
It is interesting, to me, how much longer apparently a well-built wooden ship, could last than a steel counterpart.
I do not think Scott’s expedition was ”doomed”. Tragic, yes.
The survivors returned in the Terra Nova with good scientific work, Antarctic experience and high-quality photography.
A T Geddie.68 Carleton Avenue,Glenrothes.
Just the same old song
Sir, – I thought, on his joining in on the independence referendum debate, that Gordon Brown might have taken the opportunity to apologise for the disastrous condition of the UK economy he helped to engender.
In the end, however, all we got was another rendition of ”Scotland is too wee and too poor” to the background music provided by the McCannae Cringers and the MacDinnae Drivellers, led by Unionist bandwagon leader Alistair MacWulnae.
Ron Greer.Armoury House,Blair Atholl.
Wrong to use Hoy for political purposes
Sir, – As a nationalist I was disappointed in the initially lukewarm support for Team GB shown by my party’s leadership.
My disappointment was replaced by revulsion by the recent attempt by Gordon Brown to use Chris Hoy’s Olympic success to promote his, Brown’s, Unionist position.
Chris Hoy’s political views are his own business and he has chosen to keep them to himself.
It is offensive, if not surprising, that Gordon Brown should seek to use this success for narrow political purposes.
I also note that some have claimed that since a number Scottish athletes train in England that Scotland could not possibly be an independent nation.
Presumably, given that one of the most outstanding British Olympians, Mo Farrah, trains in Oregon, then deep in the bowels of Whitehall, someone is preparing the UK’s application to become the 51st state of the USA?
John Henderson.Roebrek,Linross, Glamis.
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.