Sir, Why is anyone surprised at the sudden increase in the cost of the V&A? It was inevitable.
Were we to be any different than the gullible people of Edinburgh with their trams?
Would anyone take bets on how much the final cost will be?
The good people of this city can rest assured that it will only cost the tax payers an extra seven or eight million.
What a relief that is, it might only mean having to revert to using chalk and slates in schools instead of books.
The budget is being slashed in every department in the council, so why not delay building this monument to prosperity when we are prosperous again maybe in 10 to 15 years?
This would allow our councillors to concentrate on bringing much needed employment to Dundee, which should be their prime concern at this present time.
However, I won’t hold my breath as this council is famed for never owning up to mistakes.
If it does go ahead, no matter what the cost, can we have the reception area turned into a decent foodbank, please?
Lord knows by that time we shall need it.
Bill Duthie. 25 St Fillans Road, Dundee.
Copy Sydney lottery success?
Sir, So the V&A cost has jumped from approximately £50 million to more than £80 million. This is not uncommon in unique projects think of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, for example
I wonder if Dundee City Council or the Scottish Government has considered an alternative source of funding instead of pouring taxpayers’ money into the project?
I lived in Sydney Australia during part of the period when the Sydney Opera House was being built.
Most people are well aware that the eventual cost was several times what was forecast and, of course, the completion was years behind schedule. It took 14 years to build.
The finished product, however, is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. I have been in it and it is spectacular.
The total cost of the SOH was approximately $102 million. How much did it cost the taxpayers? Nothing, is the answer.
The project was funded by gambling, the Sydney Opera House Lottery. The money raised from the lottery was approximately $105 million. Tickets cost $10 each and first prize was $200,000 (approx £100,000). I bought a ticket faithfully every week and never won a cent, but that’s another story.
Surely it is not beyond the imagination of the DCC or the Scottish Government to introduce a similar scheme and therefore save tens of millions of public money?
Jim Braid. Anstruther.
Confident about original cost
Sir, What has happened to the world-renowned architect who was confident about a final cost of £44 million for the V&A? Is he going to speak up now?
Who is this guy who stands in front of cameras and says that, regardless of cost, the building will go ahead. Dundee needs it. Does that not mean he needs it, or the SNP council needs it?
We were told that only one or two firms in UK had the ability to build it. Rubbish!
There are dozens, even hundreds, who could build it, but they have restricted themselves to the most expensive firms due this bias.
Instead of fully designing the work and putting it out to real tender, they are probably relying on the contractor to more or less design the details, hence the high price and not even an apology.
How can the SNP continually rant at the Conservatives about poverty when they spend money like this on a museum for selective, posh people?
RJ Soutar. 37 Camperdown Street, Broughty Ferry.
We should take the lead again
Sir, Regrettably, we now have confirmation that 2014 was the hottest year on record for the UK and the Earth as a whole. Maybe now some of your correspondents will stop questioning whether the planet is getting warmer and we can focus on what needs to be done to tackle the problem.
Climate change is already affecting many aspects of our natural environment and our lives and this is expected to get much worse. Yes we may have more warm summers in Scotland, but how will we cope with increasingly violent storms and serious floods?
National politicians need to reach a deal in Paris in December this year that will lead to sharp reductions in future greenhouse gas emissions. And those who wish to evade responsibility because Scotland is a small country must explain how we can expect other countries to act if we don’t? Our per capita emissions are still much higher than those in developing countries, who aspire to our standard of living.
We can make a virtue out of a necessity, by making the transition from over-dependence on the North Sea oil sector into new technologies for renewable energy, energy conservation and techniques for adapting our infrastructure to cope with an unpredictable climate.
We can sell this expertise around the world. Scotland was in the forefront of the industrial revolution and can now take a lead in sorting out the unforeseen consequences of our economic progress.
Andrew Llanwarne. Co-ordinator, Friends of the Earth, Tayside.
No free speech in this country
Sir, A magazine such as Charlie Hebdo could never exist in Britain.
It would be shut down for hate crime and racism.
There is no such thing as free speech in this country.
Malcolm Parkin. 15 Gamekeepers Road, Kinnesswood, Kinross.