Sir, Andrew Llanwarne completely ignores reality (We should take the lead again, Tuesday’s letters).
Scotland has only 0.15% of global “greenhouse gas” emissions yet he thinks Friends of the Earth Tayside could “save the planet”.
Does he believe that other countries will follow his lead?
He raises the spectre of violent storms and floods but these doomsday scenarios have been overused.
As for selling our knowledge, would that include our wind turbines that are all built abroad, using foreign steel and labour?
He must be aware that the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima achieved nothing, as have all these conferences over the last 20 years.
Europe is now the largest importer of coal from North America.
China is opening one new coal plant every week and says it will not curb its own emissions until they peak in 2030.
There you have it, Mr Llanwarne, the biggest polluter on the planet will do nothing.
There are 2,300 coal-plants worldwide of which 620 are in China; there are sufficient coal reserves for 109 (or more) years.
Would Mr Llanwarne and his friends of FoETayside deny the developing world the cheap energy provided by fossil fuels to grow their economies and get their people out of poverty?
(Dr) Charles Wardrop. 111 Viewlands Road West, Perth.
Unproductive and impractical
Sir, The plain fact is that Britain cannot afford to entertain unproductive organisations such as Friends of the Earth, with their impractical schemes for curing problems that some might say only exist to keep them in jobs.
Malcolm Parkin. 15 Gamekeepers Road, Kinnesswood, Kinross.
Why has this taken so long?
Sir, I am absolutely appalled at the disgraceful delay of the publication of the Chilcot enquiry into the war in Iraq. It is completely inexcusable and an insult to the relatives of loved ones who died in Iraq. Do they not deserve to know the truth?
Chilcot has had six years to get this done and it has been nearly four since the last witness was called. How on earth can this have taken so long?
In my personal opinion I feel that this has been delayed to save the face of the Labour Party at the general election and if that is the case it is inhumane to put political careers above grieving relatives searching for the “truth”. To me this smacks not only of a whitewash, but a cover up of a whitewash!
Gordon Kennedy. 117 Simpson Square, Perth.
Remembered by statues?
Sir, On Wednesday my father would have been 100 years of age and just born as our brave young boys were leaving to go to war in 1915.
The very moving photographs in The Courier on Wednesday of our soldier laddies on the platform of Dundee station and the article alongside of Major Charlie Reid’s Black Watch Campaign to remember the boys with suggestions of a street name, made me think, would it be possible to have a few life-size statues erected of our soldiers placed on the platform of our new station in memory of the sacrifice they made for us and from the very spot from which they left?
“They will not grow old . . .”
If we can find an extra £30 million for the V&A surely a few thousand pounds to commemorate our finest of the First World War shouldn’t be a problem.
Would Major Reid endorse this idea as part of the campaign?
Ed Thomson. Camphill, Broughty Ferry, Dundee.
Thrilled to see eagle owl
Sir, I was thrilled to have the eagle owl land in a tree just outside my house in Blair Atholl the other night. I hope an over eager, macho young gamekeeper doesn’t shoot it, or twitchers come and disturb it, and that we have the sense to appreciate such a magnificent animal coming to our part of the Cairngorm National Park.
Eagle owls may or may not be a once native species; the jury is still out on that. However, if the former they are no more or less exotic than sheep, goats, pheasants or certain species of partridge, that are overtly, or covertly, subsidised by the taxpayer.
At least your feature article did not come up with the usual “burn-the-witch” scaremongering about them dragging babies from their prams and driving sheep farmers to bankruptcy.
Eagle owls prey on a wide variety of small mammals, including non-native rabbits, non-native grey squirrels, pine martens, stoats, weasels, and that “nasty” crow species that peck the eyes of wee, cuddly lambs.
They also eat other owls, buzzards and one of their favourite foods is osprey chicks. Quite a quandary for the “starbird” conservation NGOs and quangos.
Ron Greer. Armoury House, Blair Atholl.
Money could be better spent
Sir, I’m afraid it comes as no surprise that the V&A building in Dundee is now going to cost 60% more than what the people of Dundee were told at its inception.
In the chronic under-costing scheme of taxpayers’ projects, I realise that an extra £31 million on top of an original £50 million costing is relatively modest compared to the outrageous extras the taxpayer coughed up for the Edinburgh tram project and Donald Dewar’s Holyrood.
However, though I support the notion of showcasing Dundee, I wonder if these top-ups now being pumped into Project V&A by the Scottish Government and Dundee City Council could not be more prudently spent.
Dundee’s acute social problems are well documented. At at time when teachers and social workers are being told that there’s no extra funding, might it not have been better to have spent this money on keeping schools open and tackling the city’s chronic drugs problem?
We are told that the V&A and its shimmering new waterfront trading partners are not only vital to Dundee attracting tourism but also a predicted 5,000 new jobs.
I just hope my figuring out, like the Dundee waterfront accountants, is way off the mark but something tells me that most of these jobs will be low-waged, zero-hours contractual work which of course is only going to add to Dundee’s poverty and debt woes.
Jamie Buchan. Grove Road, Dundee.
V&A who is accountable?
Sir, It is sad to know that no one is really surprised to learn that the cost of a public building in Dundee is to nearly double before the foundations are even marked, and the long suffering taxpayer is to foot most of the bill. Can I suggest the city fathers open a book on the final price and that the sweepstake profits offset the costs?
The situation brings back horrific memories of not so long ago in Edinburgh, but my question is: who is accountable?
Project leaders all over the country must be shaking their heads as it will not be lost on them the long procedures of reports, pricing and justified demand on budgets before the approval of any board.
In fact if such a manager went to the board after months of negotiation to announce a geometric rise in costs because they were not aware of the design and had no idea about the materials to be used, their next project would be to clear out the desk they presently occupy.
We are hearing of a taskforce for the oil industry who have no power to reduce supply, increase demand or affect investment, but will cost a fortune for very little, yet the appointment of a talented construction manager to supervise public contracts could save millions of pounds.
Where have our priorities gone?
Alan Bell. Roods, Kirriemuir.