Sir, – I find myself musing as to how many other readers of your newspaper are as sick and tired as I am at having their intelligence routinely insulted by Holyrood SNP politicians who are clearly out of their depth in the roles they occupy.
A classic example is Derek Mackay, SNP transport minister, who repeatedly bleats the red herring that the recent Forth Road Bridgefailure could not have been anticipated.
What a stupid, naive and irrelevant statement for a governmentminister to make.
No doubt thisutterance was scripted and spewed out asusual from the SNPpropaganda machine.
This is the same minister who contradicted himself within 24 hours of a broadcast interview concerning the surrounding facts as to why the failure occurred.
Of course the bridge failure could not have been anticipated. Had it been so, then obviouslyit would have beeneliminated during the design stages.
What certainly could have been anticipated was that if the bridge maintenance capital funding was cut by 65% and a professionally recommended programme for strengthening ignored, the resulting chaos associated with the closure would follow.
John T. Armes. The Mill House, Kemback Bridge, Kemback.
New bridge will help Rosyth
Sir, – After reading your report, Rosyth HGV nightmare (January 26) one has to wonder if a bit of local political football is being played here regarding the traffic going through Rosyth.
Plenty of other places have to put up with heavy traffic every day, year in and year out.
As far as the vibration and resulting cracks, can the homeowner say that there were never any heavy trucks passing through Rosyth before?
I take it that the house is an old house so maybe the foundations are not up to the job, taking into account modern heavy trucks?
Maybe a total ban on heavy trucks needs to be introduced.
Rosyth has a nightmare at the moment but the new bridge shall soon be open and its problem shall be over.
Roy McIntosh. 16 Wellesley Road, Methil.
Fife roads costs silence
Sir, – While we all understand only too well that our recent wet weather must have created havoc with the surfaces of all Fife roads, I am sure the recently stated repair bill of £95 million (January 25) could have been cut by quite a bit if Fife Council had not spent many millions of pounds over the years by laying down thousands of tarmac mounds on roads in the mistaken name of road safety.
These bumps are often ill-conceived or inappropriate traffic-calming measures and many appear to be built in the wrong places.
It must be obvious that re-tarmacing a road with such purposeful obstructions must cost considerably more than carrying out the same work on a road without such obstructions.
Some time ago I attempted to find out from Fife Council the percentage difference in cost for resurfacing a road with speed-bumps as opposed toan ordinary road but I never received a reply.
Could it be that noone had been askedto work out thedifference in cost?
Has anyone evencared about it in the first place?
Or worse, was itperhaps that no one was prepared to give that information to thetaxpayers?
Archibald A Lawrie. 5 Church Wynd, Kingskettle.
Oil question for Alex Salmond
Sir, – I have just heard that oil prices have hit an all-time low.
My memory tells me that this was to be an independent Scotland’s saviour.
Since you have, rightly or wrongly, employed Mr Salmond to write a weekly column, can he explain how he would have got over this minor problem, or will this be yet another traumathat the Westminster Government has created to block these nationalist chaps?
Willie Robertson. Lynton, Stanley.
Real cost of winning votes
Sir, – Over the coming weeks of campaigning, the SNP must do everything possible to keep its supporters in a state of contented denial.
That is not easy when experts like the head of the Royal College of GPs in Scotland remind us of the impact of the choices that the Scottish Government keep making (January 27).
Funding is limited of course, but the SNP have, year after year, pushed the real burden ofsecuring their popularity onto those trying to deliver our crucial public services in GP surgeries, hospital wards andaccident and emergency departments, school classrooms and the spectrum of otherservices provided by local authorities.
As Finance Secretary John Swinney squeezes funding of GPs and all these other areas in order to fund the SNP’s vote-winning universal benefits and council tax freeze, so the hard-working specialists involved are left trying to make sense of theresulting inadequate resources.
The message for usall is that universalbenefits such as “free” tuition and “free”prescriptions are not really free at all.
The very real costwe are all paying is in deteriorating public services.
The cause is that for the SNP, winning iseverything.
Keith Howell. White Moss, West Linton.
Wrong definition of atheism
Sir, – I previously stated that it is the right ofparents to have their children taught that Christian beliefs are true but no international human rights’ charter obliges Scotland’s state schools to supply such teaching.
David Robertson (January 27) claims I am wrong and implies the European Protocol on Human Rights confers such obligation.
It does not. It merely allows parents to ensure that what their children learn in state schools does not clash with their beliefs, if necessary by removing them from classes.
Mr Robertson’s latest definition of atheism as “the lack of belief in the supernatural” is wrong, since it is specifically an absence of belief in gods.
This is not the same as an absence of religious promotion, yet hepersists with his bizarre logic that a school isatheist if it does notpromote religion.
Is Glasgow School of Art therefore atheist and suitable only for atheist students and teachers?
Robert Canning. Vice-chair ofThe Scottish Secular Society, 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh.
Muslims should heed Cameron
Sir, – The UK’s Muslim population is above three million and rising sorapidly the question of integration must not be dismissed either by their leaders or the former equalities czar.
Trevor Phillips claims we should accept Islamic communities are sodifferent from all other British groups they are not going to integrate and if this meansghettoes, then so be it.
Donald Trump caused outrage by uncovering the fact that there are areas in England where if police wish to patrol, they must seek Muslim leaders’ permission.
Alex Salmond and the Left demanded the US presidential candidate be refused entry for unveiling the state of play in “multi-cultural” Britain.
The Koran does not proscribe the speaking of English or insist that women be masked in court and classrooms so David Cameron is surely right to ask for a little cooperation.
Rev Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
Confidence undermined
Sir, – Scotland’s construction workforce has grown 6% over the last three years but experts believe it has peaked.
The good news is some additional recruits are still needed. Lesspositive is completing public sector transport projects are not being adequately replaced by the private sector.
For the rest of thisdecade, the construction industry’s growth rate in Scotland is forecast at 0.5% per year, while the UK’s rate is 2.5%.
Construction activity is a reliable barometer of economic health and business confidence, so what’s going on?
While the SNP will deny the facts, the construction sector demonstrates, with neverendum hanging over us, long-term private sector investment is significantly more buoyant in other parts of the UK.
Why invest in acountry with theconstant threat of years of political turmoil?
Martin Redfern. 4 Royal Circus, Edinburgh.