Sir, – I am grateful to Doug McLaren for rectifying the error that alleged the electric taxi fleet in Dundee had saved 300,000 tonnes of emissions when it should have been calculated as only 150 tonnes (February 24).
As one of the climate deniers he mentions, may I make some observations?
In Linlithgow there are two charging points for electric cars which provide free electricity but have only been used 11 times in a year.
Those people also got free parking but these two spaces were denied to those who cannot afford an electric car.
All the costs of being green appear to be wasted since a report this week in the journal Nature Climate Change acknowledges there has been a global warming slowdown from 2000 to 2014.
This at the time when greenhouse gas emissions were rising dramatically.
The authors show there is a mismatch between what the climate computer models used by other scientists are producing and what the observations of the authors of the paper in the journal are showing.
Dodgy computers or financially compromised scientists?
Clark Cross. 138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
So where arethe refugees?
Sir, – I refer to Charles Wilson’s letter (February 22) where he questions how many politicians have carried out their willingness to house refugees/migrants in their homes.
I seem to recall a highly important Scottish politician being prepared to house some of these unfortunates.
Despite waiting eagerly for a photograph of this politician in the media welcoming some of these people there has been none and I buy newspapers every day.
Many politicians live in affluent areas but my guess is that they would be extremely alarmed if any of these poor people moved in next door.
Let us hope that the general public realise that some politicians make these statements simply to improve their image.
Alex McLaren. Rosslyn Cottage, Cairneyhill, Bankfoot.
Migrants may have IS link
Sir, – I agree with your correspondent Colin Cookson. I am 83, worked in heavy construction all over the country and was never unemployed.
If there was no work on your doorstep, you travelled to where the work was.
In relation to all the migrants coming into Europe and specifically this country, does the Government not realise that a percentage of these people will be IS as this is an easy way for them to get into this country. I think that IS is supplying the boats and collecting money from these people.
Ronald M. Balfour. Little Dunning, Abbots Walk, Crieff.
We don’t need to see Savile’s face
Sir, – I am sure I am not alone in wondering why every report of Jimmy Savile’s appalling behaviour is accompanied in newspapers and television news reports with a picture of him, usually leering at the reader, often with a big cigar sticking out his mouth.
It makes my skin crawl. What must it do to his victims?
Please media people, stop the pictures. We all know what he looks like and most of us are trying to forget it anyway.
Derek Byrne. Teach na Cluana, Flocklones Hamlet, Invergowrie.
Red flags next from Mackay?
Sir, – I note transport minister Derek Mackay is encouraging local authorities to impose ever more 20mph zones in their towns and cities.
What can we expect as a next step? A requirement for a man (or woman) to walk in front of a vehicle waving a red flag?
GM Lindsay. Whinfield Gardens, Kinross.
League key for Dee, not cup
Sir, – I may be an overly cautious Dundee FC fan but I think your sports editor Eric Nicolson is getting carried away by thinking fans would take a victory over Rangers in the cup rather than a victory over Inverness in the league.
A victory over Rangers would be nice but has he had a good look at the league table? Dundee are only six points clear of second bottom.
He stated a defeat to Inverness would leave plenty of time to recover in the league, so he must assume Dundee’s next three fixtures after Saturday’s draw against ICT against Celtic, Hearts, and Dundee United are easy pickings. Dream on.
In the long term the league is far more important than the cup.
Robert Thomson. 35 Lindsay Gardens, St Andrews.
Time to look to future, not past
Sir, – During the 2014 independence campaign I led more than 100 Better Together volunteers in an area of Edinburgh which is home to tens of thousands of people.
Over that summer each volunteer I trained was told that our message was that a no vote was about securing more powers for Holyrood.
This was the vow we made on literally thousands of doorsteps.
Eighteen months later it is now clear that the vow has been delivered with the negotiations on the Fiscal Framework reaching a successful conclusion.
As John Swinney said on BBC Radio Scotland: “The Smith Commission report has been delivered”. And as Nicola Sturgeon said in
Holyrood: “This deal will ensure that funding for Scotland will not be changed without the Scottish Government’s agreement.”
This is what Scotland voted for in 2014.
As the party of government, it fell to the SNP to ensure that more powers were delivered while ensuring “not a penny” is taken from the Scottish Government’s budget.
The SNP’s role is ironic given the financial ruin that would have come with their preferred referendum outcome.
An outcome which no independent fiscal analysis has shown would be in Scotland’s interests.
We cannot, however, let more powers and fiscal agreements be the end point of Scotland’s political enlightenment.
The SNP have shown themselves to be a timid government which is happy to tinker at the edges of the problems Scotland faces and manage gradual decline.
It is now time for the political class in Scotland to put their constitutional differences aside and draw up bold plans for Scotland’s future.
Let’s talk less about the 1707 Act of Union and more about using Holyrood’s newly won powers to ensure health, education and welfare in Scotland is fit for the 21st Century.
Dr Scott Arthur. 27 Buckstone Gardens, Edinburgh.
SNP’s agenda hurts education
Sir, – John Swinney had no real difficulty in getting his latest budget approved at Holyrood.
But any listening to the evidence presented at the parliament’s education committee the day before would wonder why.
By passing on a disproportionate level of cuts to Scottish councils, Mr Swinney has forced them to take ever harder decisions about critical public services.
Examples of the impact on our children’s education included loss of classroom assistants, transport and music provision.
It seems particularly cynical for the SNP to expect plaudits for targeting some modest funding at educational attainment for those from deprived areas, when the impact of their much larger overall cuts on council funding will likely squeeze
the education provision to all our children, including those in these less privileged areas.
Mr Swinney continues to protect the SNP government’s populist agenda, but it seems our children’s education is one of many areas that will pay the cost.
Keith Howell. White Moss, West Linton.
Sturgeon shows immaturity
Sir, – In a television interview, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon advised David Cameron to stay away from Scotland in the lead up to the European Union referendum (February 22).
Statements of this kind suggest an immaturity and a belief, like Courier columnist Alex Salmond, that she can walk on water. On can imagine the fury from the nationalists if Mr Cameron suggested Ms Sturgeon stays away from England.
RHL Mulheron. 28 Cowgate, Tayport.