Sir, In his article of January 21, outlining the ongoing saga of Rossie Moor, Jim Crumley very eloquently sums up just why the wind industry has managed to acquire such a bad reputation in so many parts of rural Scotland.
The nub of the problem is the insidious way in which industries like this beguile governments, decision makers and communities with their promises of untold riches which would provide jobs, secure energy supplies and better lifestyles.
When those expectations are not fulfilled and people have had time to reflect and take stock of the environmental amenities they have lost it is inevitable that those dreams are replaced with some resentment and a good deal of anger.
As a nation we should pay more heed to our history and learn lessons from it.
In 1973 the 7:84 Group took the Liverpudlian playwright John McGrath’s brilliant, very powerful and humorous musical drama “The Cheviot, the Stag and Black Black Oil” on tour round Scotland beginning in Aberdeen. I was lucky enough to be able to see their production when they reached Glasgow.
The story centred round the economic exploitation of Scotland, her people and its consequences taking us from the era of the Highland clearances through to the newly arrived “oil boom”.
He finishes off the play with the warning to the audience that it is their land, urging them to resist exploitation and warning them that they would find the oil corporations even more insensitive than Patrick Sellar the Duke of Sutherland’s factor who evicted the Highland crofting tenants during the clearances.
Very few could disagree with that perceptive warning now that fracking for shale gas and deep bed gasification for methane are threatening our seas and lowland areas which can only add to the damage already done by the proliferation of wind farms.
Marion Lang. Westermost, Coaltown of Callange, Ceres.
Exasperated by Fife’s roads
Sir, There are not many peninsular counties like Fife which have major road bridges leading in from both north and south, and yet after nearly 50 years of use, those magnificent structures are linked across Fife by the most pathetic maze of second-rate roads.
If those had been well-planned or well-maintained over the last 50 years we would have less of an argument that a main dual carriageway should have been built long ago to link those two most important assets to our county, but their upkeep has been truly pathetic.
If we choose to weave around the badly-patched potholes we still have to contend with sheets of water which cannot drain away because the roadside channels are just not being maintained.
The general public opinion of our road-planners is at an all time low due to a myriad of unnecessary speed bumps and ludicrous traffic-calming ploys that only serve to choke up places like South Road in Cupar.
There, we now see something that was always a difficult situation becoming far worse and more dangerous. Not only does the traffic now back up into Cupar across a road junction, but when it eventually exits from the town it does so as a chain of closely-packed vehicles driven by exasperated drivers. Those then head westwards towards Glenrothes trying to madly overtake each other to make up for lost time.
Fife Council road planners and those controlling the purse strings must shoulder a great deal of responsibility for the woe on our roads.
Archibald A Lawrie. 5 Church Wynd, Kingskettle.
Accident, not an “attack”
Sir, While I am very glad to read that Dr Stone is recovering from her accident near Fort William in December, it annoys me that the word “attack” is used in the article in The Courier.
I have, on many occasions, tried to get red deer out of plantations etc, and if they don’t want to go the way you want them to go, they will run right past you and that is in broad daylight.
The stag that “attacked” the doctor was only trying to escape and unfortunately the doctor was in the way. It is possible that the stag, having been disturbed, was confused by lights and people, and didn’t even see the doctor as it made its escape.
Emma Paterson. Auchlyne, Killin.
Listen to voices sometimes
Sir, I am glad to see Jenny Marra MSP announcing that “the Scottish Government cannot afford to ignore the voices of 45,000 people” in regard to proposed new laws to prevent human trafficking. (January 22). This is despite the fact that the “vast majority” of the responses to the consultation came through a petition organised by the Walk Free campaign and that about a third of responses came from abroad.
Rewind a few months, however, and it seems that Ms Marra is not always so willing to urge the Scottish Government to listen to the voice of the people. Over 53,000 people have signed a petition opposing the implementation of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill, the so-called gay marriage bill. Not a peep was heard from Jenny about listening to those voices; in fact she voted in favour of the bill at stage 1.
Like many politicians, it seems Ms Marra only listens to “the people” when she agrees with what they are saying. Like them, she appears to have forgotten that MSPs and MPs are elected to represent voters, not to push their own agendas.
Angela Rennie. Muirfield Crescent, Dundee.