Sir, – The decision to limit planned High Speed 2 (HS2) to England highlights the unfairness and inequity of a wider policy of transport concentration.
Even without reaching Scotland, HS2 will consume disproportionately vast amounts of transport investment to benefit a very narrow geographic corridor, a variant of discredited trickle-down theory.
The key irony is that this is being touted on the deeply dubious premise of bringing greater balance to the national economy, and the union.
More carefully considered and targeted investment locally and regionally could achieve far greater and widespread impact at probably lower cost.
Yet Scotland, already possessing devolved responsibility for transport, is not free of similar bias and imbalance.
Here in Levenmouth in central coastal Fife, with a catchment approaching 50,000 (1% of Scotland’s population), truly modest investment which could reinstate services easily to the five miles of mothballed line under Network Rail’s ownership continues to be denied while substantial sums are allocated to transport projects in already well served geographic corridors, for example, Edinburgh to Glasgow.
We are also being charged, through taxation, for the privilege of supporting transport services which do not reach us.
(Dr) Allen Armstrong. Secretary,LevenMouth RailCampaign, 36 College Street, Buckhaven.
Perth must move with times
Sir, – Jim Crumley (May 26) so eloquently put my exact thoughts about Perth’s City Hall into words.
The case for a civic square is, to me, obvious, as are our shared opinions on its style (or lack of it), interior design and more importantly placement.
For too long we have been bombarded with the opinions of the objectors so this was a real breath of fresh air.
I hope, furthermore that a great number of civic square supporters will be spurred into action to prevent Perth being bullied into accepting the views of those who believe that if it is old it must be saved.
These sentiments just do not apply in this case and complacency will get us nowhere.
I am, by the way, old enough to have attended many events there and even performed a great many times but that was then and this is now. Let’s move with the times City of Perth.
Lindsay Thomson. 24 Queens Road, Scone.
Don’t make Dundee’s errors
Sir, – So Jim Crumley has searched his archives and decided that another salvo against Perth City Hall was long overdue.
Just when we thought he had decided to be sensible and stick to reintroducing wolves, bears and dinosaurs.
This time, he refers to a “cuboid of dressed stone”, much like Dundee’s Caird Hall, in fact.
I would have thought that anyone from Dundee would have learned a little bit about catastrophic demolition of heritage in the 1960s.
To wish it on Perth seems a little unkind.
Neil Foston. 47 Arbroath Road, Carnoustie.
Religion created many atheists
Sir, – If Stuart Wishart (May 27) cares to look at communism more closely, he will see that it mimics religion in its prime facets.
Communism merely replaces an omnipotent god with an omnipotent state, and has its prophets, sacred texts, inquisitions, pogroms, blasphemy laws, leader devotion, forced worship, and beatification and indoctrination rituals in common with religion.
It differs in one important respect. There is no central atheist text that commands unbelievers to kill infidels and unbelievers, on promise of an afterlife in paradise.
The historian Simon Sebag Montefiore notes in his 2007 work, Young Stalin, that it was in his Tiflis seminary that Stalin learned “exactly the repressive tactics: surveillance, spying, invasion of inner life and violation of feelings, in Stalin’s own words, that he would recreate in his Soviet police state.
That doesn’t excuse Stalin’s crimes, of course, but it does give one cause to wonder how differently things might have turned out had Stalin never wanted to be a priest.
Montefiore also reports another former seminarian and contemporary of Stalin stating that no other school produced as many atheists as Tiflis.
Given the dominance of organised religion throughout history, it is a shame but perhaps no surprise that communism did no more than copy its constructs and methods to achieve its aims.
Alistair McBay. National Secular Society, 5 Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh.
Nor harm in being sociable
Sir, – I read the letter from D. Morrison of Coupar Angus (May 28) about the problem at the checkout, with people talking to the checkout operator.
Did your correspondent ever think that the person at the checkout may be the only person said person would talk to that day.
One needs to think out of the box and realise not every one is fortunate to have a family to talk to on their return from shopping.
I for one think your correspondent should use the self-service checkout and not be sociable.
Linda Reid. 18 Wharry Road, Alva
Dangers posed by intolerance
Sir, – A recent correspondent appeared to be expressing support for the Asher gay cake bakery owners to be allowed to discriminate against people that they disapprove of.
Their freedom of speech is not being restricted and neither is their freedom to believe.
Their freedom to discriminate is being restricted and this is an acceptable restriction of freedom in order to maintain the freedom of others in the interests of a civilised society.
Allow anybody to not provide service to someone that they disapprove and the door is opened to, for example, discrimination of non-whites.
We can either live in a society where we all have maximum freedom and ultimately all end up being enslaved by each other in our attempts to always have everything our own way, or we can have maximum freedom in private which hurts nobody and limited freedom and tolerance of others and their opinions in public.
Christopher Martin. 166 Cedar Drive, Perth.
Ninewells staff take a bow
Sir, – I was recently admitted to Ninewells Hospital for four nights while undergoing tests at the photobiology unit and received outstanding care and treatment.
It was of the highest standard at all times.
The staff of ward 24 did a thorough job looking after their patients and creating a comfortable environment and atmosphere.
They are all a credit to themselves, the hospital and the NHS.
The food was excellent too.
Russell Steele. Finnart Crescent, Gourock.
Recognising our volunteers
Sir, – As we mark Volunteers’ Week until June 7, there is no better time for our unsung Scottish heroes to be recognised for their efforts.
Organisations, like The Boys’ Brigade, rely heavily on the donation of time, skills and creativity, our volunteers give.
They are crucial in our success in reaching out and making a difference to the lives of children and young people across Scotland.
These volunteers come from all walks of life and not one of them seeks reward; instead they go about their good work quietly, continuously performing an invaluable service for the benefit of future generations.
As part of our award programmes our members also volunteer across the country, particularly when working for their Queen’s Badge or Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
This week we are celebrating around 600 young men gaining the Queen’s Badge this session, having put in an amazing 40,000 hours of volunteering.
Currently The Boys’ Brigade in Scotland has 4,500 volunteers who help care for 20,000 young people across Scotland.
We would like to pay tribute to all our volunteers who have supported us and enabled the organisation to grow over the past year, and there’s always room for more.
Bill Stevenson, Director, Scotland, The Boys’ Brigade, Carronvale House, Larbert.
Danger of voting system change
Sir, – Bob Tennant (May 26) came up with the usual attempt to prove that proportional representation would have brought about a different election result.
I would like to point out reasons why proportional representation is not such a good idea.
People talk about the first past the post system. That is a misleading way of looking at it.
In Scotland, for instance, we had 59 separate elections. Each candidate had to win the debates relating to issues affecting their own constituencies.
By so doing they won their seat.
The political party whose representatives won the most seats on aggregate won the right to form the government
Don’t blame the SNP for the fact that the SNP won 56 out of the 59 seats. It proves that the SNP and their candidates won the arguments and won most support.
A major downside of proportional representation is that if you automatically get a percentage representation in parliament without winning the local debates. The result is that you end up with a dog’s dinner of a compromise.
Another, more worrying side to proportional representation is that it gives the opportunity for the likes of extremist groups to enter parliament.
Would anyone really have wanted a chamber where far-right parties had influence?
Perhaps at some time in the future we could have a group advocating Sharia Law using proportional representation to get seats in parliament.
Does anyone really want a system that would allow that to happen.?
Harry Key. 20 Mid Street, Largoward.