Sir, It would be good if solving Westminster MPs’ expenses scandals was as simple as George K McMillan assumes (letters, April 11).
The problem, however, is not primarily about systems, it’s about people and their integrity . . . and integrity at Westminster has been in serious decline for many years, as indicated not just by the expenses outrages, but also by the “cash for access” and “cash for questions” scandals, not forgetting the honours bestowed on political party donors.
To assess the integrity problem fully, we should also note the swarms of lobbyists at Westminster, pretty much out of control, many of them representing companies with close associations to particular MPs.
Equally worrying is the infiltration of the civil service and government bodies by seconded corporate interests attempting to manipulate government policies for their masters’ interests.
We also see senior civil servants resigning from the service to immediately join (at large salaries) companies whose interests they had been assisting.
When integrity and proper government have gone this far downhill, it is almost impossible to restore them, which is why many people are minded to vote “yes” in the Scottish referendum, because it gives us the opportunity to get politics back on track.
Alan Lawson. 1 Albany Road, West Ferry, Dundee.
I don’t think so, councillor
Sir, Councillor Bryan Poole wants us to support his Madras College plan (Courier, April 10), for a 1,450-pupil school on a windswept green-belt slope with a poor flooding history, on the wrong side of town, preventing the hospital’s eastwards expansion forever, with a complex drainage tank system and biomass plant chimney overlooking sheltered and other housing, bisected by a fenced-off right-of-way and with cramped sports fields partly duplicating Station Park’s but still dependent on it and Kinburn 1.5 miles away (therefore not even a “single-site”).
It would mean in-town school buses forever, and need several new traffic lights all the way up Largo Road, major excavations and site clearance and the relocation of underground pipes.
All this rather than avoiding all these disadvantages in favour of the available North Haugh in a value-equivalent fair exchange, suitable for building on the 1800-pupil Dunfermline HS template on the university’s building line just above SEPA’s potentially “at-risk” area (confirmed by engineers, geographers and hydrologists), with ready access to university facilities, and effectively a single-site via an easily-constructed underpass to Station Park (none of which are flood plain, under sea-level, or include a “heronry” as asserted to councillors!). I think not, councillor.
John Birkett. 12 Horseleys Park, St Andrews.
Why was this ignored?
Sir, It should be noted that after the publication of the latest UN-sponsored IPCC report on climate change, Ottmar Edenhofer, an IPCC spokesman at the subsequent news conference, clearly included nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels. This fact was ignored by much of the mass media commenting on the report and the conference begging the question: Why?
Nothing much is going to happen, anyway.
A T Geddie. 68 Carleton Avenue, Glenrothes.
Something not right there
Sir, It is disturbing to note that of the 4,350 onshore wind turbines in the UK, some 2,315 are in Scotland. More than 50%.
As the subsidies for these machines (£1.8 billion and rising) go either to companies abroad, or to already rich Scottish landowners, SNP policy would seem to be that of making the rich richer at the expense of everyone else, particularly the poor, by means of higher electricity prices, regardless of ability to pay.
Something not quite right there.
Malcolm Parkin. 15 Gamekeepers Road, Kinnesswood, Kinross.
Good enough for a refund?
Sir, At the SNP conference I noted that the SNP national treasurer stated: “I can say that our financial position is very, very good.”
Good enough to refund the taxpayer for the cost of the manifesto of SNP aspirations which was misnamed as a White Paper?
John Dorward. 89 Brechin Road, Arbroath.
Should be no need for these
Sir, In the light of Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement at Aberdeen that one million pounds is to be allocated to food banks, are we to understand that in a free Scotland the promised land of milk and honey there will be any requirement for such a facility?
G E Muir. 70 Abbey Road, Scone.