Sir, – Our 92-year-old mother lives in sheltered housing at Inglis Court, Edzell, where for 20 years she has had a safe home with caring help on hand, in particular the tenant support officer service.
We four adult children constantly tell others about her wonderful Angus county care in her elder years.
When the sheltered housing opened, the TSOs were 24/7 live-in. Now, the current TSO service only runsMonday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.
Doing away with TSOs altogether will turn what is a safe and comfortable home into a soulless block of 24 flats.
This is not what any of us want in our vulnerable elder years. The communal kitchen and the lounge here are also under threat. This is where the residents socialise, something which is so important for the housebound and elderly in an outlyingvillage like Edzell.
As yet, the tenants have not heard how the council will be providing support for them with the total withdrawal of the previously provided services.
This is now having a major impact on them.
The priority should be people first, then pounds and pence. Cutting TSOs is short-sighted.
Margaret Smith, George Taylor, Elsie Cleary, James Taylor. 17 Inglis Court, Edzell.
Tulloch a good place to live
Sir, – I write with reference to your report on anti-social behaviour in Perth and Kinross.
The Letham andTulloch areas havebeen singled out forparticular criticism from some quarters.
This area has a population of about 15,000 and there have are around 1,000 incidents a year, or three a day.
In some cases, the anti-social behaviour is carried out by the same people on the same day. These figures also include dog fouling and reports of littering.
We in Tulloch have good councillors, hard-working community workers and we have one of the best allotments in Perth, planted by schoolchildren.
Tulloch is a good place to live.
At our last openmeeting the community wardens had very little to say about anti-social behaviour but we dowelcome the extra funding announced by the Scottish Government.
Harry A Pearson. 53 Primrose Terrace, Hillyland, Perth.
Scarred by tawse incident
Sir, – I write withreference to Gordon Kennedy’s letter of November 2 advocating bringing back corporal punishment for children.
Many years ago, as a 13-year-old, I watched a male history teachergiving a boy six strokes of the belt.
I don’t remember what the boy’s misdemeanour was but what horrified me was how much the teacher enjoyed it.
This experience has always stayed withand me and made me grateful that physical punishment is no longer allowed.
Ercell Carruthers. 11 Poplar Avenue, Blairgowrie.
Disgraceful behaviour
Sir, – I was having a very enjoyable evening in the Rothes Halls, Glenrothes, last Friday listening to Skerryvore and their guests entertain with their brand of Celtic rock.
However, my evening was destroyed near the end of the concert when the group announced that they were heading to England as part of their tour.
This was greeted byan audible groan ofdisapproval from the audience.
If this was not bad enough on its own, it came just after the group had said that they had met some fans earlier, at their sound check, who had travelled fromCornwall for the gig.
How embarrassing for Glenrothes, for Fife and for Scotland.
This is a group of performers who take Celtic and Highland culture all around the world and are rightly adored for that.
I well remember during the referendum debate and since then, the SNP saying England would be our best friend. Well it was not in the minds of a very largesection of the audience inGlenrothes.
What made this situation worse, if it could get worse, was that the audience was not a loutish group lacking in life experience. No, this was a group of mainly middle-aged and middle- class citizens.
This is what you get from nationalism. It sweeps up like a spring tide that no one can stop and starts ingraining itself into people who would never have thought they would behave in such a way.
I await Peter Grant’s condemnation of the incident. The Glenrothes nationalist MP was in the audience and I am sure he will not want to let this behaviour pass without comment.
David A MacKenzie. 12 Torridon Place, Kinross.
Refreshing honesty of MSP
Sir, – SNP MSP Nigel Don wrote an excellent newspaper article on the Audit Scotland report on the SNP’s serious failings in running the NHS.
He said you cannot blame the government for all of this. Budgets are tight, expectations and demand are growing and people need to do their bit by eating, drinking, smoking and expecting less and embracing change.
He is right. For example, treating the effects of Type 2 diabetes, mainly caused by obesity, costs £1 billion of the £12bn Scottish NHS budget.
Mr Don stated: “We know the answers. It is just difficult to accept personal responsibility, and that’s why if we are not careful we’ll carry on blaming politicians or NHS staff for not meeting our collective unrealistic aspirations”.
Of course, he did not point any fingers at his own colleagues but this is still a major departure by an SNP politician.
He did not blame Westminster or demand more cash.
If only Nicola Sturgeon could be this brave and honest she might get more support for thedesperately needed NHS reforms.
But there’s always an election or referendum coming up so she cannot take any blame oralienate her core vote.
I voted for Mr Don in 2011, but after the last two years I will never vote SNP again. I wouldn’t get the chance anyway; he was deselected inSeptember. Maybe he is too honest.
Allan Sutherland. 1 Willow Row, Stonehaven.
What Tories did to steel firms
Sir, – I congratulate Councillor Mac Roberts on his eventual understanding of what should be a fairly simple tendering process, although as a councillor, it is somewhat concerning that he required any explanation at all.
Unfortunately, his response drifts into the realms of obfuscation and misinformation, once again. To clarify once and for all, noScottish or indeedBritish firms bid forthe contact for thefabrication of steel for the new Forth crossing because there are no British firms capable of the work.
TATA, for example, make raw steel. They are not steel fabricators.
It is up to the fabricators to establish their supply chain, which could never have realistically included TATA or any other UK facilities as they are simply not able to supply the materials in the volume required.
I would suggest in future that Councillor Roberts conducts even the most basic of research into the differences between steel manufacture and fabrication before continuing on this subject.
There was a time when the Scottish steel industry would have been in a position to supply such a contract.
Could the member for Carse of Gowrie kindly remind us what happened to this industry under ConservativeGovernments?
John-Paul Bell. 87 Glenclova Terrace, Forfar.
Make cyclists pay to use roads
Sir, – Trevor White waxes lyrical about cyclists and is a great advocate of giving yet more space to them (October 29).
The expenditure on cycle lanes and cycle-related expenditure in Scotland is well in excess of £70 million andgrowing each year.
What are the motorists who pay to use our crumbling roads getting in return from the cyclists?
Every cyclist, or family of cyclists, should pay an annual licence fee and have a compulsory identification number.
A large number could be prominently displayed front and back on high-visibility vests.
Already there are too many rogue cyclists who break the Highway Code with impunity.
An offending motorist can be traced from his number plate but an offending cyclist carries no identification.
The cost of a bicycle, helmet and all the trimmings is expensive so it cannot be said that a licence fee would stop people cycling.
Why should the non-cycling public have to contribute towards the £70 million cost of cycle facilities?
Perhaps Mr White would lend his support to this proposal.
Clark Cross. 138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
Energy danger faces Scotland
Sir, – We should take it seriously when thechair of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Scotland tells us thatthe SNP Government’s policy is creating a gap between the electricity we use and that which we generate (October 29).
Wind and other renewable energy sources have their place, but it seems clear the Scottish Government is relying too much on renewables that cannot fully replace the power stations being decommissioned.
ICE (Scotland) refers to emotional and politically motivated responses to the options that are open to us such as wind farms, nuclear power and fracking, urging that instead, decisions must be made on evidence and resilience.
Something of a theme is developing.
In a range of specialist fields from education to health, from policing to energy, the SNP covers its ears as teachers,doctors, police andengineers point out the shortcomings of SNP policy choices.
Scotland is suffering from being governed by those who have become too used to maintaining a pretence that they have all the answers andthat everything will be fine if only we all follow their lead.
Keith Howell. White Moss, West Linton.