Sir, Sadly, a fatal road accident occurred at Onich on the A82 Glasgow/Fort William trunk road on Tuesday afternoon.
This resulted in all northbound traffic being diverted from Crianlarich to Perth via Loch Earn and Crieff, thereafter on to the overcrowded A9 to Dalwhinnie and A86 to Fort William, with southbound traffic doing the reverse, at least as far as Perth.
This increased the usual mileage from 51 to 154.
One must and I readily do express the deepest sympathy to the relatives of the victims of such accidents, and fully appreciate that road closures are necessary to enable the police and emergency services to carry out their investigations.
But does it really require an eight-hour closure of a trunk road to enable such an investigation to be made?
Friends of mine who have served in the police, and dealt with such tragedies, always seemed to have the road cleared and traffic on the move with the minimum of delay.
Without wishing to be critical in any way, what really is the problem nowadays?
John McDonald. 14 Rosebery Court, Kirkcaldy.
What is basis of economy, then, Alex?
Sir, In Wednesday’s paper you published an article by political editor Keiran Andrews which quoted Alex Salmond as saying that Scotland’s economy doesn’t rely on oil or gas, adding: “It’s not the basis of our economy, it’s a bonus.”
For many years I have been aware of the SNP mainly through their endless pursuit of nationalism and their various campaign slogans which have at various times quoted the seemingly ubiquitous statement: “It’s Scotland’s oil”.
If the First Minister is now prepared to say that Scotland has a healthy economy without oil or gas revenues then either he or his finance minister might care to tell the voting public what this is based on rather than continue with the grandstanding political posturing which is becoming a trademark of them and their sadly deluded party.
Willie Robertson. Grianan, Lynton, Stanley.
Organisations must beware
Sir, On Sunday, July 21, Broughty Ferry New Kirk in Queen Street was broken into and considerable damage caused in the halls as the heartless thieves destroyed and ransacked cupboards used by local voluntary organisations.
Naturally there was no money kept in any of them but property was broken and damaged. The church is a charity supported by its kind and generous members, and provides space for many groups including Guides, Boys’ Brigade and toddler groups, as well as organisations for older members of the community.
We would like to make other voluntary groups aware of this in case thieves take advantage of the holiday period to launch similar attacks.
We would also be grateful if anyone who observed anything suspicious between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning would contact local police on 101.
Rev Catherine Collins. Broughty Ferry New Kirk.
It was only a news story
Sir, Where on earth are they getting television reporters from these days?
The latest example of the current hysterical approach to a story was the first view of the new royal baby.
This was a news story, but it was not a world-shattering event. They went way over the top, practically screaming out hundreds of words of useless information which was mostly guesswork anyway.
It seemed as if even though they had had months to prepare they became awe-struck because they were dealing with royalty, making themselves sound ridiculous and the young mum and dad embarrassed.
Let’s cut out the spate of words and become reporters of events again not hysterical hero-worshippers.
Ian Wheeler. Springfield, Fife.
Treat them all the same
Sir, I am very frustrated and irritated by the criticism of the likes of Royal Aberdeen, Muirfield, the R&A, etc, because of being single-sex clubs.
I have seen no criticism so far of the many ladies single-sex clubs. If there is to be real equality the ladies-only clubs should be treated the same way as men-only clubs.
I wonder how many ladies single-sex clubs would be prepared to change and welcome men in membership?
David Verden-Anderson. Lindores, Fife.