Sir, – I know how Ian Barker must be feeling – sheer frustration at the slow speeds of the internet in Scotland.
I’m with BT and their internet speeds are atrocious, the same can be said of TalkTalk, Vodafone, EE and Sky.
If at all possible I would like Mr Barker to add my name to his petitioning of the Scottish Government.
Dr John Smith, Birchview Court, Inverness.
History lessons we have not learned
Sir, – I took a walk last week to Broomhill cemetery in Keith. 1922 was a sad year for the Walker family, two deaths in six months: my great-grandfather aged 83 and my father’s young brother, William, sadly at nine and a half, the victim of meningitis.
All this thinking about 1922 made me wonder what were the great issues of the day. So over to Mr Google.
Well, there were three: a pandemic (Spanish Flu) which killed millions and was still raging, a prime minister (Lloyd George), once seen as a hero but now disgraced by a series of scandals and immorality and a war being waged in Russia by a Moscow government trying to stop smaller states breaking away.
Sound familiar?
I got a phone call later from friends in Germany helping the Ukraine community to prepare for an influx of refugees. One of their helpers is an old lady of Ukrainian origin. She is 93 and her family headed east in 1941 to escape the Nazis and then west in 1944 to escape the communists, ending up in Frankfurt.
My friend was discussing the state of the world with this lady and asked, based on her wide experience of life, if there were any lessons which we might learn from history. The old lady thought for a minute and then said: “The only lesson we learn from history is that we have never learned from the lessons of history.”
As I look at those two gravestones in Broomhill cemetery from 1922 and at the world in 2022, I cannot remember hearing wiser words.
Murray Walker, Fife Street, Keith.
Aberdeen must look to the future
Sir, – Aberdeen has grown on the revenue from many industries that have come and sadly gone. The city of today has, in recent years, developed from the offshore oil industry revenue.
Whatever your view, this industry is in decline so it is more than appropriate that we take steps to remember the legacy left to the city by this industry. The Press and Journal of March 24 has devoted a considerable amount of space to an oil industry national energy centre or museum.
To that end Aberdeen should not miss the boat again, and go for George Simpson’s proposed oil rig tourist attraction as part of this national energy centre or museum.
Aberdeen needs to look to the future and part of that is to build attractions that will bring in visitors so that the revenue from oil is, at least, partially replaced.
If we do not, then future generations will look back and rightly ask why was an opportunity missed and the history of Aberdeen will be poorer as a result.
WHC Richmond, Kirkton of Durris, Banchory.
We have the best fish in the world
Sir, – In response to Stewart Wright replying to my shock at the TV comment about chippies using Russian fish.
I wasn’t criticising the quality of the product. I have visited Iceland and have sampled their seafood which is great.
All I was trying to convey was the fact that in Scotland we have, in my opinion, the best fish in the world.
Alan McPherson, Grant Street, Cullen.