Sir – I am dismayed at the council’s proposals for the beach.
My husband has partial vision and the only way to get him there is the easy car parking access.
Go down there and see how many people use the beach because they can park their cars. Improve what’s there, paint railings, fix stairways etc and let us walk along the front as always.
Am I alone in detesting so called “artists impressions”?
EM, Aberdeen.
NHS needs more attention
Sir, – Having spent most of the day on Sunday feeling pretty lousy with a recurrence of a pre-existing medical condition I decided on Monday morning that it would be a good idea to speak to my GP and discuss whether my current prescription required to be reviewed.
Given that Covid numbers are rising again I decided that I did not need to see the doctor and that a telephone consultation would be quite adequate.
I phoned the medical practice, and when I requested a call-back from a doctor the receptionist asked if my condition was an emergency.
When I said it was not she offered me a call-back appointment three weeks away.
That did nothing for my blood pressure. I told her that was quite simply not satisfactory.
She apologised, said that was the best she could do but that I could call at 9am each morning to check if there were any cancellation appointments available.
On the wall at the entrance to the medical practice there is a list of at least eight GPs who are allegedly working there. I do not overburden the NHS and I have not seen a GP in several years (my prescription arose from a visit to A & E two years ago) but there was not a doctor there who could spare five minutes to call me for the next three weeks.
Maybe I was spoilt in my youth. I grew up on the west coast of Lewis in the 1950s and 60s and between then and the 1990s there was a succession of three doctors who worked the practice single-handed.
They were on the end of the phone 24-7 and, in the days before mobile phones, they were unavailable only if they were away from home. One of them was even known to carry out minor surgical procedures.
I am not going to engage in cheap political point-scoring about the state of the NHS in Scotland but I think it’s maybe about time someone in authority reminded our well-paid general practitioners what the S stands for in NHS.
Calum Buchanan. Old Perth Road, Inverness.
Johnson’s lackeys ‘morally myopic’
Sir, – When Conservative MPs recently had an opportunity to evict a profoundly unpopular and highly-discredited prime minister who broke the law and then lied about it to parliament, they failed the test.
The 148 who did the correct thing were outnumbered by the 211 lackeys, cronies and cynics who chose to allow him to remain at Number 10, and in the period since we have been provided by further information which shows that they were morally myopic and politically foolish in allowing Johnson to remain occupying the office he has so debased.
His lack of integrity has been highlighted by the resignation of Christopher Geidt as his advisor on ministerial interests. Geidt was the second holder of the post to realise that trying to get this prime minister to follow rules on ethical behaviour is an impossible challenge – it is a sign of how far expectations of decent conduct have collapsed during the Johnson regime that few are surprised to learn he is considering dispensing with having an ethics invigilator at all.
This is a prime minister who casually flouted his own Covid laws and has also shown himself trying to deliberately break international law by announcing legislation to unilaterally recast the Northern Ireland protocol, which completely defies the wishes of the majority of Northern Ireland’s elected representatives, and seeks to undo the Brexit agreement that he negotiated and sold to the British people as “an oven-ready deal” at the 2019 election.
Amid the greatest armed conflict on our continent since 1945 and the most severe squeeze on living standards in decades, a trade war with the European Union is the last thing this country needs. It will fuel inflation and make it quite likely that the UK will slide into recession and yet, with all too characteristic recklessness, this government is risking exactly that.
John Reid. Regent Court, Keith.
No confidence in SNP government
Sir, – I must agree with Ron Campbell – it would be most unlikely that Scotland could “be conned by Tories”.
I wondered if his time might be better spent examining the evolving variety of unproven economic arguments currently put forward by the SNP?
It appears that the original utopian arguments presented in 2014 were examined and found to have completely failed to persuade sufficient voters.
This was carefully analysed by the Growth Commission.
They found the approach to be somewhat simplistic and fundamentally invalidated by a completely wrong guesstimate of the oil price.
A much slower and more protracted growth period with no guarantees and uncertain estimates was provided by fully and honestly evaluating Scotland’s current economic reality
However, it appears that Nicola Sturgeon did not like what was found as an alternative so currently there is no new current proposal. Instead, a fresh new set of 11 civil servants are generating a new proposal which may be ready sometime in the future to try and genuinely persuade and convince rather than con the voters of Scotland.
The overall approach currently seems to be dependent on whatever the latest grievances that will wind up SNP supporters the most. No serious straightforward attempt has been made to persuade any open-minded unionist or even a sensible, rational, mature, neutral-thinking resident of Scotland.
There is no quick fix. It will be serious hard work and I have absolutely no confidence in an SNP Scottish Government – particularly with a green tinge.
David Philip. Knockhall Way, Newburgh.
Buffer zones urged for eco-protesters
Sir, – Nicola Sturgeon has announced trial buffer zones around abortion clinics in Glasgow and Edinburgh in order to protect abortion patients from anti-abortion protesters.
Will she consider similar buffer zones around chemical plants, power stations and strategic roads to protect them from Extinction Rebellion and other eco-protesters?
Geoff Moore. Braeface Park, Alness.
End madness
Sir, – Great article by ex-councillor Muriel Jaffrey on the relocation of AFC.
Hopefully this will put an end to the madness of moving Pittodrie stadium a couple of hundred yards. Why not allow Pittodrie to be redeveloped now it has a new man in charge?
The capacity of the stadium will never be fully reached so best leave well alone and let common sense prevail.
Bill Lynch.
Boulevard plan waste of space
Why does the planning department feel it necessary to cover up or stick glass and concrete extensions on iconic buildings – just look at HMT?
The current building under threat is the Beach Ballroom. It’s a lovely facade, why spoil it? Judging by the many comments I have read I am not the only one who thinks this.
As for pedestrianising the Beach Boulevard, they really are closing the area to people who have mobility problems and where is the traffic for football fans going to go? The eateries and the businesses in the area might as well pack up and leave if this plan goes ahead.
At least the businesses in the surrounding towns will benefit as people will go where they can access the shops easily.
DW.
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