Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Readers’ letters: Wind turbines, bus passes and cancelled Aberdeen flights

Post Thumbnail

Sir, – Jeff Rogers’s defence of wind turbines is fatally weakened by his omission of deadly, real life features marring – indeed damning – these wind, or subsidy, farms.

Were they supported by pre-installation pilot studies? No!

Who would buy an untested new car?

Are there wild birds over Shetland? If so, their numbers and of other avian life will decline, minced up by these wildlife killers.

Are the turbines green?

No, when carbon dioxide (CO2) from foreign manufacturing, transport, installation, maintenance and eventual demolition is included. Their huge blades need land-burial.

Can consumers rely on them for continuous adequate electricity?

No, their intermittency demands baseload power back-up from fossil-fuelled sources.

Did the late professor of engineering at Cambridge University, Sir David MacKay, endorse them?

No, that government adviser’s disapproval was over-ruled by Ed Milliband and the like, despite expert advice not to touch them pending development of adequate means of electricity storage.

So, in electrical engineering, scientific and monetary terms, wind turbines are a disastrous mistake.

They still cost taxpayers a mint, despite their very many dire drawbacks – a terrible waste.

Dr Charles Wardrop. Viewlands Road West, Perth.

Rail perfect route for Highland waste

Sir, – I hope Highland Council are going to be sensible, environmentally aware, and see the opportunity to increase rail freight. The Viridor contract for five years with a possible three-year extension to move waste from Inverness to East Lothian is ideal traffic for rail.

Inverness has a superb rail freight facility and daily trains. This waste will, presumably, be compacted at Inverness to go south, so a steady flow, year in, year out. This is just the sort of traffic that is ideal for rail, and will help to ensure the survival of rail freight in the Highlands, providing an economic benefit as well as environmental benefit.

I also hope they will not dodge their responsibility by leaving it to Viridor to decide, and that it then goes down the A9 and back by road.

Ron Smith. Banff Road, Keith.

Note to the Tories: pensioners vote

Sir, – In the past few weeks we have seen more and more companies going on strike or threatening to due to the latest fuel, food increase and the latest 9.1% increase in inflation.

All these working people are feeling the pinch and exercising their rights. But what about the poor pensioners who cannot strike to get a higher pension?

The Tory party promised to keep the pension in line with inflation, so we are due a 5% rise in our pension today. No mention of this from the five PMs in waiting trying to convince people they can do the job. Pensioners vote too.

Don McKay. Provost Hogg Court, Torry.

Johnson fails to measure up

Sir, – Hallelujah! Boris Johnson, the worst PM in living memory, has gone, freeing us from his corruption, mendacity, and incompetence.

Counterintuitively, Johnson apologist MJ Salter extols his leadership, quixotically comparing him to Churchill and Thatcher respectively.

Having led our country during the Second World War, Churchill, against a backdrop of a dwindling empire and devastated Europe, appreciated the necessity for international collaboration to enhance security and build prosperity: hence his visionary aspiration that “we must build a kind of United States of Europe”.

Thatcher’s premiership represented a political watershed so profound the sobriquet Thatcherism now defines right-wing neo-liberalism with free market and “trickle down” economics at its core.

This abhorrent and divisive ideology was imposed with brutal insensitivity, leaving behind a bitter legacy. Her support of the single market engendered prosperity but this masked an incipient Euroscepticism leading to her political demise.

Brexit is the defining issue of this generation. Johnson, an ardent Thatcherite, will be remembered for his leading role in “getting Brexit done” as will the plethora of lies he employed.

His “quest for Brexit” backfired spectacularly with the OBR predicting a long-term 4% cut to GDP. Some contend the Tories have morphed into an “English Nationalist Party”.

Comparing Johnson to Churchill is an insult to the latter’s memory.

What would Churchill have made of Johnson’s Brexit, puffed-up with faux-patriotism and deluded sovereignty?

Johnson, like Thatcher, created economic and social inequality but there the similarity ends. The “Iron Lady”, an authentic leader, would never have hidden in a fridge.

Ian D McCormick. Huntly Road, Aboyne.

SNP fails again on ‘free’ bus passes

Sir, – I note the uptake of bus passes for the younger end of the population in Scotland is proving to be disappointing.

Well, I wonder first of all if this is yet another SNP bribe to encourage the less mature to think independence would be all milk and honey and was there actually any demand for free travel?

Alternatively, is it the fault of the failing Scottish education system, producing students whose literacy is such that they are unable to read the destination boards on the buses, so they fail to use the service?

Incidentally, of course it is not “free” travel. Like all these wonderful SNP schemes funding comes from those paying their taxes.

Alastair Armitstead. Achiltibuie, Ross-shire.

Plane crazy to cut airline jobs

Sir, – Airlines BA, TUI and easyJet are cancelling flights every day, causing chaos at short notice.

EasyJet chief operating officer has ‘bailed’ out due to the crisis; airports have problems with security and baggage; and Aberdeen International Airport ranked in the worst five for delays.

Jo Rhodes of Which? Travel states “the sector is struggling… with the spike in passenger numbers” , while AGS chief executive Derek Proven is ‘flying off’ on a new venture.

It seems that all the decision-makers are leaving and blame Brexit for the chaos – nothing to do with sacking half the workforce during the lockdown then?

T Shirron, Aberdeen.

We’re being ripped off by the energy market

Sir, – If France can limit electricity price rises to 4%, why is ours some 200%? If I get my electricity from a 100% renewable energy company, and electricity from renewables costs 15p to 18p per kWh, why am I paying 51p?

Why are renewable electricity generators who have contracted to provide electricity to the grid at 15p to 18p per kWh having to pay money back to the government when the market price of electricity exceeds the contract price?

Why are we being ripped off by the UK energy market?

Graham Castle, Stonehaven.