Sir, – During a recent visit to Edinburgh, I had the opportunity to see the view from Arthur’s Seat that overlooks the whole impressive city and the Parliament buildings.
However, I was surprised that I could see no wind farms in any direction from this vantage point above the city; neither in water nor on land.
I thought with our Scottish Government presently running policies that appeal to the green movement that they would be supplying the massive amount of electrical power required by the Parliament buildings and the rest of this city, from their assumed environmentally-friendly sourced wind power.
Surely transmitting the wind-generated power over the shortest distance from where it is produced, to where it is required, would be the most environmentally-friendly option, as there would be less environmental disruption to the natural habitat when installing those shorter power cables and less natural loss of power when transmitting the electricity to the customers.
The alternative of the construction of wind farms offshore, thus polluting our country’s precious fishing and fish spawning grounds where the electrical power is neither wanted nor required, will cause irreparable damage to the marine habitat and result in a massive natural loss of wind-generated electric power, from the power travelling through the thousands of miles of cables traversing the seabed, before it even gets to the shore.
The damage this may do to the natural environment in our nation’s waters is incalculable.
The importance to the wider world of the precious resource of seafood around our nation’s shores is presently evident by the number of foreign nations’ fishing vessels continuously plundering our country’s fish stocks, unhindered and unmonitored by our UK authorities, while they keep our own country’s fishing vessels tied to the quay by enforcing unrealistic EU-set quota allocations.
Our own fishing communities are only allowed a fraction of what is taken from our own waters by other nations.
Could this possibly be to appease the EU in the hope of rejoining, against the wishes of the majority of the UK electorate?
We can only wait to see and hope that in 2026 when we are told that our government would have control of our waters out to 200 miles, or to a median line between ours and other nations waters, that we will still have a UK fishing industry left and some fish and fishing grounds left to fish on.
Whatever happens, it is a national disgrace that our governments are presently encouraging the pollution of the seabed around our shores with enormous swathes of wind farms, alien to the marine habitat, which will possibly eradicate the surrounding sea life and our communities dependent on it for our existence and livelihoods.
This pollution of our country’s fishing grounds with wind farms is not environmentally friendly to the marine habitat and marine life and requires a serious rethink of policy by our elected governments.
William Polson, Whalsay, Shetland.
Missing GPs are feathering nests
Sir, – So nurses may go on strike for the first time in the 106-year history of the RCN. Never fear, emergency care will not be affected. But if your life ain’t threatened and you’re in hospital, you may still suffer.
Isn’t it a pity that those who may be ill or near death cannot also go on strike? In protest at the lack of opportunity to experience face-to-face GP consultations where ailments unrelated to the patient’s concerns were often diagnosed.
No, some GPs now choose to feather their own nests with the best of eiderdown by patronising private healthcare rather than extending warmth, sympathy and understanding to prospective NHS patients.
Where responsibility must be faced with humility, prevention is preferable to cure and the relief of pain and suffering paramount. But the teachings of Hippocrates are historic, from the distant past. We suffer in the present.
Bill Maxwell, Mar Place, Keith.
Helping super rich caused a furore
Sir, – Much Ado About Nothing – Shakespeare’s comedy involving tangled romance that emerges when a group of soldiers arrive in town – is similar in name only to the present-day political drama Much Ado About Next To Nothing that unfolds when a group of politicians arrive in town for their annual conference.
In the days preceding, Prime Minister Liz Truss – who in her brief tenure is considered by many to have achieved the impossible by being even worse than her party-loving predecessor – and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng had rocked the financial world. They set the markets in disarray with a “mini-Budget” aimed to stimulate growth in the economy by, amongst many measures, reducing the tax burden of the richest in our land in the hope that many more of these financial titans may be attracted to settle within our shores.
This measure caused uproar as nothing stimulates wrath in those seeking a fairer society than the rich becoming more wealthy. But although creating most angst this was probably the least significant part of the economic plan – in other words, next to nothing.
As the top 1% of earners in the UK account for around a third of tax revenues, surely the greater number of the super-rich will be of advantage to the financial health of the country. With rebellion from his own party a distinct possibility, it was for political reasons that the chancellor reintroduced the 45% band.
Although few will admit it, isn’t it a fact the majority desire to see their bank balance bulge? They play the National Lottery not because of an overwhelming desire to support the good causes but in the fervent hope their numbers flash brightest in the draw.
They’ve all heard the stories like that of old Sandy: “I had only two pounds left in my pocket but decided to buy a Lucky Dip and now after winning a rollover jackpot, I live in my villa in Costa del Sol with my nurse/companion Yolande who although only in her 20s loves looking after old men.”
No luck this week, dare to change the number of years since the Dons won a trophy to the age of labrador Henry, but is he six or seven, maybe even ditch the lot and have a Lucky Dip like old Sandy.
So many decisions to make, so little chance of winning.
Ivan W Reid, Kirkburn, Laurencekirk.
Focus on the future
Sir, – Historians David Alston and Donald Morrison researched the Dick Bequest trust linked to profits made by slavery.
The “modern culture club” took a stand at “blood money” being used in NE schools with the fund to be given to Jamaica as reparations for Scotland’s role in the slave trade (EE, 20/9, p5) (EE, 22/9, p11).
Slave trader Edward Colston’s statue was torn down and thrown into a harbour – maybe Powis Gates, Old Aberdeen, should be torn down as it was built on slave money by the Leslie family (P&J, 15/7/22).
Oh no, other historians have discovered that the Church of England amassed a vast fortune from a company that shipped slaves across the Atlantic.
I wonder what the “modern culture mob” will do next? Tear down a statue of Jesus and throw him into the river?
Slavery was abolished in 1833 – or was it? Modern slavery is all around us, often hidden in plain sight.
People can become enslaved making clothes, serving food, picking crops, working in factories, nail bars or working in houses as cooks, cleaners or nannies – all types of modern slavery.
Our mission is to stop slavery, to secure freedom for everyone, everywhere, always!
Nothing can change the past, but we can change the future.
T Shirron, Davidson Drive, Aberdeen.
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