Sir, – In my rather long life I reckon I have visited most cities and large towns in the UK. Ever since my boyhood years I have had a passion for museums and when visiting a new town I have generally made a beeline for the local museum which I consider to be an essential cultural centre for any city, town or village.
Aberdeen is the only city I have encountered that does not have a large general museum. To my knowledge, it does have three very small, highly specialised museums, namely the Maritime Museum, the Gordon Highlanders Museum and the Tollbooth which are all rather good. But where can you go to see ancient artefacts or items relating to local geology, as just two examples? This is a sad reflection on the city. What must visitors think?
We always had an outstanding art gallery which of course was in need of some work. The grand staircase was actually dangerous I have been reliably informed. The council decided to shut the gallery down for renovation.
I can’t believe it needed to be closed down totally for three whole years.
Why couldn’t a facelift have been done in phases thus negating closure with minimal disruption to the gallery?
To be sure we now have a smart-looking new facility. Unfortunately, there is a huge amount of wasted art space.
We have an apology for a shop compared to the old one which was a veritable Aladdin’s den of quality merchandise.
The characterful and much-loved bijou cafe is gone. A second cafe could surely have been built on the premises with minimum disruption.
I have artist friends who were bitterly disappointed with the new gallery when it opened. There appear to be far fewer exhibits on display now.
To my way of thinking this three-year total closure was a bad idea and a waste of public money which could have been better spent on a general museum.
On a more positive note, could the now empty and large John Lewis’s store not be converted into a museum? A small entry charge could be made to cover the costs, perhaps making it free for youngsters, senior citizens and unwaged people. This would be a sound investment for future generations.
Colin J Lavery. Monearn Gardens, Milltimber.
High praise for infirmary staff
Sir, – Having caused a few political ripples last week when I highlighted problems in the ambulance service, resulting in me having to transport my wife to hospital in a taxi, I now want say a few “thank yous”.
On a personal note to a passer-by who stopped to see if he could help. My next-door neighbour, who stayed with my wife for more than two hours, calming and reassuring her. Finally to my family and friends who were and still are so supportive.
But the main reason for writing is to thank the staff at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. The accident and emergency department where they work tirelessly and who, after several hours in agony, finally relieved my wife’s pain. The surgical team who, with their skills, carried out a full hip replacement. Everyone working in ward 213, responsible for patients’ recovery after surgery and onward rehabilitation.
These are the people we used to applaud every Thursday.
From my wife, who is recovering well, a big thank you.
Ian Roberts. Bieldside, Aberdeen.
Round and round for energy bills
Sir, – We have all heard of the game musical chairs.
Well, my energy company are playing musical money with me. I paid my energy bill for September by direct debit. Now into October, my bill will double, but today (October 7) my energy company sent me a refund of £66 (the first of a £400 Government grant) so at the end of the month my account will be in debt and they will ask me to pay, so I will send the £66 they gave back to them to clear the debt.
This is going to happen every month for the next two years causing confusion for everyone including banks, and many unnecessary transactions.
Don McKay. Provost Hogg Court, Torry.
Good planning looks out of reach
Sir, – I listened to Nicola Sturgeon on her eve-of-conference interview on Good Morning Scotland, and it proved to be the same tired old mantra proving she is still the one-trick pony with the cloth ears.
Her latest conference buzzword is “good planning”. We are looking at Prestwick, Ferguson’s boat builders (hopefully!) Bifab, ScotRail, to name but a few, let alone the £20 million purloined for her independence fighting fund.
Does this constitute good planning? I think not. If she thinks it is, it does not bode well for the people of Scotland. They even lose £600,000 of their own funds, with no word of where it is gone.
I hope somebody has the bottle to stand up and criticise the green Marxist protest movement which provides Sturgeon with her prop and who, in their delegated duties, have proved to be equally incompetent. I would give every one of them a bicycle and ask to them travel the whole length of the A96 from Inverurie to Inverness and see how poor road communications work at first-hand. They will, if left to, turn Scotland into the same roads as backwoods Afghanistan.
Why should Scotland swap a chaotic Holyrood administration for rule “at arms length” from Brussels – that is, provided that Spain does not veto their application due to Sturgeon’s interference and support for the Catalan separatist movement.
If Liz Truss does nothing else right in her probably short reign she has done the right thing in issuing new licences for the North Sea operations.
The green zealots must surely understand that the peripherals such as medicine and engineering, to name but two, will probably be reliant on oil extraction into the next century to service their needs.
Alexander Sutherland. Hilton Drive, Aberdeen.
A miscarriage of justice?
Sir, – I do not currently live in the Highlands but I have followed the tragic Renee MacRae murder story in the press over the 45 years since it emerged.
While it is very helpful for the family that the police have at last secured a conviction (albeit subject to appeal), I am not convinced they or the procurator fiscal deserve the unqualified “almighty pat on the back” your reporter Stuart Findlay claims on their behalf.
The question remains as to why it has taken the authorities over 45 years to get to this point when there has been next to no important evidence added to the case since the crime was committed.
The last material evidence seems to been given in 1987 when William MacDowell told his handyman Mitchell Yuill “I did and I didn’t” when asked whether he had committed the murder.
The bones and pushchair parts resulting from the most recent quarry search do not appear to be claimed as having a link to the case. That the police are still seeking information from MacDowell as to the whereabouts of the bodies suggests there is no conclusive evidence they were in Leanach Quarry.
A senior police officer alluded to the case being “mired in a web of deceit” in its early stages. Another referred to his dismay at a search of Dalmagarry quarry not being completed because of a “dispute involving the hire of a digger”.
As recently as 2006 the prosecutors are on record as having said there was not enough evidence to proceed. What has changed since then?
In the above circumstances, one cannot help but be left with the feeling there has been a miscarriage of justice of sorts, either for the victims and the untimely delay in bringing this matter to a conclusion, or indeed for the now convicted MacDowell on a paucity of evidence and whose sentence will result in him dying in jail.
Charles Edward Payne. Monmouth Road, London.
Bereaved families wait for answers
Sir, – On August 24 2021, Nicola Sturgeon announced a Covid-19 public inquiry would be established and it would be “up and running before the UK inquiry”.
But since then progress has been extremely slow.
It has now not only stopped, but had to go back to the beginning.
This is because chairwoman Lady Poole suddenly and recently resigned her position. This was quickly followed by the resignation, en masse, of four of her senior lawyers, who had been appointed to set and ask the questions of bereaved families of victims of Covid-19 infection.
SNP secrecy means that whistleblowers will be needed to find out what has gone wrong.
After announcing Lady Poole’s resignation (but not the lawyers’) at Holyrood, John Swinney said he wanted the inquiry “to be delivered at speed”.
Perhaps he should read Lord MacLean’s pointed criticism of Ms Sturgeon’s similar instruction in his report of the inquiry into the Vale of Leven’s Hospital Clostridium difficile disaster (November 2014).
However, to be fair, he might have had in mind the Edinburgh trams inquiry initiated by Alex Salmond, now in its ninth year.
Aamer Anwar, a lawyer acting for the bereaved families group, said recently there was “dismay and anger” and has called the inquiry “a sinking ship”.
All the bereaved families, who have already experienced profound grief, must now face unexplained extensions to the waiting times for the promised inquiry to begin.
Until this has taken place and justice has been accomplished, they will still feel they are marooned on the already proverbial sinking ship.
Alison Innes (Dr). Lang Stracht, Alford.
SNP will steer us into stormy waters
Sir, – Never a week passes without several correspondents giving their opinion on how bad the Westminster government is performing, especially in relation to Scotland, a situation that would disappear if we became a small independent nation.
I have nothing against our country striking out on its own if it were to flourish but so far no fiscal policy or indeed any policy has emerged from our leaders in Holyrood or the pen of numerous zealots with visions of utopia floating before their eyes on how this might happen.
The first minister – in a recent SNP pamphlet that arrived through my letterbox highlighting how much better we are performing than all other nations of the Union, especially England, in areas under Holyrood control – says we can do even better released from the shackles of Westminster.
While this may be true, there is no certainty in a troubled world, economies blighted for years by Vladimir Putin’s folly in Ukraine, that such ambitions would be realised.
As a small, independent nation we may be cast adrift, bobbing helplessly in the turmoil of the economic ocean, akin to the ancient CalMac ferry with engines floundering on its journey from Ullapool, now at the mercy of the wind and waves of The Minch with the lights of Stornoway twinkling far in the distance. As a poor sailor, why should I put myself at risk?
Ivan W Reid. Kirkburn, Laurencekirk.
Goodwin needs to do better
Sir, – I am writing this at half-time against Dundee United.
The first 45 minutes has been as bad as any under Mr Glass and given the backing Mr Goodwin has had, his results are very poor, especially away from Pittodrie. AFC fans are patient, and my goodness they have had to be, but this kind of display is unacceptable and must be addressed.
Bob Mackay. Silverburn Road, Aberdeen.
Dons don’t deserve it
Sir, – Fifty-five years I’ve supported AFC through some great times during the Alex Ferguson era.
The players and manager Jim Goodwin should hang their heads in shame for a long time to come, fans walked out disgusted and sick before the full-time whistle.
The Dons are going nowhere but down. Might be good to see AFC in a lower league.
Joseph Durno, Cummings Park circle, Aberdeen.
Green comes in many shades
Sir, – We all want to save the world and stop climate change but we are being misled by many industries and government subsidies are given to companies that are far from green.
Electric vehicles are emission-free but their expensive manufacture is far from green and the technology will never develop from cars to HGV and earthmoving plant or aeroplanes as the sheer weight of the batteries required to make their development impractical.
Power plants producing electricity which are run on wood pellets shipped halfway around the world are certainly not green but get government subsidies.
Green hydrogen seems to be the best way ahead to replace our existing vehicles but it is early days for its development but new-generation nuclear power stations are now being held up as the only green way ahead for producing electricity.
What is clear in the matter of our race to be green and save the world is the utter confusion between what is green and what is not…
DF Grattan, Bucksburn.
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