Sir, – What a carry-on regarding the simple task of going to a recycling centre.
I went to the old site at Hospital Road in Ellon for years. It was always a bit congested, often with a queue of six vehicles thanks to having to take materials up a ramp. A bit of patience was required with, at most a 10-minute wait. No problem.
Then the new site opened at Balmacassie. Brilliant – plenty of space, no ramp and at the busiest garden waste skip one you had access to both sides – four metres apart. In and out in minutes.
Then Covid came and the skip closed (despite the fact hundreds of people were going to Aldi and Tesco on a daily basis).
When the recycling site finally opened you had to book, with an employee checking registrations via an app. Then we had a vehicle registration barrier installed yet we still had an employee sitting in a council vehicle. It was like going into an Army barracks.
It came to pass that often the barrier was up in the air with the result, this year and last, that I often went up without booking. On one occasion last year I had booked and went up to the skip. The barrier was up and, after emptying my trailer, I explained to an employee that I had been asked by an elderly friend if I could take an old chair up to the skip. As the barrier was up I asked the employee if I could come back without booking. His reply was I could come back before the end of the week as the barrier was going back down.
As the trailer was on the car I picked up the chair right away and returned to the skip without booking. Simple!
This council employee showed more common sense than the majority of councillors.
Norman Fraser, Dunnottar Road, Ellon.
Scots electorate will choose path
Sir, – Ian Lakin (Letters, November 21) is the one trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the electorate.
His (deliberate?) misunderstanding of Scotland’s financial situation is truly astounding.
How can anyone with even the slightest political nous not know that the Scottish Government must balance the books? Every administration since devolution began has managed to achieve this. Indeed, balancing the books is a legal necessity.
The fact that the finance minister manages this achievement shows the country is well run. The balanced books of course only extend to devolved matters, matters which ScotGov has power over. This means that any so-called deficit lies in the hands of Westminster and its spending for and on behalf of Scotland. Much of this information is quantifiable but much of it is pure guesswork.
This guessed-at deficit shows that Scotland should not stay in the UK. With all levers of power at hand the first independent Scottish Government would be ready to cut the likes of the defence budget (e.g. no more Trident, no more fighting wars, illegal or otherwise) thus freeing up much-needed money for the NHS and education. We would have all taxation raised in Scotland at our disposal, not the pocket money Westminster deigns to return to us.
The path we choose to take will be chosen by the Scottish electorate, we will not have the ridiculousness of Westminster governments we didn’t vote for, foisted on us and policies we did not vote for, such as Brexit, imposed on us against our will.
Finally, in comparison with the lack of information produced for Brexit, the SNP is being very open and should receive plaudits for its openness.
You definitely can’t please some people!
Hamish McBain, Green Street, Rothes.
Care workers deserve better
Sir, – While watching the news this morning showing so many people on strike from rail workers to Royal Mail, university lecturers and Scotland’s teachers, I noticed from my window a neighbouring lady setting out for her shift in a local care home.
Thank goodness, I thought, she and her colleagues have not joined the groups withdrawing their labour. But surely they have a genuine cause for protest, as how many of those who have walked out in their quest for extra cash would even bother getting out of bed to earn her salary? To save time I’ll supply the answer myself. None!
In reality, they perform a task just as important at the opposite end of our lifespan – when people are old, frail and often held hostage by the demons of dementia – as teachers perform when we are young and with varying degrees of enthusiasm and ability we absorb what they endeavour to teach. Surely as both groups perform valuable service to society, their reward should be comparable?
Of course, they are not, with the most a care home worker can hope to earn is below the starting salary of the most junior teacher. I am not anti-teacher – their jobs are light years away from my schooldays when our teacher was someone to be listened to and failure to do so resulted in a painful reminder. But surely more respect and financial reward should go to those who care and support us during our often distressing final years? They are as important in society as any of the many now on strike.
Ivan W. Reid, Kirkburn, Laurencekirk.
‘Neverendum’ is no laughing matter
Sir, – Fiona Rintoul (Press and Journal, November 24) is certainly suffering from a bad bout of sour grapes as she hits out at unionists for being gleeful or perceived to be laughing at the abandonment of Nicola Sturgeon’s ill-fated and poorly-judged attempt to force an illegal referendum in October 2023.
Her article stresses she respects the courts and the judges in one sentence, followed by searing criticism of the 17.4 million who backed the Brexit vote as a lunatic decision. Her recall omits the fact the 2019 “Brexit election” returned a government majority of 80 seats, and the annual £12 billion payments to the Brussels-run bloc of 27 countries ended.
Unionists do not want Scotland separated from the rest of UK, with border checkpoints and loss of defence work to Scotland or the loss of easy access to UK industry, finance and all the factors which combine to make UK the fifth-best economy in the world.
Fiona Rintoul concedes that an indisputable majority of the sort that gave Scotland devolution (75%) is necessary and would settle matters without continual rancour. She contends that Scotland is constitutionally castrated, and Holyrood’s SNP government should be respected for their pro- separation stance.
But the 2014 vote has not been respected as a once-in-a-generation vote by any SNP backer. In fact, “neverendums” is a byword for Scottish nationalists’ pursuit of the UK break-up, leaving goodwill, co-operation and advancement as a nation stymied because of it. Fiona Rintoul can not call this a laughing matter.
Angus McNair, Clochan, Buckie.
Parliament has not earned respect
Sir, – I don’t always agree with Fiona Rintoul but I would agree that all right-thinking people would want the assembly that rules our lives to be respected.
I’m an old man now but before I joined the air force, an uncle who was an ex-Seaforth Highlander gave me a bit of advice which has served me well over the years.
He said you will meet a lot of people who you will have to call “Sir”. Very few will deserve that title and when you analyse the ones that do you will then come to understand what respect means. The body that calls itself the Scottish Parliament has not earned the respect of those it attempts to govern.
Finlay G Mackintosh, Forres.
SNP should get on with the job
Sir, – What next for Nicola Sturgeon now that the Supreme Court – which she approached for their verdict – has ruled the Scottish Government cannot hold a legally-binding independence referendum without Westminster’s consent?
I fear it will be more of what the SNP does best – creating grievances when it should be running Scotland, the role it was elected to do last May.
Talk of a two-tier NHS being discussed – a development that will have Aneurin Bevan spinning in his grave – shows that the SNP’s priority is independence at all costs and not running our public services for the benefit of all Scots.
At the least, this means that the £20 million set aside for next October’s referendum can be used to fund pay rises for NHS staff and teachers…or does it?
Jonathan Mitchell.
Don’t blame our roads
Sir, – Having travelled the A9 thousands of times, yet again it is blamed for deaths. There is nothing wrong with the road or any other in Scotland – it’s the drivers at fault.
If they drive to the conditions and the speed limit then they should be OK, and don’t try to overtake when there is not enough room.
It won’t matter if you dual the roads, the accidents will still happen.
You only have to see the accidents that happen on the M8.
John Dalziel.
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