Sir, – The vigil held by Aberdeen’s displaced Ukrainian citizens in both St Nicholas Street and outside Marischal College was silent, solemn, and showed their solidarity to stand against a tyrant’s illegal war in unbroken unity.
Anyone who was there for long enough late afternoon on Friday found it incredibly moving, bringing deep emotions to the surface during dignified contemplation of the last year’s devastating events suffered by Ukraine’s amazing, beautiful, and wonderful people.
Similar events in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow show that Scotland has played its part welcoming with open arms and hearts people who may still need much help from us all in whatever form that takes as they deal with the trauma idiotically inflicted upon them.
If an end to the horrors of this war is not found soon – there are eight million refugees of this latest needless human conflict – some of the potential political and social ramifications may well echo down subsequent decades and then create further problems just as they have done elsewhere in the world.
Ian Beattie. Baker Street, Aberdeen.
Can Labour cure sick care system?
Sir, – We have heard that a Labour government would increase training and recruitment of NHS nurses and doctors – all to be paid for by cancelling non-dom tax breaks.
As someone who has proudly served in the NHS for more than 30 years, I question whether a large influx of such professionals would radically improve the situation. While realising increasing the number of GPs and community nurses would be of benefit to the service overall the problems in the hospital setting will remain until improvements in the care system are implemented.
Patients thought fit to be discharged will remain occupying hospital beds until avenues are opened to facilitate their discharge. Despite numerous promises of reform, until a new combined health and social care system with equivalent status and remuneration for those employed is devised, any increase in the number of doctors and nurses, though welcome, will be no more than encasing old granny’s broken leg in yet another plaster.
Ivan W. Reid. Kirkburn, Laurencekirk.
Forbes is facing a dilemma of faith
Sir, – SNP leadership hopeful Kate Forbes has a serious dilemma. If she takes a view that same-sex marriage is wrong, abortion and gender recognition also and Roman Catholics have no place in her religion along with children being born without parents in wedlock, then many will be upset and feel hurt and neglected.
However, should she agree with any of these she would be expelled immediately from her church. These views are those of her church and she must adhere to them.
Is it possible to run a progressive Scotland holding the views her church demands from her?
Michel Campbell. Leanaig, Conon-Bridge.
Road and rail are both the way to go
Sir, – I’d like to echo the P&J’s view (February 27) that road and rail are both necessary. The furore over the delays to completing the dualling of the A9 have brought the issue into sharp focus. However, this has somewhat distorted the holistic view we should be taking on transport in the Highlands.
Safety is critical and measures should be taken on all roads to avoid frustration and confusion, but we do need to take a step back and look at transport as a whole.
For the last four decades the railways in the Highlands have been left with even less infrastructure than they had when built in the 19th Century. It is Scottish Government policy to achieve as much modal shift to rail as possible. The only way to achieve this is to invest in the railways first. Once this is done it will become clear whether any extra capacity is needed on the road network. There may never be enough electricity available to power all car journeys electrically – so restrictions on car use in the future is something we will all probably have to accept.
It is worth remembering that the railway which parallels the disputed section of the A9 is single-track with a very few passing places. In recent years, £57 million has been spent on two improvements to the railway – this does not balance well with the £3,000 million needed to dual the rest of the A9 south of Inverness. Indeed it should not be either-or between road and rail as it has been up to now.
Ian Budd. Convener, Friends of the Far North Line.
Check facts before spouting nonsense
Sir, – Grant Frazer (letters, February 25) states there is a cacophony of unionist media attacks on Kate Forbes’ Christian faith. I beg to disagree – the immediate attacks on Ms Forbes following her announcement to stand for the leadership came from politicians in her own party, such as Humza Yousaf and Mhairi Black.
Ms Black stated that the idea Ms Forbes is being “persecuted” or that there is a “witch hunt” or unionist media plot is utterly fanciful at best and a dangerous conspiracy at worst.
My own MSP Richard Lochhead initially backed Ms Forbes. Within 24 hours and apparently, for the first time, becoming aware of her Christian faith he decided to distance himself from her campaign. Mr Frazer would be advised to check facts before spouting the usual SNP anti-unionist accusations.
John Williamson. Cuthil Avenue, Keith.
Kate challenged by SNP upper echelon
Sir, – On the subject of the widely-publicised stance of Kate Forbes raised during her FM leadership campaign, I had to chuckle at the usual but predictable anti-unionist biased ramblings (February 25) of Peter Ovenstone and Grant Frazer.
The latter charged and inferred that only “the vast unionist media will continue to denigrate her and the SNP”. What a load of contrived nonsense.
Both contributors seem to be conveniently blind to the important main visible challengers of Kate Forbes’ views, who actually happen to be the upper echelons of the SNP. Namely Swinney, Flynn, Blackford, Black and Yousaf to mention but a few, who have all made recorded negative comment.
On the other positive hand Kemi Badenoch, UK equalities minister, is robustly defending Ms Forbes for “not being dishonest”.
This is more than can be said for the rather one-sided, deflective and mainly unverified assertions of the indy-supporting contributors I mentioned earlier in this letter.
William Morgan. Midstocket, Aberdeen.
Deposit return plan fast losing its bottle
Sir, – As one who is old enough to have utilised the then 3d deposit on lemonade bottles, I claim some knowledge of the system as it was in the 1950s and 60s.
I even benefited from being given and-or finding the odd bottle and getting the 3d from the shop which took it from me.
However in the 50s and 60s there were no plastic bottles in regular use and lemonade in glass bottles was a rare treat. The most common bottle in regular use was, of course, the one-pint milk bottles used by thousands with no deposit scheme.
Empty milk bottles went back to the milkman without any thought of deposit or levy and indeed without regard to the actual name embossed on the bottle.
A scheme existed whereby bottles from out of the area were returned once in a while to Alloa Glass, who seemed to make most of the Scottish bottles, for them to sort out. Consequently, there was no volume of containers having to be handled by shops.
This embryonic scheme being set up now is a massively complicated one – I read that the containers have to be put in the machine in a set orientation (upside down?), and they will require a bar code, etc. So what happens to any bottles rejected in the bowels of the machine – does it fire it out at the errant user or retain it and refuse you your 20p credit. What happens when it is full?
Will the shop entrance resemble the bottle banks after New Year, knee-deep in carrier bags of bottles due to lack of room.
Are you considered to be a fly-tipper if you abandon your containers beside a recycling machine that has died?
I use bottled water regularly and put my empties in my HC blue bin, putting that out as needed. Am I going to drive a significant distance to find a machine, am I going to store my empties until it seems worth while to find a machine? To be honest it probably is not worth it when you consider the travel costs. I read that the Green circularity minister said “it works elsewhere so what is the problem?”
HUGE #accessibility issues with this that I keep flagging and no one listens. The burden of not being able to do this will fall heavily on #elderly and #disabled in exactly the same way as the "recycle with bags at stores" does now. I don't drive. I can't access this at all.
— Beki Jane (@bekijane) January 3, 2023
Does it work? Lets hear from a Norwegian or German consumer living in a remote area in Europe. Will you have to go to the same supermarket to be able to get the machine to cough up? Will Tesco accept an Aldi container and give you a voucher to be used in, say, Sainsbury’s? It may work in a urban environment but in rural areas? Will a litter lout keep his beer can or lob it out of the car?
There again if you live in England, on the border with Scotland, you will be in a position to effectively get 20p off your canned drink.
Alastair Armitstead. Achiltibuie.
Trust stuck in a rut over deer numbers
Sir, – Victor Clements’ article (February 15) in support of the successful environmental management taking place in Assynt is well thought out and presented.
The John Muir Trust’s Mike Daniels (letters, February 23) in his use of bald count statistics to support his organisation’s claim that deer are degrading the habitat, highlights a fundamental flaw in their approach, and actually reinforces Victor’s arguments rather than negating them.
The discrepancy between the one autumn count in 2014 which gave a total of 881 is very significant, being less than half of the last spring count undertaken in 2021 – 1,921 head.
This shows that the Assynt deer population is a transitory one, with deer migrating towards higher ground in the summer (when, of course, new tree growth is at its peak) and returning to the more sheltered lower ground in winter. The mean overall rise in spring count figures could be influenced by many factors, such as weather conditions when counting took place, and pressure on the deer from other land-use interests.
Deer are naturally woodland animals, and the very habitats that are currently being created in Assynt will attract deer, especially over the winter months when they crave shelter from the elements. The interaction between environmental and good deer management has to be taken in the round, and not just treated as some sort of mathematical problem.
The JMT should accept that the few moribund holly and birch trees on Quinag will never regenerate, even with zero deer numbers, and start tailoring their policies accordingly.
Mike MacNally. Invergarry.
Honest candidate a gift to unionists
Sir, – It’s indeed a sad reflection that, in a so-called religious nation, a Christian and a Muslim have to justify their faiths in the SNP leadership contest.
Both Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf are excellent political leaders and stand together for independence, the NHS and the cost-of-living crisis. Their religious views should never be a disadvantage within the secular political process.
The endless cacophony of unionist media questions, whether Kate Forbes’ Christian faith conflicts with SNP policies, is totally fraudulent. In accepting that her views are scrutinised she has said, many times, that following debate she stands by collective responsibility on SNP government decisions, as democracy demands.
In truth, the honesty of Ms Forbes is a gift to the vast unionist media who will continue to denigrate her and the SNP-led independence campaign.
As the weeks pass the leadership qualities of Kate Forbes will develop along direct and inspirational lines. In bringing a fresh, strong and honest approach to the good governance of Scotland, she will fight poverty and inequality, uphold climate change and human rights and above all bring together a successful independence movement.
Grant Frazer. Newtonmore.
Ban louts from games
Sir, – It was with utter disgust that I read in my Evening Express on Monday about the court case of three football fans guilty of breach of peace.
They were “only” fined, not banned from attending football matches.
The reason given by the sheriff was that the three were part of a larger group. Excuse me, what kind of signal is that? Do wrong in a mob and you will get lesser sentences?
Michael North, Lang Stracht, Summerhill.
Chip in to save city’s Big Noise
Sir, – We attended the RSNO concert in the Music Hall on October 13 where various members of the Big Noise Torry were interspersed with musicians of the orchestra.
The pride the participants had playing with the full orchestra was warmly applauded by the audience and the pride they had was clearly seen and also applauded by the full orchestra who are world-renowned for their performances.
It has been rumoured that the funding for the Big Noise could be in jeopardy in the next Aberdeen city budget. This would be a big mistake in so far as the confidence these children have gained by being able to play an instrument and to take this away is positively criminal.
Patrons such as Sir Ian and Lady Wood and a few more well-kent locals could put in a good word to raise local funding to keep the Big Noise going. A monetary price cannot be placed on the psychological effect on the children if this is allowed to fold.
I’m sure everyone agrees with me that the pride one felt that local children were competent enough to play in concert with a big orchestra was very satisfying.
Come on Aberdeen, fork out the pound notes to keep the show on the road for the sake of the kids’ satisfaction and peace of mind.
Don’t let some council officials who know the price of everything and the value of nothing – as we have seen for the past 15 years, a transient collection of people who could be dismissed at the next election – be as stupid as Dundee City Council who have allegedly cancelled the funding for their orchestra in a city which needs the influence of Big Noise more than most.
Alexander Sutherland. Hilton Drive, Aberdeen.
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