Sir, – David Ross’s excellent article (“Attempt to paint Scotland’s estate owners as the good guys is laughable”, March 2) underlines the flaws in the Scottish Lands and Estates’ (SLE) current PR onslaught.
Other efforts include one-sided articles in the press and fancy storyboards in our countryside extolling the wonders of the small amount of surviving wildlife, whilst welcoming us to walk where we are entitled to be anyway.
Decades of inferior management by estates have denuded our land of trees and reduced our once vibrant flora and fauna to a fragile remnant.
Eagles, hen harriers stoats, weasels, crows and other “vermin” are trapped and shot so grouse can fall to the guns of sportsmen.
The mighty pines were felled and floated down the rivers for profit.
Red deer numbers have exploded to infestation levels to the great detriment of the upland environment. The skies are dark with the smoke of muirburn further degrading the land. Despite the SLE claims, their financial contribution to our economy is a mere 0.02%.
Our hills are criss-crossed with a spaghetti of tracks obliterating the ancient ways. Strange earthworks for which planning permission is not needed are created, as seen in the above photo from Milden estate in Angus.
The large estates have had their chance and have failed Scotland. The SNP government has done little to remedy the situation and planned legislation is years too late. Cohesive, planned and integrated government action is needed now.
Colin D Young. South Headlands Crescent, Newtonhill.
Inverness Airport needs shuttle bus
Sir, – My wife and I used the train from Elgin to the new Inverness Airport recently but discovered on arrival there was no shuttle bus service. We had to walk with our luggage for 20 minutes to the airport in windy weather.
Our return journey wasn’t much better: the hourly No 11 bus for Inverness dropped us off at the station but we had to wait there for 25 minutes for the next train to arrive, in cold weather on a platform without a toilet or an enclosed waiting room.
We invite your readers to complain, as we have done, to ScotRail, Stagecoach and Inverness Airport to provide a dedicated shuttle bus timed to coincide with train arrivals and departures.
They’ve had several years to get their act together.
David Page. Lossiemouth.
Renewables will destroy habitats
Sir, – In response to the recent letter from Jim Leitch regarding rules not applying to the renewables energy sector in the headlong rush to achieve net-zero, I feel I must let it be known that I wholeheartedly agree with his sentiments.
If I object to a wind farm it is not that I am not interested in “saving the planet” but rather the exact opposite.
By allowing the construction of huge industrial structures throughout the beautiful landscape of Scotland I believe we are destroying the very thing we are striving to protect – the destruction of wildlife habitats and fragile eco systems, etc, etc.
But what is the point when it appears the powers that be have already made their minds up regarding the approval of onshore wind farm applications?
So, in conclusion, I just want to say this. Jim, you are not alone in your thoughts on this matter.
Chris Davis. Maryhill, Orton.
Aberdeen visitors deserve better
Sir, – A recent letter (March 6) refers to the lack of international transport links, notably at Aberdeen Airport.
Another weakness is the lack of adequate air bridges when embarking/disembarking flights.
Wishing you were on the beach?
Get the sand between your toes and fly from your doorstep to these three beautiful beaches in Faro:
Praia de Quarteira
Praia de Garrao
Praia da Quinta do Lago#Aberdeen #Beach #Faro pic.twitter.com/vLlPhTRtjq
— Aberdeen Airport ✈️ (@ABZ_Airport) March 11, 2023
Over 50 years ago I recall trudging across the tarmac in heavy rain to access the terminal en route to start my first term at Aberdeen University and surprisingly had a similar experience recently. I doubt if cruise passengers will enjoy using steps on a wet windy day let alone walking outdoors to the terminal. Welcome to Aberdeen!
Surely a cruise ship destination and the often referred to oil capital of Europe should have modern day airport facilities ?
Other travellers, including holiday makers, also deserve better.
Tim Lowry. Peterculter.
Unionists fear sharing wealth
Sir, – Ian Lakin’s letter (March 7) intrigued me, especially given he quotes the McCrone Report which made it very clear Scotland was perfectly capable of being a successful, independent, small country, which is why it was hidden for 30 years by the UK establishment.
His comparisons with the Republic of Ireland are somewhat inaccurate, however. When the republic was founded, it retained freedom of movement of people and trade with the UK, used the pound for a lengthy period, before moving to the punt, which was pegged to the pound, then finally adopting the euro.
Even at that point, freedom of movement was retained between the republic and the UK. Were Scotland to follow a similar path, why would she be treated differently?
Unionists seem to fail to recognise that the differences between England and Scotland become wider each decade, Scotland being, by far, more left-leaning politically.
Those who seek independence would like to have a government we can elect and hold to account at the ballot box.
We can never have that with Westminster.
The majority would like the gap between rich and poor (exacerbated over the decades by unionist parties’ policies) constrained and the nation’s wealth spread more evenly.
That is, I suspect, is what Mr Lakin and fellow minded individuals fear.
Ron Campbell. Richmond Walk, Aberdeen.
Fans’ behaviour was disgusting
Sir, – At the recent Dundee United v Aberdeen match I thought the treatment of the Dons’ ex-manager Jim Goodwin by certain so-called Dons fans was nothing short of a disgrace with a varied array of missiles directed at him during the game.
It is hoped the perpetrators will be identified and banned from future fixtures.
Jim Goodwin rightly states it is only a small minority of Aberdeen supporters who behave in such a manner and I have personal experience of an instance many years ago which was perpetrated by senior citizens who inhabited the Merkland Stand.
My son, who was about 12 at the time, and I had season tickets for the Merkland family stand at a period when Aberdeen had an excellent side and competed well with both Old Firm sides.
Both had a considerable array of top quality players but were more than matched when they visited Pittodrie. At that time there was a supporters’ bus from Keith filled for every game and even two were run when the Glasgow duo came calling.
Sitting behind myself and my son were a well-dressed group of pensioners, whose language was nothing short of a disgrace in spite of several signs in the stand advising against the use of such expletives.
Myself and another parent asked the aforementioned to curtail their expletives due to young lads being present, but received a further torrent of obscenities.
We spoke to a steward about that and were told it was part and parcel of football and these pensioners paid their money and were entitled to their opinion.
At the next home game at Pittodrie, the aforementioned abuse continued apace but it was a game in which the home side were not playing well and went behind to a side they would normally have expected to beat comfortably, much to the ire of the OAP brigade.
I should add that I am not an Aberdeen supporter but took up season tickets in order to watch quality football on a regular basis – but I made the mistake of applauding an excellent goal by the visitors.
After the match when we returned to the bus back to Keith it was pointed out to me that the back of my jacket was covered in spit and other unnamed substances. The jacket, which was an expensive item, had to be destroyed and my son and I tore up our season tickets, and never returned to Pittodrie.
I wrote to the club and even supplied the seat numbers of the “well-dressed” OAP scumbags but did not even get a reply, which was not surprising.
I have been to many football grounds in Scotland and have witnessed some disgraceful behaviour, mostly carried out by a younger element of fans, but a certain group of OAPs who used to reside in the Merkland Stand take a bit of beating for their disgusting behaviour.
Jim Goodwin did not deserve the treatment he got at Tannadice; the perpetrators should look to the people who appointed him in the first place.
John Reid. Keith.
Children deprived of motherhood
Sir, – What can be done to ease the burden of childcare is uppermost in the minds of so many working parents.
Surely the government must come to the rescue.
Sadly, parents’ priorities have changed to the detriment of far too many children. Their daily upbringing, the years they develop skills in movement, speech and reasoning are in the hands of paid substitute parents, dumped often while still in nappies at dawn then collected at the end of the day to be fed, bathed and put to bed.
Gone on the scrapheap as a new normality in parenting evolves is the profession of housewife, no longer thought of as a “real job”, someone incapable of engaging in “real work”, the common figure in family life from half a century ago.
The mothers who were happy to be a central plank in the lives of their children, ever-present to deal with the steps in their development from infancy – the first recognisable word, the first wobbly steps, through school days to maturity and entry into the adult world.
My late wife didn’t see her role as a barrier to achievement. Going on to university and gaining her degree in the same decade as our sons, she reflected on the period as a humble housewife as the happiest in her life, sharing the joys and sorrows, achievements and disappointments with our children.
Do the legion of child psychologists not realise the correlation between the demise of this central figure and the myriad of problems, scourge of mental health issues, blighting the lives of so many of our future generation?
While well aware attitudes change, each generation forges a new path, today’s victims are so many children deprived from the constant presence in their formative years of the most important person: their mother. If government help is forthcoming let it be for mothers to again become central to the child’s development – both they and society would benefit.
Ivan W Reid. Laurencekirk.
Big questions for Duhan and Jones
Sir, – The words of Scotland’s rugby anthem provoke two questions.
1 What “wee bit hill and glen” do the heroic Duhan and the Van de Merwe clan call home?
2 What does “proud Edward” Eddie Jones think of England’s performance against Scotland without him?
Geoff Cormack. Aboyne.
‘I worry for all of the bairns’
An article in the Evening Express asked readers if they are worried about the new Aberdeen incinerator.
I certainly am and I do not live near it.
I was an SNP city councillor for 18 years and on the planning committee for all that time.
When we had a site visit to see the proposed location, the first thing that struck me was the close proximity to Tullos School and housing – and the fact that it needs 46 lorry loads of waste per day to feed it seven days per week.
There are two types of ash. There’s bottom ash, which in England is mixed with other components to fill potholes in roads. I believe this bottom ash is to be stored above ground at Cairnrobin Quarry. There are houses nearby here.
Now we get to the really serious stuff – fly ash, which can cause several deadly types of cancer.
We had a talk in the Town House from a Norwegian expert on incineration, who admitted in answer to my question as to how they stored the fly ash that there is no facility in Norway for this and the fly ash is transported to Sweden, where it is put in a disused deep coal mine.
Some of your investigative journalists need to question the city council as to where they are to store the fly ash for thousands of years.
I worry for all the bairns who will be left with this incinerator.
Muriel Jaffray. Bridge of Don.
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