NATIONAL NEWS:

Letters

Letter: Donald Trump’s sea view

I would like to concur with Donald Trump on my frustration about the silence of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) regarding the proposed offshore wind farm development off Aberdeenshire.

Letters: Seculaphobia

I have been shocked by the vitriol directed at secularists in the past few days by Baroness Warsi, Eric Pickles and Lord Carey, among others. Their attacks on my value system are ignorant, bigoted and ill-informed.

Letter: Tax-cut losers

Cutting corporation tax can help small businesses to take on more staff (Letters, 15 February). That is surely not the only criterion for doing so: if a business is doing well, then it will be necessary whatever.

Letter: Organ opt-outs

In response to your article on organ donation (14 February), I would like to clarify that the restarting of a patient’s heart would not mean that the patient would still be alive, as suggested by the Catholic Church of Scotland spokesman.

Letter: ‘Less is more’

Now that the innate lunacy of capitalism is threatening the profit margins of Scotland’s lawyers (Business, 14 February), we are not surprised to hear a voice from the Scottish legal establishment bewailing the “part” played by clients in this unfolding tragedy.

Letters: Big Yes vote, or forget independence

In branding devo-max “a dodgy back-up plan to save the SNP” Jim Sillars, like Alex Salmond, fails to appreciate just how different David Cameron’s take on Scottish independence is to that of the two previous Labour prime ministers.

Letter: Eating out

I LIKE the idea of award-winning chef Martin Wishart helping struggling pubs with their food menus (your report, 14 February).

Letters: Rangers ‘cure

I can’t claim to be a football fan, preferring as I do to get my kicks at Murrayfield. Still, the downfall of a great institution like Rangers is clearly to be regretted.

Letter: Falklands conflict

So Brian Wilson thinks that we should reconsider our stance on the Falklands (Perspective, 15 February). The Falklands are not some sort of Argentine equivalent of the Isle of Skye or the Isle of Wight, sitting just offshore, but some 400 miles from Argentina.

Letters: Waverley taxi ban won’t stop terrorists attacking

THE decision to ban taxis and cars from Waverley over Olympic terrorist fears is ridiculous (News, February 14).

6 comments

Letter: Poor defence

AS the Scottish Secretary Michael Moore admitted late last year “that there would not be anything as big as the two aircraft carriers again in our lifetime”, will Jim Murphy (your report, 13 February) use his crystal ball to detail, and at what cost, the Labour Party’s commitment to any future major UK defence contracts if it ever gets back in power at Westminster?

Letter: A helpful No vote

SIR Ian Wood has to be applauded for stating that he will give the £50 million pledged to help fund the City Garden Project in Aberdeen to his charity set up to help good causes in Africa should the people of Aberdeen vote against the project.

1 comment

Letter: Hume affairs

I DON’T know whether anyone else has noticed the extraordinary resemblance between the famous philosopher David Hume, shown in the article by Brian Ferguson (14 February), and our own dear First Minister.

4 comments

Letter: Unearned insult

IT WAS with a sense of astonishment that I read John Eoin Douglas’s description of Greece as a savage, fiscally irresponsible nation (Letters, 14 February).

6 comments

Letters: It takes two

COUNCILLOR Alex Gallagher’s response to my comments (Letters, 14 February) is so over the top that it borders on the hilarious.

5 comments

Letter: Business tax plea

TOM Miers (Perspective, 14 February 2012) may be a consultant but he seems to have a basic lack of understanding of economics.

2 comments

Letters: Scottish legal rights over referendum

YET again an article in your columns (14 February) repeats the claim that before the Scottish Government can lawfully hold an independence referendum there must be a transfer of powers (by means of a section 30 order) by the United Kingdom government; and that this fact gives the UK government the opportunity to attach restrictive conditions as the price of any such transfer.

5 comments

Letter: Rose-tinted specs

I WOULD be interested to know from City of Edinburgh Council leader Jenny Dawe quite what she sees on her way to work each day, for her response to Charles McKean (Letters, 14 February) suggests that she hasn’t been recently to Specsavers, or tried to walk along many a pavement. Areas of Rose Street paving are like tank traps.

Letter: Blue murder

WHY a ten-point deduction should be visited upon the players and supporters of a club going into “administration” defeats all reason.

Letters: Alarm bells are ringing at lack of emergency access

Now that the Shandwick Place utility works are in full swing (at least on some days), I expect we will soon get depressing news of further damage to West End businesses.

2 comments

History lesson

Bill Goodall (Letters, 11 February) argues that I am rewriting history. On 13 August, 1704 John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, won a notable victory at Blenheim in Bavaria during the war of the Spanish Succession.

1 comment

Food for thought

Ann Lyle (Letters, 13 February) worries about the cost and feasibility of food waste collection. We have had our bin for a year now and use it constantly.

Barking mad

Only four weeks ago, Sheriff Richard Davidson challenged our politicians to decide “whether dogs or children come first” when sentencing the owner of three rottweilers which savaged a ten-year-old in Dundee in 2010.

3 comments

Castles on sand

Raymond Young’s statement (Letters 13 February), that “conservation was not at the heart of [Historic Scotland]” in 2007, would be laughable if comparison with the current situation was not so painful.

1 comment

Changing flags

I WAS pleased to find, here in East Anglia, a Manual of Heraldry published in Edinburgh in 1937 by John Grant.

8 comments

Greek tragedy

Watching the sad scenes of Athens burning at the hands of its own people, I can only say how glad I am the Elgin marbles remain safe in London and have not been returned to such a savage, not to mention fiscally irresponsible, nation.

3 comments

Heritage matters

Not only did the usually affable Charles McKean appear to get out of bed on the wrong side on the day he announced his departure as chair of Edinburgh World Heritage (EWH), he seems to have arisen in the wrong city (your report, 13 February).

Home of the arts

It is ludicrous to suggest, as Brian Monteith says (Perspective, 13 February), that Scottish artists would be hampered by independence. The arts are international, and cross political borders with ease.

Need for speed

THE “modest progress” agreed between Alex Salmond and Michael Moore would appear to confirm that the independence referendum will be held in the autumn of 2014, between two and three years away.

3 comments

Letters: Railing against disgraceful train link between capitals

The train service between Edinburgh and London is a national disgrace. My elderly parents, one of whom is disabled, travelled from Edinburgh to King’s Cross, booked on first class.

1 comment

Smart approach

We LEARNED from last week’s Budget bill (your reports) that there would be £11 million less available through agri- environment schemes over the next three years.

1 comment

Healthier option

WITH regard to the government’s plans to reform the NHS (your reports), for all its faults and the negative comments made about the health service, it does tend to show up rather well in international comparisons.

Cleaned out

I AM puzzled by the comment (your report, 11 February) that Prime Minister David Cameron is looking at Sweden’s reported tax breaks for families to employ cleaners so that women can go out to work.

1 comment

Scraps of wisdom

ACCORDING to weekend reports, the City of Edinburgh Council is today delivering two containers plus bags and instructions on the recycling of food waste, to be uplifted once a week.

3 comments

Historic commitment

I CAN reassure Tim Cornwell – and anyone else interested in Scotland’s built heritage – that Historic Scotland remains fully committed to protecting that rich legacy.

Tender subject

The Jimmy Reid Foundation (your reports) recently highlighted the problems confronting Scottish SME’s when too many Scottish public sector tenders are written in ways that favour larger, often international, suppliers over smaller indigenous providers.

Dutch energy

Donald Trump’s letter to the First Minister (your reports) states that the Netherlands has abolished its offshore wind power programme.

8 comments

Political ties

The political fallout over the BBC’s decision to block First Minister Alex Salmond from appearing on its Calcutta Cup coverage (your reports) raises some significant questions.

2 comments

Historic changes

IN RESPONSE to your recent reports, in particular Tim Cornwell (10 February), as a non-executive director of Historic Scotland I believe the agency is much more “fit for purpose” than it was in 2007, when I joined the board.

Manufacturing key to economic fortunes

Recent reports on the allocation of public sector contracts to Scottish companies do suggest that the Scottish Government could be doing better. What it does highlight, moreover, is something more fundamental: the lack of a significant manufacturing base in Scotland.

3 comments

Letter: The true cost of wind energy

MORE than 100 Tory politicians have raised concerns about the cost of subsidies paid for onshore wind farms.

59 comments

Letter: PM must reveal tax power limits

SCOTLAND on Sunday reported “sources close to the Prime Minister” as saying further devolution of fiscal powers was inconsistent with Scotland remaining within the UK (News, 29 January).

5 comments

Letter: Scotland’s young people deserve this vote

I WELCOME your Leader (29 January) which supports the right of 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in the referendum and in all future elections.

7 comments

Letter: Expatriates tick the right boxes

I AM a Scot, born, bred and educated, and have lived in and been registered to vote in Scotland within the last 15 years.

8 comments

Letter: Queen puts the fat cats to shame

I AM no royalist but I must admit our Queen has worked tirelessly for 60 years meeting our every expectation and whenever the “going got tough” she ploughed on to the very best of her unique ability, day and night, year after year.

3 comments

Letter: Smaller army needn’t be dull

I AM intrigued by recent comments by retired senior British army officers to the effect that a Scottish army would be too boring to attract recruits, due no doubt to the assumption that it would have a largely defensive role augmented by UN peacekeeping duties.

Letter: Hard questions on cement deal

SURELY the question Iain Gray should be asking in connection with the cement contract for the Forth Road Crossing (News, 29 January) is not to the Scottish Government on why the contract is about to be let to a German company but to Lafarge, whose plant is at Dunbar in his constituency.

1 comment

An artist's impression of the big wheel on Princes Street

Letters: Look round and roll Ferris wheel towards Portobello

WHY do we need a Ferris wheel sited in Princes Street Gardens, or in the city centre at all (News, February 6)? Why not site it at Portobello, which is a seaside resort and would be the ideal place for such an attraction.

3 comments

Letters: Lone question

IT SEEMS to me silly that so many people want so many facts, so many assurances, before they decide whether or not Scotland should be an independent nation again. You can never have any such certainties.

26 comments

Letter: Power blow

I wonder if the recent attack by former Labour MP, Brian Wilson, on the SNP’s Kenneth Gibson MSP has anything to do with the fact that Mr Wilson is a paid consultant for Ayrshire Power Limited, which is currently seeking to build a coal-fired power station in Mr Gibson’s constituency – a proposal which Mr Gibson has vehemently opposed?

5 comments

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Weather for Edinburgh

Thursday 16 February 2012

5 day forecast

Today

Light rain

Temperature: 5 C to 11 C

Wind Speed: 21 mph

Wind direction: South west

Tomorrow

Light rain

Temperature: 6 C to 10 C

Wind Speed: 20 mph

Wind direction: South west

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