Going for gold

TO PROVIDE the cost of the tram project with some easily grasped measure of comparison, a quick reference to online gold suppliers advises that the price of 25 sheets of 80mm x 80mm 23.5 carat gold leaf is £19 plus VAT.

Now let us take the distance from the airport to St Andrew Square as 13.5km and assume that the width of the roadway overall averages 30m, then the quantity of gold leaf required to pave the entire route would cost some £361 million. Adding for labour and incidentals, the total should not exceed £400m.

So it would in fact be much cheaper to pave the whole way from the airport to St Andrew Square with gold than running trams on it – and what a visitor attraction.

Vivian Linacre

Marshall Place

Perth

I WAS pleased to read that the Edinburgh tramline will now be terminated at St Andrew Square instead of Haymarket.

When I read such nonsense about there not being enough money I screech. There are several ways money could be raised such as a tax on restaurant and pub takings during the Festival or a tax on the high hotel prices charged during events?

Helen GP Baxter

Gageac

France