Letter: Free speech

I WAS horrified when I read last month that an official of the Trump organisation had behaved in a threatening way and called an elected councillor “a disgrace” who was “going to be looking for another job in May”, and concerned that apparently no action was going to be taken.

Now we learn (your report, 17 February) that in our Orwellian world it’s not the bully who’s to be dealt with, but that instead some other councillors have reported Councillor Storrs to the Kafkaesque Standards Commission for saying that part of the Trump resort looks “like a Victorian lunatic asylum”.

What has happened to free speech in this country? How do local councillors imagine democracy can function without it?

These are very worrying developments, reminiscent of what has happened in other countries where liberal values were undermined by violence or the threat of violence, with the victim being blamed.

I do hope the voters of Formartine will wake up to what’s going on, which is ultimately far more important than the design of a golf resort.

Andrew Anderson

Granton Road

Edinburgh