Letters: City should think bigger by going underground

David J Mackenzie (Inter@ctive, June 1) is overly pessimistic. Many opined that the original business case for the tram network was suspect - producing a benefit:cost ratio which was barely even positive after highly optimistic assumptions and some massaging.

It therefore follows that subsequent tweaking of the figures for any length of curtailed line must also be highly suspect.

But council chief Sue Bruce seems determined to find a way ahead and I would suggest she tells her officials to stop fire-fighting and instead look on the mess as an opportunity.

Edinburgh would indeed benefit from better connections between the waterfront and the west and south-east development areas, but trams adding to congestion in the city centre was never the answer - that's why the city got rid of them in 1956.

The current works should only be completed from the airport to Haymarket, and this line can then form the nucleus of a German-style mixed-use rail system, which can be on-street in many areas outwith the city centre but underground in the centre, below a pedestrianised Princes Street - just for starters.

The naysayers will pooh-pooh such vision, but that is what Edinburgh is lacking - long-term vision. Dare I say that Glasgow has the laudable vision of extending the "clockwork orange", plus connecting north and south heavy rail systems via its Crossrail plan.

It is time Edinburgh also began thinking large and planned for a modern metro system worthy of a capital, and one which does not defile its world-famous thoroughfare.

So the first thing that has to be done is for the SNP group on the council and SNP ministers to agree on immediate parliamentary emergency legislation to modify The Tram Act and remove the requirement for reinstatement of Princes Street on cancellation. The tracks laid could be used in due course for battery-operated shuttle cars to carry shoppers and tourists on a pedestrianised Princes Street.

John Duncan, Rose Street North Lane, Edinburgh

Lower level staff would clean up

WITH the massive savings in wages now that most of the tram bosses have handed in their notice, (News, May 31) it should now be possible to complete the tram scheme by employing the office cleaners in their stead. Their wages would be much cheaper and I'm sure that they could do a better job.

Perhaps the Scottish Government and councils should also be considering similar cuts. It has always been my experience that the most lowly paid in any organisation are the most essential to its functioning.

John Eoin Douglas, Spey Terrace, EdinburghMinimum price is a ridiculous idea

I NOTICED that my corner store was selling a pack of six bottles of a well-known beer for 7.50. Under the minimum price of 45p, this six-pack would cost 4.05 (1.5 unit per bottle x 45p).

Added to the fact that no pubs, hotels or restaurants sell any alcohol under the minimum price - or anywhere near it - I started to realise just how ridiculous the minimum price idea is. The SNP are using this idea as an excuse to be seen to be doing something, and when that doesn't work they will just blame someone in England.

M Smythe, Dalry Road, Edinburgh

Are mobiles on list for zealots?

THE World Health Organisation published a report claiming there is a strong case that there is a link between mobile phone use and brain cancer.

There are five billion users worldwide. The potential for deaths from mobile phones is much, much greater than from Fukushima and Chernobyl.

Natural disasters kill far more than these two nuclear incidents. The Asian and Japanese tsunamis together killed hundreds of thousands.

Politicians claim that Scotland will get 100 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2020.

If you believe that, then we are all doomed to blackouts, unemployment and an economy in freefall.

Will the anti-nuclear zealots now switch their opposition from nuclear power plants to banning mobile phones?

Clark Cross, Springfield Road, Linlithgow