Letters: Horsemeat hands chance to local butchers

THE scandal of horsemeat in ready meals should be seen as an opportunity to change how we eat.

Too many people have for years been in the habit of buying something for dinner that they can bung into the microwave to save time and hassle.

But if you don’t choose your own ingredients, what you are putting into your body is something of a lottery.

It’s far better – and often cheaper – to make your own meals from scratch, sourcing all the ingredients and then following a recipe. It can be good fun, very satisfying, and is likely to taste far better than anything from a cardboard box in a supermarket.

Finding ingredients you can rely on can be made easier if you have a quality local butcher who can tell you where the meat came from.

If we all made a little more effort with food preparation, we could eat more healthily.

It would also help sustain local butchers’ shops rather than giving in to the convenience of big supermarket chains who sacrifice quality and service in the name of profit.

Norman Wilson, Willowbrae, Edinburgh

Tories are happy to lend a hand

Your article “Timebomb ticking over care facility” (News, February 7) highlights the undeniable issues of our ageing population.

There is also no current provision to replace all eight care homes which are regarded as not fit for purpose. It is unfortunate that the coalition budget this week did not provide a solution.

We appreciate the willingness expressed by the convener of health, social care and housing to consider the proposals in our budget for financing the earlier provision of the three new care homes required in the strategic plan.

Edinburgh Conservatives will be happy to work with the administration to resolve this area of high risk.

Councillor Elaine Aitken, Conservative spokesperson for health and social care, City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh

Worrying news of green crusaders

The news the Scottish Government is to spend £2.6 million on establishing an additional 200 electric vehicle charging points is worrying.

It shows just how desperate Alex Salmond is getting in his quest to achieve immortality with “the best CO2 reduction targets in the world” despite the numerous other areas where this money would be better spent.

At present there are only 198 electric cars on the road.

The high cost of these vehicles makes it impossible for the public to buy even in the unlikely event that they wanted to.

May I remind the Scottish Government that the public are funding this worthless environmental crusade?

May I remind the Scottish Government of that other worthless environmental crusade, the wind turbine?

Numerous scientific papers have proved that they have not reduced CO2 as gullible governments were led to believe by those with vested interests.

Clark Cross, Springfield Road, Linlithgow