Letters: It's time to burst a few balloons at city's parties

NOW that the city is starting to gear up for the Christmas and New Year celebrations, perhaps it would be the ideal time for the council to take stock and ask itself if, in the years to come, it can afford to spend the same amounts on the various festivals, celebrations and other events that are now held throughout the year.

There is no denying the popularity of all these extravaganzas or, of course, the financial and cultural importance, but I do wonder if some sort of saturation point has been reached.

Also, as the recession continues to bite and with drastic cuts in the pipeline, this may be another vital reason for perhaps scaling back on the amounts that are spent on things which may be seen as non-essential.

Continue to celebrate and party by all means, but do not spend what you cannot really afford to spend.

Angus McGregor, Albion Road, Edinburgh

Leaders in need of fresh Outlook

The council ran a series of 'consultations' across the city recently in which it purported to be interacting with the electorate with respect to savings it will be forced to make.

The meetings, as it turned out, were a waste of time and taxpayers' money, with the council using leading questions and harvesting and manipulating the answers as was expedient to them.

At our local meeting, I tried to raise a point about the unnecessary waste that is the council newspaper, Outlook, but was not allowed to speak.

Referring again to your article on Outlook last week, it is incredible that in these cash-strapped times the Lib Dem/SNP coalition administration chooses to remain so profligate with taxpayers' money.

It is perhaps not surprising that the Lib Dems are clinging on to what free propaganda they can following their recent marriage to the Conservative Party.

However, it is surprising that the SNP says that it will wait until 2012 (following the local elections, one presumes) before making a decision on Outlook.

Why? The council will have wasted another 200-300,000 by then. All the SNP has to do is say 'no' now. I do not find the idea of an independent Scotland completely unworkable, but how can people vote for a party that neither shows or accepts any responsibility?

Dr Martin Williams, Parkgrove Drive

Is status quo an option for Scots?

Sheila Fraser tells us independence is not the answer to our ills (Interactive, Nov 15).

Presumably her ire is channelled at the Parliament because it failed to introduce the minimum price for alcohol she has long advocated and done nothing to control the sale of cheap alcohol in supermarkets, which is helping to destroy the pub trade.

However, she is not wrong in her disdain for all things Scottish Parliament, it having developed into little more than a mechanism for control-freak government which seems intent on interfering in our lives while avoiding the real issues like reforming our local government to make it more accountable, more efficient and cost effective.

But perhaps if we were to become independent and create the essential second revising chamber to ensure only quality legislation is visited upon us, we may just mature as a nation, take an interest in politics again and demand better.

Looking around me and seeing where Scotland is currently at, the only question has to be, is the status quo really an option?

Jim Taylor, The Murrays Brae, Edinburgh

Crime can pay for struggling sports

Having read on the front page of Monday's News that half of Edinburgh's sports clubs may fold due to rising costs (Pitch Battle, November 15), I turned to page two only to read that cash confiscated from criminals is helping hockey teams.

Perhaps the other sports organisations could apply for some of the filthy lucre.

The only down side is that this source of funding does rather depend on the industry of our criminals and the detection skills of our police force.

Harry D. Watson, Braehead Grove, Edinburgh