Letters: No wonder council can't make its numbers add up

Edinburgh City Council, which is staring into a massive financial black hole, spent 1,297,094 on phones for 6079 staff between 2008 and 2010.

By my reckoning that's one phone for every three workers.

Perhaps a council executive could explain who these staff are and what they use their phones for, as it is baffling me.

Teachers can't use phones in class (ssshhh!). Admin staff presumably have an old- fashioned landline phone to use. I can see the point of some staff having paid-for mobiles, such as social workers, who are out and about and often need a means of communication for urgent matters.

But I can't help but feel that this is part of the Scottish local authority culture of gathering large sums of money from innocent citizens in the shape of council tax and pouring it down the drain as quickly and wastefully as possible.

It's time councils started controlling their spending.

Ken Welsh, Easter Road, Edinburgh

Looking at bigger picture for Odeon

MANY of those who have shown an interest in the Odeon in Clerk Street either did not appreciate the huge size of the site/building, or have the expertise to run a multi-million pound project and the resultant business (News, April 5).

A colleague (with a lifetime of management in hotels, banqueting and functions), and myself (management in Odeon, including Edinburgh, and the leisure business) formed Save the Odeon Ltd, to protect the building.

I still firmly believe the venture we proposed was the most viable, suitable and most beneficial for the building insomuch as the integrity of the building would have been kept and improved, right from the proscenium arch back through to the frontage on Clerk Street.

The complex would have hosted film premieres, shown film, presented live performances of all types, offered banqueting and conference facilities for up to 600, which in turn would have complemented all the other uses the building would have provided, including gallery areas and studios. This would have provided Scotland with a self-financing, unique, six-star venue attracting truly international business and stimulated the Southside, which would have been transformed, just as the Scottish Parliament revitalised Holyrood.

One interesting factor is that of the vendor demanding the proposed business plans from prospective purchasers. The "intellectual property" of a potential business is an expensive commodity and I find it remarkable that the vendor is the arbiter of whether or not a potential purchaser's concept is a viable proposition, especially when they themselves have a development interest in the property.Another factor is that of an owner of a listed building being allowed to permit a gem of a building such as the Odeon to deteriorate into a deplorable condition. If a truly independent valuation were commissioned today, with an active preservation order on the building, it could well be now in negative equity.

R Grahame Wear, former manager, the Odeon

Charity should begin at home

IS IT any wonder that millions of pensioners are angry that they will miss out on a new flat-rate state pension of more than 155 a week? These are the very people that produced the wealth for this country.

Just think of the millions our politicians give away to other countries. Should charity not begin at home?

The sad fact is, there is no other political party they can turn to as they are all the same.

John Connor, David Henderson Court, Dunfermline

Money wasted on useless projects

THE political parties have a brass neck making cuts in public services because they have run short of money that doesn't belong to them.

The money has been squandered on useless projects. Now is the time for the candidates to face the music - the voters.

CJR Fentiman, Polwarth Gardens, Edinburgh