Letters: Where has tram cash gone with no rails yet laid?

TIE are making the fullest use of the occasion to forge on with the trams project as if there is nothing amiss. Even that might be forgivable if the tram would be of any use to the city. The truth is entirely different.

The fact is the previous council, with the inducement of developers, started to fill up Leith docks with buildings and bodies without the slightest thought that Leith was already choked with traffic trying to get through its one and only main street, Great Junction Street, within a densely populated area, plus the narrow Constitution Street, both fed by the wide and thriving Leith Walk. The latter is now being killed off by TIE.

Are we beyond the point of no return? Of course TIE would say that as it would move heaven and earth to protect its inflated incomes.

Five million pounds a year will be taken out of our bus service to subsidise trams. There is no mention of the 500 million-plus that the tram will cost.

It will forever have to be subsidised, but the public will get very little use out of it with its few stops.

It was thus determined from the outset and will be a permanent obstruction on our streets. It is only meant to serve the council's investment in Leith docks.

The replica tram in Princes Street is a bog-standard issue with a glossy jacket.

For a 43-metre vehicle it will have 87 cramped seats, about the same as a bus that takes up considerably less space.

There will be 170 people standing when it is full. If they go to the airport, they will have to share the floor with children, bags, buggies and cases! Making false promises, TIE says it might take bikes or even cargo on the tram.

Ever since the start, the whole set-up has been engulfed in secrecy. It is high time we got a full account of how 270m was spent even before the first of rail has been laid. A public inquiry was also waived.

JS Visser, Esplanade Terrace, Edinburgh

Independent body needed for finance

THE admission by Chancellor Alistair Darling that he got it wrong over the length and depth of the recession is clearly deeply disturbing, with the UK likely to remain in recession until at least next year.

As the economy slid into recession Mr Darling asserted the downturn would be short and shallow. It is now clear to everyone, even the Chancellor, that this is not the case and the result is that unemployment will be higher, borrowing will be greater and the recovery more difficult. Indeed, recent IMF projections indicate that the UK will be the last of the major economies to come out of recession, and the only major economy to continue to be in recession next year.

One thing clear from this situation is the need for an independent body that can assess the public finances and wider economic situation without being politically tainted by HM Treasury.

This would at least allow us to know the true extent of the economic environment we are in and be in a better position to be able to address this.

Alex Orr, Bryson Road, Edinburgh

Direct action result of political failure

WHEN Councillor Cameron Rose says he has no sympathy for those who break the law of the land and that ".. such action loosens the very glue which holds our society together", isn't he doing what politicians like to do – focusing on the effect and ignore the cause (Letters, April 4)?

Isn't direct action, which can descend into violent or destructive conduct, simply borne out of political failure, politicians ignoring the interests of those whom they're supposedly elected to serve? And, isn't such action taken by those who are sick to death of the failure of politicians to represent their interests, rather than commercial and government vested interests, and who see no alternative for redress?

Cllr Rose must know that there are growing numbers of people who are now disenchanted with the political process.

The poor turnout of around 35 per cent for local government elections proves this.

Yet, despite this, unpopular government measures and extravagancies are forced on us with wild and false claims of public or majority "support", "will" or "agreement". Don't many now believe that rather than work to control unelected officialdom in the public interest, those elected just become part of the problem, furthering their own interests and becoming the servant of the "system" rather than its master on the public's behalf?

And that the political process just doesn't serve public interest, that it doesn't work, that it is long overdue for an overhaul?

Isn't direct action the consequent effect, the politicians and their failure to properly serve the public the cause?

Jim Taylor, The Murrays Brae, Edinburgh

Sad to see adults make fuss over toy

I THINK it is a sad state of affairs when a child of four years is told by a property manager that unless his toy car is removed steps will be taken to uplift it because some people complained it was stopping them from parking their bikes (News, April 1).

Do these people ever think about when they were kids, if somebody tried to steal their toys? I bet you they would have kicked up a fuss.

Walter Jackson, Dean Road, Penicuik