Sir, Traditionally, the Labour Party represents the interests and reflects the opinions of ordinary people rather than top management elites.
So, anent the Madras/Pipeland plan, Fife’s Labour council and councillors should explain why in 30 months, they have not asked for the opinions of ordinary staff at the coalfaces of MadrasCollege and our community hospital/hospice, but only the elites in its own education directorate and NHS Fife.
Nor have the council or councillors even made any effort at all to consult or explain to the residents of the Scooniehill Road area how a neighbouring school with 1,400 pupils, 19 school buses four times daily, floodlit sports fields used until 10pm, smokingbiomass chimney and massive SUDS tank just above their housing would affect their amenity and day-to-day lives.
Many are retired and/or in sheltered housing.
Like many school and hospital staff, many are probably natural long-standing Labour supporters and Labour wonders at their electoral disaster!
Finally, for education spokesperson Councillor Bryan Poole if he was proposing this motion in a debate: “That Pipeland’s positive advantages, as the site for Madras College through the 21st Century, outweigh its disadvantages” what exactly would he find to say?
John Birkett Horseleys Park St Andrews.
Scotland is not another Greece
Sir, Those whowant Westminster to continue to run Scottish affairs often insult the Scots by implying thatwe are too stupid to run our own economy.
Tory councillorMac Roberts (letters, June 30) takes this toa new level by suggesting that an independent Scotland might getitself into Greek levelsof debt.
This is rich coming from a supporter of the UK Government thathas added £500 billionto our debt whilereducing taxes forthe wealthy.
Scotland is morethan capable of managing her own economyfor the benefit of all the people of Scotland, not just the elite and bigbusiness underWestminster control.
Andrew Collins Ladyburn House Skinners Steps Cupar.
We must reverse education cuts
Sir, As somebodywho grew up in one ofthe most deprived areas in Scotland, I welcome any measure that gives students from poorbackground a fairer chance of accessinguniversity.
Indeed, as somebody who works in a Scottish university and runsone of the UK’s topengineering programmes I knowthe challengesstudents from poorbackgrounds face.
The problemuniversities face,however, is that schools serving deprived areas are simply not producing enough students toenable universities to meet the aspirationsof SNP Government a situation that is set to worsen if the real dropin literacy and numeracy standards in Scotland is evidenced in S5 and S6 exams results.
Universities have responded to this inthree ways. First, thereis now more competition for the few studentsfrom vulnerable areas who have the entryqualifications.
Second, they nowwork harder to getmore students from deprived areas toconsider a university education.
Third, universities have lowered theirintake scores for deprived areas tobelow the minimum acceptable.
This approach hashad some success, but access to university in Scotland still lags far behind the rest of theUK and the drop-outrate is a challenge.
While Universities Scotland has announced a welcome enhancement to this approach, itdoes not address thereal problem schoolsin deprived areas arenot producing sufficient numbers of students meeting the entrycriteria.
The real solution is obvious we must invest in our most vulnerable communities.
In the short-term,the SNP Government’s significant cuts to the grant for poor students must be reversed.
Above all else,however, we must reverse the SNPGovernment’s cutsto teacher numbersand education spending.
Only by doing thiscan we reverse the decline in literacy and numeracy we have seen in Scotland’s schools.
This will give thenext generation ofScots the grades they need to get to university and ensure they reach their full potential.
Dr Scott Arthur Buckstone Gardens Edinburgh.
Health and safety hit again
Sir, Once again health and safety seems to have taken a negative hit.
W Cairns, in a letter “Safety culture outof hand” (June 27),highlighted an issuewith a particular type of trailer being refused entry to Perth andKinross Councilrecycling facilities because of healthand safety.
I would be interested to know the reason why four-wheel, presumably twin-axle trailers, appear to be in breach of Perth and Kinross Council’s health and safetystandards.
Is it applicable to all Perth and KinrossCouncil recyclingcentres or, for verygood reason, just one in particular?
Did W Cairnschallenge the answer given by the Perth and Kinross Council official and ask for a more detailed explanation other than a catch-all health and safetyreason?
Health and safetyfrequently receivesnegative publicity,often unfairly.
Health and safety in itself is not the problem.
Health and safety is there for the protection of us all, at work or play.
Properly implemented health and safetylegislation has resultedin hundreds of people walking about in theUK today, accidentand injury free because of its underlying culture and well-being message.
The problem liesin the misinterpretation, and perhaps more importantly, themisuse of the legislation.
Health and safetyhas been used in thepast by some of themore militant ofworkforces to downtools and walk out on strike for very tenuous management breachesof health and safety.
It is increasinglyused as the basis forhuge claims for allsorts of allegedmisdemeanours in,and outwith theworkplace.
Satellite TV channels are full of adverts forpersonal injurycompensation claim companies that havecreated a US stylelitigious society and a very lucrative claims industry by jumping on the health and safety bandwagon … and we wonder why insurance premiums are so high nowadays, and ourpolicies carry so many exclusions, not tomention the need to carry third party liability insurance, insurance for so many things, at great cost of course!
This litigious culture results in companies, local authorities,community groups,etc., not wanting to be taken to court for something that start out trivial but end up in a major compensation claim.
It results, all too often, in a blanket ban on something or other.
If it is clearly justifiable, fine, if not, health and safety once again gets negative reaction for no good reason.
I would like to think that Perth and Kinross Council have a soundrisk assessment that clearly identifies thehazard presented by four-wheel (twin-axle?) trailers, the riskassociated with thathazard, and the reasoning why suitable control measures (other than a complete ban) could not be implemented to allow them to provide a disposal/recycling service to W Cairns and the rest of the public they serve.
Now there’s a job for one of The Courier’s journalist team toinvestigate!
Keith Richardson Melgund Burn Aberlemno.
Too late for Wimbledon?
Sir, I noticed today that when I straightened up during a bit ofgardening I made adouble grunt noise.
I wonder: could Ihave been a successful tennis player if a little younger?
Russell Smith Glamis Road Kirriemuir.
A reason for SNP complaints
Sir, After AndyMurray’s first Wimbledon match, JohnMcEnroe appraisedhis performance interms that weremerely 99% positive.
Now 56 outragedSNP MPs demand an immediate and high-level investigation into BBC anti-independence bias.
Martin Redfern Royal Circus Edinburgh.