Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – In Ewan Pate’s article on soil drainage issues in Monday’s Courier he highlights the massive problem facing farmers on how to deal with water drainage issues.
As far as agriculture is concerned, the build-up of surface water is partly down to a combination of years of poor soil management and the increasing use of very heavy machinery.
As Ewan points out, on most farms, soil drainage systems are no longer fit for purpose.
In many areas, we are already seeing a reduction in crop yields due to poor germination and growth, as plants struggle to survive in increasingly soggy conditions.
At the end of the season, harvesting late crops is becoming a nightmare, too. Higher production costs are being passed on to the consumer in the form of increasing food prices in the supermarkets.
Without a massive injection of public funds, the situation will only get worse.
As an agricultural student in the 1950s, on a carse farm near Stirling, I witnessed the annual arrival of ”Irish drainers” who dug drains (by hand) to relieve the water problem.
We now have the machines etc to do the job. All we need is the finance and, more importantly perhaps, the will to get on with it.
Bob Smart.55 Bellevue Gardens,Arbroath.
We must not let Madras leave town
Sir, ““ Our children’s education should come first, so it’s time for some people in St Andrews to get real now that the pond site appears to be sunk.
It’s time for those opposed to swallow their pride and get behind Fife Council and support their efforts to have the school built at Pipeland Farm as soon as possible.
It would result in the council still being able to afford a fit-for-purpose school with all the amenities it requires, including playing fields on site.
Matters of safety can be resolved, as a majority of parents in a recent poll wished that pupils be kept on site during breaks. Inflation is fast eroding the spending power of the £40 million allocated in 2008 for the new-build school.
Prevarication using the green belt as a moral objection could result in St Andrews losing the school to an outside location. Is this what the majority in the town want?
Joseph A Peterson.Kilrymont Road, St Andrews.
Does Trump have a mole?
Sir, – Reports that Donald Trump is to press ahead with his plans to build a second golf course at Menie raise some interesting questions.
Mr Trump has suggested the reason he is going ahead is that the offshore windfarm is now dead in the water due to concerns over radar interference. Interesting, as I thought objections from the MoD had been resolved.
Does Mr Trump have a ”mole” in the MoD, local government or Scottish Government that allows him to make such a statement? Nothing would surprise me.
However, all this could be just a bluff to deflect attention away from the fact his popularity in the north east and the rest of Scotland is allegedly now in sharp decline.
Perhaps the reason is far more simple. The Scottish Government has once again decided to back down in its dealings with Mr Trump.
R T Smith.Braeside Terrace,Aberdeen.
Nice weather for seaducks
Sir, – The current trend is to blame every negative happening on that catch-all phrase: climate change. In your report on Monday on the decline of seaducks, the RSPB spokesman, inevitably, cites climate change as a contributor to this decline.
I don’t know about anyone else but recent summers with incessant rainfall would seem to me to have favoured ducks, as it certainly hasn’t been favourable to humans.
GM Lindsay.Whinfield Gardens.Kinross.
That’s Scot the way to dress
Sir, – If ever there was an example of the difficulty we Scots have in presenting ourselves to the world, it has to be Neil Oliver’s suave appearance at the recent Scottish Bafta Awards ceremony.
While a posh dinner jacket and bow tie look splendid when worn with the kilt, and while a muckle pair of tackety boots expresses the butch aggressiveness of the average Scottish male, they do not go well together. I was left wondering whether Neil was attending a formal social gathering or whether he was ready for a day on the hills.
J M Young.Coldstream Crescent,Leven.
Good riddance to bad rubbish
Sir, – I have to concur with George K McMillan (November 16) regarding Abu Qatada.
Let’s get back to good old British justice: put him on the first flight to Jordan and then argue about it later. It will be a seven-day-wonder and we (the fed-up public) will thankfully be rid of him.
Jack Harrison.Cavendish Avenue,Perth.