Sir, We have all seen the devastation caused by the floods and storms in south west England and Wales.
The storms are driven by the Gulf Stream, which, inexplicably, is flowing further south this year than is usually the case, otherwise the storms afflicting southern England would be afflicting Scotland.
Part of the reason for the flooding has been the lack of government and council spending to maintain infrastructure no dredging of tidal rivers, no clearance of established waterways and ditches etc.
The matter of the lack of road and waterway maintenance is also a problem in Scotland, as witnessed last year by the flooding in Tayside, Perth and Fife.
While we may be grateful the Gulf Stream has missed us this year, it is interesting to speculate on what would have happened should the normal weather pattern have occurred, dumping large amounts of rain on us.
In the area in which I live, roads can be flooded by just a half-day’s rain and a major disaster may just be round the corner if action is not taken now by the Scottish Government and local councils to take a more responsible attitude towards roads and waterway maintenance.
It should be a major responsibility of government to maintain our country’s infrastructure and it is a false economy to ignore maintenance, since flooding quickly erodes road surfaces, giving rise to the infernal potholes which endanger life and limb and are expensive to repair properly.
Derek Farmer. Knightsward Farm, Anstruther.
Why the pain won’t come from Spain
Sir, The confirmation by Spain’s Foreign Minister that the attitude of the Westminster Government would be the “determining” factor in how his country regarded an independent Scotland’s membership of the EU has demolished another nocampaign scare story.
La Vanguardia newspaper reports Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo as stating: “Spain does not work on hypotheses. What I do say is that the attitude of the United Kingdom would be the determining factor at the time of deciding our vote.”
The Edinburgh Agreement commits the Scottish and Westminster Governments to respecting the result of the referendum and working together to implement the result (which fully addresses the Spanish Government’s point).
The uncomfortable truth for the anti-independence campaign is that the only threat to Scotland’s continued place in Europe comes from remaining under the Westminster system, where UKIP is continuing to set the agenda and the Tories are planning an in/out referendum.
John S Jappy. Moy Bridge Cottage, Urray, Muir of Ord.
Days of Empire dawn again
Sir, The British Empire lives on. The London politicians (including those who “represent” Scottish constituents!) line up to declare they would make life as difficult as possible if the Scots vote for independence and will not agree to share sterling, just as colonial masters whipped slaves and threatened to withdraw food and water if they cried freedom.
It is, of course, all bluster. An independent Scotland will be negotiating with the next UK Government elected in May 2015. Scots, having voted for independence, are not going to re-elect Danny Alexander, Alistair Carmichael and a coterie of Labour MPs who would try to sabotage independence.
W. J. Harris. 18 Queen Street, Carnoustie.
Hydro power is the way ahead
Sir, So, our first minister had to travel all the way to a Valencia power station to discover how efficient hydro power is? Another waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned cash. I am sure Pitlochry would have given him the same answers at a fraction of the cost.
I was flabbergasted to discover there were no government subsidies available for pumped-storage hydro schemes, which are both efficient, reliable and proven sources of renewable energy.
This is proof that unreliable and expensive wind generators are installed purely as a cash cow for rich landowners and foreign companies.
I suggest the subsidies are switched from wind to hydro power and, within weeks, the applications for installing these expensive and unreliable windmills will dwindle to zero.
Charles Henderson. 5, High Street, Auchtermuchty.
Windmill scam benefits rich
Sir, The owners and manager of Bandirran Estate, near Balbeggie, have a cheek expecting us bill payers to subsidise their land and farming by letting them install any wind turbines. Note there’s by now no pretence of helping save the planet or curtailing CO2 output, but there is a hint of using the “landowner’s windmill subsidy” to contribute to securing the future or a veiled threat, if the application is not met, of job losses.
We need to recall the only benefits of this windmill scam are payments from us to landowners, developers and manufacturers the already rich for an intermittent trickle of electricity.
Also, some politicians may hope for votes from those they have deluded.
Dr Charles Wardrop. 111 Viewlands Road West, Perth.