Sir, – In this day and age of widespread travel, why is it that there is not one passenger ferry service which links Scotland direct with its European neighbours?
Why, along the whole length of the eastern seaboard of Scotland, this proud seafaring nation, are we being deprived of a passenger ferry service?
Why does every visitor to and from Scotland have to pass through Newcastle?
Was it not obvious that when DFDS took over the passenger service from Rosyth that they would run it down and eventually close the passenger facility?
I recently asked this question in a letter to the First Minister and, from the response via Forth Ports, apparently we have no such service because the SNP say tricky regulations by the EU make it difficult to fund such a service.
Can you imagine that our Scandinavian neighbours, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark and continental countries like Holland, Belgium,
Germany, France and Italy would not have one passenger ferry service operating?
So are we to accept that the EU with its regulations prevents Scotland and the SNP getting such a service?
Why does Scotland and its much-vaunted tourism quango not act on this?
Are they content to see every visitor and tourist spending their money first in England before setting foot on the soil of this country?
John Richardson. 29 Letham Rise, Dalgety Bay.
Ship migrants to African coast
Sir, – May I make some observations on the current migrant invasion?
Our own French-born MSP Christian Allard, has remained remarkably silent on the role of France in the extremely disturbing events outside Calais.
It is quite amazing that France and its police can openly tolerate illegal migrants and allow them to attack the Eurotunnel entrance and lorries heading for the UK.
The people of north-west France are suffering as well.
We must involve our armed forces and the French theirs.
Our own civilian organisations simply do not have the manpower.
My solution would be to create detention camps and when they were full, load the migrants on to naval assault ships and land them on the beaches of North Africa.
After a few suchoperations the number of migrants will drastically drop I am sure.
A T Geddie. 68 Carleton Avenue, Glenrothes.
Send troops to sort out chaos
Sir, – So David Cameron thinks the solution to the migrant crisis at Calais is giving £7 million to the French to erect a security fence there?
This crisis is a serious threat to national security. It should be seen as an invasion. Goodness knows how many potential terrorists could sneak in.
Businesses in the UK are losing millions of pounds with delays to goods and travellers’ plans are disrupted.
Why on earth is the army not being brought in?
The French seem incapable of sorting this farce out, so the time for talking is over. Action is desperately needed for the security of this country.
Gordon Kennedy. 117 Simpson Square, Perth.
Nation needs large families
Sir, – Is it wise for recipients of taxpayers’ money to complain about benefits paid to poorer people?
Rev Dr John Cameron (July 30) may have forgotten that both the Church of Scotland and universities are entitled to exemption from both business rates and corporation taxes.
Those huge benefits mean that all other people are supporting our churches and universities through income taxes and VAT.
We don’t mind all sorts of handouts to religions and higher learning. Those tax exemptions are sufficiently justified.
Likewise, the support we give to struggling families and others is justified, however much Dr Cameron thinks otherwise.
Helping those in difficulties is advocated in the Bible, the Koran and the Talmud, which most of us support.
Besides, there are sound practical reasons why we should invest in growing families.
In his zeal to punish the poor, Dr Cameron picks out the tiny number of poor and large families that happen to stay in prestigious inner London suburbs.
Meanwhile, the monstrous deficit Dr Cameron complains of did not cost taxpayers anything.
The bailouts of our banks were paid for with fiat money issued by the Government.
No taxpayers’ money was paid to our banks.
Those bailouts for Edinburgh banks were exchanged for valuable shares.
But it is a quirk of government accounting that those saleable shares we acquired were never given a recognised value in our national accounts.
Their huge value was shown as a deficit, not the investment they really were.
Since then we’ve raised billions for taxpayers by selling those shares, so no monstrous deficit there, just billions gained from profitable sales in recent years.
Returning now to the matter of the family allowances Dr Cameron wants to restrict.
He may have overlooked Scotland’s very low birthrate that continues to fall.
Figure released in June show that Scotland’s birthrate has fallen again.
We really do need to have incentives for families to create the larger broods Dr Cameron so despises. If we don’t, there will be hardly any of us left by the end of this century.
Andrew Dundas. 34 Ross Avenue, Perth.
Where is city’s musical talent?
Sir, – I had the great pleasure of attending a concert in Perth Concert Hall. The orchestra was the Symphony Orchestra of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland.
It consisted of more than 100 young musicians who were giving their only concert in Scotland just before departing for a tour of China.
All were under 25 years of age, and the majority very much younger. They came from all over Scotland: the three cities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow; in Courier Country Perth and Kinross, Angus and Fife.
To my dismay there was not a single musician from the City of Dundee.
The explanation could be that no one from Dundee auditioned, or it could be that no one reached a sufficiently high standard.
The question must be asked whether instrumental tuition is flourishing in Dundee. I hope the answer is in the affirmative and that this will be proved by some Dundee representation in next year’s NYOS Symphony Orchestra.
Alastair Stewart. 86 Albany Road, Broughty Ferry.
Contrasting responses
Sir, -You reported (July 30) that five police cars and an ambulance swept into the Charleston area of Dundee at 11.20am following reports of a disturbance. A woman was arrested.
Yet it took three days to investigate a fatal car crash off the M9 near Stirling.
What does this comparison say about Police Scotland?
Joan M Blue. 49 Innewan Gardens, Bankfoot.
Be considerate to sea birds
Sir, – Whenever wild animals or birds trouble us humans, there follows the inevitable cries of, cull them.
Every summer, millions of people flock to the coast where many gulls live.
Despite warning notices, some visitors insist on feeding them, while others seem to find it impossible to place their leftovers in a bin.
The holiday period coincides with the birds’ breeding season and, being fierce defenders of their offspring, the birds will occasionally be aggressive, for a few weeks a year, to those they consider too close to their nests or young.
The fact is, there are simple, inexpensive and non-lethal methods that can be used to deter birds from nesting on flat roofs or chimneys, or from rummaging in our rubbish.
We have free factsheets available on deterring gulls and a number of other species.
Otherwise we should show tolerance through the breeding season, not least because they are just being good parents, and six of the seven gull species are in decline.
Numbers of coastal gull species are dropping partly because we humans are stealing their fish.
It would be a shame if we slaughtered them because they steal a few of our chips.
John Bryant. Animal Aid, The Old Chapel, Bradford Street, Tonbridge.