Sir, – The fact that one of our last major engineering companies cannot get any work from a huge wind farm proposal 30 miles away is the worst possible news for the SNP’s industrial strategy.
In 2010 John Swinney predicted that offshore wind could provide 30,000 jobs by 2020. In fact, only 1,900 jobs have been achieved.
The Scottish Government loaned BiFab £19m in 2017-18 and then converted the loan into shares in the loss-making business. By August 2019 £13m had been written off and the future for jobs and public money at BiFab look bleak now the work is going to China.
Meanwhile, in the nationalised Ferguson shipyard on the other side of the country, Nicola Sturgeon bears responsibility for two incomplete rusting ferries costing more than twice the contracted price of £97 million.
And will we ever be told how much public money has been spent in Prestwick airport since it was nationalised in 2013?
Against this background, the SNP government should certainly not be given more powers or money to squander.
Denis Munro.
Beaumont House,
St Johns Place, Perth.
Spanish flu of 1918 was far more deadly
Sir, – To keep a sense of proportion, the so-called Spanish ‘flu of 1918, infected 500 million people worldwide over a period of two years – about a third of the world’s population at that time.
It killed 50 million people in four waves.
So one person in three worldwide was infected, and one in ten of the infected died.
In those days viruses were unknown, and a bacteria was blamed. It killed by causing lung damage and failure, rather as Covid does.
Today we are told the world death toll from Covid is certainly one million, but could be double that.
So that is a worldwide death rate of one in every 4,000 to 8,000, with the bulk of those deaths in India, Brazil, Mexico and the USA.
How many have been infected by Covid worldwide is unknown. Of course all these figures depend on reporting, and many people may have had the Covid virus and recovered or died, without being counted.
The same being true of the 1918 outbreak. Anyway, at a death rate of – say – one in 6,000, we are doing better that one in ten. Either that, or the worst is yet to come.
Malcolm Parkin.
Kinnesswood, Kinross.
Student outbreaks can be no surprise
Sir, – Now there are outbreaks of coronavirus in student accommodation in Dundee and St Andrews.
This should come as no surprise as the handling of coronavirus in the UK leaves a lot to be desired.
Simply placing restrictions on freedom of movement on sections of the community is no solution and more effective action is required.
From here it would appear that:-
1) Testing should be available to all of the general public on request assuming that the capacity to handle this exists which may be in doubt in the case of the UK.
2) Effective tracking and tracing is essential but this does not seem to exist in the UK. It does exist here in South Korea. This could be adopted in the UK as am sure Korea Health would advise how their system works.
3) Contacts of known cases should not simply be told to self isolate but be offered a test.
4) Testing of international arrivals should be done albeit pretty late in the game as far as the UK is concerned. This has been pretty successful in Korea with many picked up either at the airport or during self quarantine of arrivals.
John McKay.
Hongho Dong,
Namgu, Busan.
A dose of reality to management of BBC
Sir, – I may not be the only person who is pleased that Boris Johnston has taken away from the BBC their self imposed right to decide who should be Chairman and who should be Director General .
The men appointed, if they accept, will in my opinion, bring a much needed touch of reality to the management of the BBC and eliminate political bias.
A A Bullions.
6 Glencairn Crescent,
Leven.
