Sir, – On Radio 4’s Today programme, Boris Johnson paraded the vacuousness of the outers’ argument by blustering that: “Of course the US has access to the free (EU) market.”
If it was all so hunky dory, why has the US been trying for ages to negotiate TTIP with the EU?
The fact is that the US does not have the access to the European Union it wishes. And thank goodness for that.
Many EU member countries are very worried about what TTIP might do to our ability democratically to resist the power of trans-national capitalism with its consequent dismantling of our welfare state and the denial of much of the social justice that we as individuals enjoy currently.
Broadly the Tories favour TTIP; they seem happy at the prospect that multinationals should gobble up our NHS and not face scrutiny in our courts.
So in the event of Brexit we might well sign up to our own TTIP with even fewer constraints.
To safeguard our ability to protect our people we need to stay in Europe, despite its current flaws.
Our concerns are very widely mirrored throughout the EU.
After a Remain vote we can share in rebuilding an EU which meets our needs far better.
We are better together.
A C Grant.
Alturlie,
Freuchie.
TTIP worry for Scotland
Sir, – Mr Hinnrichs (May 11) stated that Scottish independence is the only way for us to avoid privatisation of the NHS via TTIP.
How wrong he is. If the SNP leads Scotland to independence it will immediately join the EU thus making Scotland party to any TTIP agreement.
The only way for the UK, or indeed Scotland, to avoid TTIP is not to be a member of the EU.
The worst case scenario is if England votes to leave the EU in the referendum and Scotland votes to stay.
This could cause Scottish independence but under TTIP Scotland’s NHS could be privatised and England’s could stay in public ownership.
Christine Gull.
Invirie Street,
St Monans.
We are safer out of Europe
Sir, – There is at the moment an amalgam of claims and counterclaims, and indeed those bordering on downright lies, regarding in or out of the European Union.
What is true, however, is that we are becoming a subservient nation, a small cork bobbing around on a vast Germanic sea.
This is illustrated by David Cameron’s futile efforts to gain some control of our borders.
We simply dance to any tune played by Angela Merkel.
We do not have controls over our borders and cannot expel individuals guilty of serious criminal behaviour.
Equally we are at the risk of being faced with the likelihood of terrorist cells establishing themselves within our country.
David L Thomson.
24 Laurence Park,
Kinglassie.
Science is at risk in Scotland
Sir, – Scotland has a proud tradition of intellectual freedom and scientific leadership dating back to the 18th century Enlightenment when Edinburgh truly was the Athens of the North.
An essential belief of that era was that politicians must not dictate the boundaries of scientific research and, in its salad days, Holyrood appointed a leading scientist to act as adviser.
The St Andrews University physics professor Wilson Sibbett was an ideal appointee and in 2001 he advised that fracking had changed the energy scene much to Scotland’s advantage.
Huge shale reserves in the central Lowlands and south Fife meant power could be produced in populated areas and the gas pumped directly under the Forth into Grangemouth.
Until there was a breakthrough in electricity storage, which he warned was decades away, wind farms and their transmission clutter would be a costly environmental blunder.
He also advised that Scotland become Europe’s leading innovator in GM crops but sadly our scientifically-challenged politicians chose to do the opposite.
Dr John Cameron.
10 Howard Place,
St Andrews.
Some points of clarity
Sir, – Four letters published on May 3 would have benefited from more forethought.
Indeed, more consideration in advance might have resulted in some of them not being written at all.
Colin Topping asked if, in an independent Scotland “those who favoured remaining within the UK (would) be granted the opportunity to hold a second vote to rejoin the UK.” He thought not.
In an independent Scotland there would be nothing to stop the establishment of a reunification party. Were it to gain power, it could order another referendum.
If David Thomson had simply checked the etymology of “brainstorm” he would have seen why the civil servant’s disquiet at the use of this word was not something which “defies understanding” as he alleges.
Jenny Barnett writes that “it’s brains not gender that we need to run our businesses and country. Gender does not make a difference…”
Therefore, she should be agreeing with Nicola Sturgeon’s comments and not calling them “ridiculous” as Ms Sturgeon’s attack on the glass ceiling is based on precisely the points made by Ms Barnett.
Frequent correspondent Malcolm Parkin seeks to guide his fellow citizens concerning how they should think about “tomorrow’s EU”.
He fails to think enough about today’s EU and its membership, carelessly including in his list of countries seeking to join two, Bulgaria and Croatia, which are already members.
Gordon Dilworth.
20 Baledmund Road,
Pitlochry.
My party has lost its direction
Sir, – With reference to an article you carried before the election, SNP manifesto may mean students miss out, as a 73-year-old who has been an SNP supporter since my late teens, I came to only one conclusion. When taken along with other ideas and policies, the party has completely lost the plot.
Peter G. Francis.
5d Barossa Place,
Perth.
Market would boost Perth
Sir, – What is it with musicians and old buildings?
First we have Pete Wishart MP, formerly of Runrig, and until recently the SNP’s Westminster culture spokesman, campaigning for the demolition of Perth City Hall.
Now he’s been joined by the Average White Band’s Alan Gorrie,who, despite being a resident of New Canaan, Connecticut, these past 40 years, is keen that this fine historic building should be torn down and replaced with a “nice plaza”.
Back in the day, the occasional over-hyped rocker would content himself with smashing up a hotel room and his manager would later pay for the damage. Now they seem to want to trash entire towns.
This is getting out of hand.
The thing that’s mystifying about Mr Gorrie’s take on the City Hall is that he somehow connects it with the demise of McEwens department store, yet at the same time he correctly identifies the cause of the problem when he states that throughout Britain that the whole online shopping business has truly killed off retail.
He’s absolutely right. Indeed the British Retail Consortium has recently predicted that 900,000 of the three million or so jobs in the industry are likely to be lost for that very reason.
What has that got to do with the City Hall? I would suggest, yet again, that if the building could be developed as a specialist food market in the manner of Boston’s Faneuil Hall, then it would attract visitors to the city and stimulate the local retail trade. What’s not to like, man?
David J Black.
6 St Giles Street,
Edinburgh.
Set out record of action
Sir, – Before the election, I received from Graeme Dey, MSP for South Angus, a somewhat vacuous flier claiming all sorts of benefits from the SNP but not necessarily because he was my MSP.
Looking through Scottish Parliament records for a motion put by him which would indeed benefit his constituents, all that I could find were a number of them asking parliament to congratulate people.
It would be nice to hear from him how his presence at Holyrood is of benefit to his constituents other than as party vote fodder.
John A Dorward.
89 Brechin Road,
Arbroath.