Sir, – I listened to The Courier’s editor David Clegg commenting on the Brexit situation and his agreement with Andrew Tickell’s comment that Boris Johnson wants Britain to continue to benefit from the EU while benefiting from being outside the EU at the same time.
Wanting to ‘have their cake and eat it’ comes to mind, and the food analogies continue, from Boris’s ‘oven ready deal’ to Pete Wishart’s ‘barely defrosted turkey’.
Recent analysis reports from an independent government department have stated Brexit will negatively affect us all. A ‘no deal aka an Australian deal’ will cause a 5% reduction in GDP. Food prices will increase, particularly vegetables. And fish. How absurd, the Royal Navy is set to guard our fish from the French, Dutch and Spaniards, and look at the extra the UK fisher folk can catch and process. But where will it be sold and at what price?
Who is going to absorb the additional tariff costs? The fishermen? The processors? More likely labourers will be forced to take a pay cut.
So Boris Johnson and his chums sold Brexit supporters a ‘pup’. Someone should have told them pets are not only for Christmas.
Alistair Ballantyne.
Birkhill,
Angus.
Council priorities in pavement v potholes
Sir, – If anything illustrates how council priorities are at odds with the public’s it is the report in The Courier on December 12, regarding a parking request on Abbeywall Road.
The adoption by Fife Council of that section of pavement will have no practical effect on the wellbeing of any of the residents of Pittenweem.
Meanwhile, an elderly widow, who has parked her car on it for 40 years without inconveniencing anyone, is going to lose her parking spot.
The comment that she can apply for a disabled parking bay “if she meets the criteria” is crass to say the least, as anyone who knows the area will realise. While the council has been concentrating on this small area of pavement the roads in the village and surrounding area resemble farm tracks, with potholes large enough to swallow a Smart car. There is never a rush to fix any of them.
Perhaps some of our elected representatives could prod the roads department into repairing them?
George Thomson.
Viewforth Place,
Pittenweem.
West End traffic plan not thought through
Sir, – A few months ago Dundee City Council dropped their proposal to block all vehicular traffic at Riverside Approach, following opposition from West End residents.
West End Community Council have now taken it upon themselves, and with no public consultation, to propose a revised plan which would make Magdalen Yard Road one way, block northbound traffic and create a bi-directional cycle path.
This is an equally ill-thought-out plan. Firstly it will cause the Perth Road and its lanes to become busier, thus increasing vehicular emissions.
It would also encourage drivers to ignore the 20mph speed limit and travel faster along Magdalen Yard Road, knowing no traffic would be coming in the opposite direction.
Dundee City Council are running with this revised proposal and are conducting a survey online. I would encourage those West End residents who objected to the first proposal to object to this one as well.
Jim Dryden.
Shaftesbury Park,
Dundee.
Tiers and anomalies of local travel
Sir, – Our village is in Tier 3 and is virtually equidistant from Perth and Dundee, both of which are also in Tier 3.
As we are in the Perth and Kinross local authority area we can travel freely to Tier 3 Perth but not over the border into Dundee.
Anomalies such as this must surely lead to necessary restrictions being taken less seriously.
John Milne.
Rose Cottage,
Kirkmichael.
