Sir, – Leonardo da Vinci’s writings and drawings from between the latter part of the 15th and early 16th Centuries were collected and put into the 12-volume Codex Atlanticus.
Leonardo put his ideas into practice in his lifetime and installed a fire-suppressing sprinkler system for the kitchen of his patron the Duke of Milan.
During a banquet there was a fire. His sprinkler system worked but soaked the food. The guests went home hungry and the duke wasn’t happy with Leonardo.
It is only by good luck that none of the students at Glasgow School of Art perished in the 2014 fire that destroyed their college and some of them must have mused as to why sprinklers were not fitted.
I thought at the time that it was simply awful how the blame was very quickly (within hours/days) heaped on the shoulders of one hapless student.
The fire chiefs who issued a fire safety certificate for the building and the trustees who, for a hundred years, saw no need to protect their many students with this most basic necessity in a timber-lined building that stores highly flammable paints and spirits, should have been made to explain their actions at a public inquiry.
Had this been the case then maybe, just maybe, lessons would have been learned and lives saved elsewhere.
Tom Minogue.
94 Victoria Terrace,
Dunfermline.
Parking solution can be found
Sir, – Your correspondent Alfred Small (June 17) asks where the funding can be found to tackle the issue of increasing car parking charges at Ninewells Hospital.
Mr Small should be directing that question to the Scottish Government ministers who made the promise of abolishing car parking charges at all hospitals across Scotland, then reneged on that promise so far as Ninewells was concerned.
The PFI parking contract at Ninewells was in the public domain at the time the parking charges promise was made.
Both Mr Small and Alan Provan are quick to criticise my call to make good that promise at Ninewells but they offer no alternative solution as to how to tackle the ever-increasing hospital parking charges facing out-patients, NHS staff and hospital visitors.
There is additionally a significant vehicle capacity issue at the Ninewells Hospital site that needs urgently addressed.
I have, therefore, written to Shona Robison MSP, cabinet secretary for health and sport, and Lesley McLay, chief executive of NHS Tayside, calling for discussions with local elected representatives at all levels, to look at ways to improve the parking situation on the Ninewells Hospital site.
Councillor Fraser Macpherson.
Councillor for the West End,
Dundee City Council,
City Chambers,
Dundee.
Britons not good at integrating
Sir, – Recently a few of your correspondents have been bemoaning the fact that immigrants here do not integrate into our society, absorb our culture or learn to speak our language.
While I agree that would be beneficial, I do not think that the British can be too critical of anyone in these matters without first looking at their own record.
Did those who went to India to work in the jute trade absorb Indian culture, integrate and learn the language?
More recently, do British immigrants to the Spanish costas or rural France learn Spanish or French and integrate fully with the locals?
Of course, I am referring to those people as immigrants while, in effect, they are ex pats.
Perhaps the rules for immigrants and ex pats vary.
Vincent Connor.
54 Taylor Street,
Forfar.
Referendum is on its way
Sir, – Two of your unionist contributors, Martin Redfern and Derek Farmer, among others, not content with their supposed electoral rejuvenation, continue to campaign to convince voters that full independence for Scotland would be a disaster.
Mr Redfern has resorted to claiming Nicola Sturgeon is a deluded individual with Mr Farmer inferring SNP supporters cannot comprehend his perceived disastrous scenario of independence and nationalism.
Both are wrong. The First Minister has been, since the Brexit vote, the stand-out voice of common sense acting in the best interests of Scotland and indeed the UK with Westminster ignoring the Scottish Government’s proposals.
Mr Farmer, claiming to be more thoughtful than SNP supporters, should perhaps put his mind to what the future holds for the UK.
They should both explain why it is so wonderful for Scotland to be ruled from Westminster, and the claimed great advantages of the union their cohorts repeatedly fail to expound.
Supporters of Scottish nationalism are derided for having the temerity to follow the true definition of the word which encompasses a true love of country and a wish to seek an independent state, free from the shackles of Westminster.
These protagonists, together with all other Better Together proponents, will be required to address the above when the second referendum comes along, whenever that may be.
Hugh Cameron.
33a Thomas Street,
Carnoustie.
Corbyn tanks on SNP’s lawn
Sir, – In the general election, 977,569 people voted for the SNP out of a total electorate of 3.9 million, meaning that only one in every four registered voters supported them.
They have lost about 500,000 votes since 2015.
Although Nicola Sturgeon will never admit it, everyone knows that a second referendum is off the table.
Worse, her strategy of using the confused situation on Brexit negotiations as an excuse to keep Scotland’s “options open” has been usurped by a resurgent Labour Party whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, never a big fan of the European Union, offers better arguments for a non- hard Brexit, with the added advantage of no second referendum sub-plot, and socialist credentials and policies which are more genuine than the SNP’s.
Mr Corbyn’s tanks are on Ms Sturgeon’s lawn and in another general election Labour could win the 12 seats in Scotland where they are within 5% of the SNP, meaning their “triple lock” mandate could be well and truly sprung.
Allan Sutherland.
1 Willow Row,
Stonehaven.