Sir, – It was with much hilarity that I noted the gnashing of teeth by some Brexiteers when the existing manufacturer of British passports lost the tender to a Franco-Dutch supplier.
The company, De La Rue, lost the £490m contract to Gemalto, which is based in France, and De La Rue is now to appeal the decision.
The British company has admitted its bid was not the cheapest. Indeed, the new deal could save the taxpayer £100m to £120m and 70 new jobs would be created in the UK, at sites in Fareham, in Hampshire, and Heywood in Lancashire.
The irony of all this is that while many Brexiteers project a vision of a Britain buoyed by free trade, it seems this is okay when British companies secure overseas contracts, but woe betide those overseas companies who secure contracts in the UK. Even if they are cheaper and save the taxpayer money.
It appears we are free trade when we win, but protectionist when we potentially face losing.
A strange interpretation of free trade.
It should also be noted that 80% of De La Rue revenue comes from overseas and it supplies passports to more than 40 countries around the world – although Brexiteers strangely don’t seem to be complaining that these passports are not being printed in their own countries of origin.
The De La Rue debacle has more than a whiff of hypocrisy about it.
It also further highlights the narrow British nationalism of some Brexiteers who see a world where the UK has a God-given right to “win” and where a large portion of the globe is still coloured pink.
These Brexiteers clearly need to wake up and realise that we are living in the 21st Century and not the 19th.
Alex Orr.
Flat 2,
77 Leamington Tce,
Edinburgh.
Show Scotland some respect
Sir, – As the roadside snow melts once again, it seems to me that more than ever we are casting our rubbish out of our vehicle windows.
Laybys, junctions and roundabouts seem to be favourite spots to turf our unwanted empty energy drink bottles, crisp packs, coffee cartons and chocolate wrappers.
Scotland’s countryside is beautiful and I expect many of those being thoughtless would profess to love Scotland.
But do they respect her?
Come on people, show Scotland some love and take it home and bin it.
Andrew Buist.
Estir Bogside,
Alyth.
Here on the land we see it all
Sir, – In the 1960s everyone here with a shotgun joined in the annual hunts which killed hundreds of white hares, dwarfing the numbers recently broadcast from covert filming.
The farmers and gamekeepers were united in their belief that the hares spread tick-borne disease.
Fifteen years ago, before the national park was formed, our land was one of two demonstration moors in the Cairngorms.
Scientists rather than landowners, farmers, gamekeepers, or indeed journalists, set about assessing the grazing pressure from different herbivores, and the effect of management practices, including tick control, on all species.
A lot of taxpayers’ money was spent on fencing, and baseline surveys; and a good start made on disseminating educative material on moorlands to local schools.
The project did not fit with the politics of the new national park and was immediately dropped, long before any useful information could be gleaned.
Without such knowledge, scientifically validated over years, those of us living in the hills carry on trying to make a living as best we can, and based on our local experience of the land we have grown up on.
But we remain at the whim of urban sentimentality, politicians and journalists who, quite literally, know no better.
Hector Maclean.
The Spott,
Glenprosen,
Kirriemuir.
Leave the land to professionals
Sir, – Regarding Jim Crumley’s column in The Courier (“Protect the mountain hare”, April 3).
Whilst we recognise this bandwagon is another hook on which Mr Crumley can hang his anti-fieldsport and rural management campaign, he really should avoid the inaccurate, biased, emotive and unscientific nonsense he employs to push his one-man crusade against those managing Scotland’s valuable and vulnerable countryside economy.
We know the science that tells us the hare population is stable or increasing, and the greatest densities and productivity occur in properly managed grouse moors. We also know hares carry ticks and louping ill, a disease potentially fatal to sheep.
Of course management is necessary, and is already regulated by a plethora of laws. Hares are herbivores, and, in the same way as red deer, need to be culled in order to allow regeneration of flora, including trees.
In fact the Scottish Government has now ordered two reviews into red deer numbers due to perceived environmental damage.
There was no hysterical reaction to this – why so with hares?
Scottish Natural Heritage, who look after these matters for the Scottish Government, have issued licences to kill thousands of hares during the close season in order to prevent damage; this in addition to those killed lawfully in the open season, so necessary is the need to control hare numbers.
Perhaps Ms Sturgeon should make herself aware of what her officers do on her behalf, before she makes a fool of herself in Holyrood?
Mr Crumley demonstrates vividly why management of the countryside is best left to professionals who know what they are talking about. We have already seen the folly in the irreversible environmental damage caused by the illegal release of beavers into the region.
At least, having realised their mistakes, we are promised that there is no prospect of lynx joining the band of unwanted predators!
Gerard Watts.
Persie Estate,
Glenshee.
Winnie Mandela never apologised
Sir, – Winnie Mandela’s place in the pantheon of South Africa’s liberators was marred by her personal corruption, murderous violence and the implosion of her marriage to Nelson Mandela.
She derived her status from their shared struggle, yet chafed at being defined by him. With her infamous statement: “Our boxes of matches and our necklaces will liberate this country”, she endorsed the vile practice of burning black Africans alive using tyres and petrol. She terrorised her own neighbourhood with a group of thugs called the Mandela United Football Club, responsible for child abduction, torture and murder.
In 1997 she was brought before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission but the hearing had to be adjourned when witnesses were intimidated.
Archbishop Tutu exhorted her to tell the truth and she finally admitted “things went horribly wrong” but that was as close as she ever got to an apology.
Rev Dr John Cameron.
10 Howard Place,
St Andrews.
What exactly is Brexit for?
Sir, – As the tide for the Scottish fishing industry’s chances of ever taking back control over our waters flows out I mention one other reality check, reported on that very afternoon of Mrs May’s big speech last month and inexplicably ignored since then.
The PM affirmed contracts (that include our shipbuilding) will continue to open-tender without state aid. I was bitterly disappointed.
If there was one dream Brexiteers deserved it was to see the end of Caledonian Macbrayne’s larger ferries being built in Germany and Poland.
What exactly is Brexit for?
Roderick Brodie.
1 Duff Street,
Dundee.
