Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – Back in the 1960s, my mother used to tell us: ”We’ve fought the Germans twice this century. We’ll have to fight them again some time.” Oh how true that has turned out to be.
A couple of months ago, Angela Merkel, originally from the old Communist East Germany, said: ”There will be war in Europe.” Of course, I don’t think she meant with guns and tanks, but you never know. I think she meant a financial and economic war.
Well, the economic war has been going on for some time, and the Germans have won that one. One man, facing the cameras in Greece, said: ”We are in this mess because we have bought too many goods from Germany.”
We have sort of gone along with that too.
There are 422,000 heavy goods vehicles on the road in the UK, and the bulk of them are made in Europe, largely in Germany by Mercedes and MAN who even make trucks using the iconic UK truck name ERF.
Renault trucks are made by Volvo and Fiat make IVECO. Scania has 10 production plants. All in mainland Europe.
As far as our public service vehicles go, our ambulances are fast becoming a Mercedes motorshow, our fire engines Mercedes or Volvo and Scania. There are only a few UK-made Dennis now.
Our police vans are Mercedes Sprinters and Volkswagens and the cars are Ford Focus, Mondeo, Fiesta, Vauxhall Insignia, and big BMWs costing as much as UK-built Jaguars (much better cars) and some Skodas.
Only the Vauxhall Astra is made here on a ”take-it-or-leave-it” deal with General Motors. To me, that is a disgrace. On top of that greedy shareholders in Rolls-Royce and Bentley sold these auto marques to the Germans.
Now the Germans are finding out the single currency was a gigantic mistake. Mrs Merkel wants closer political integration and more fiscal control over the rest of Europe her ”not-able-to-pay” customers.
It’s not a United States of Europe you are going to get. It’s a United States of Germany.
K J MacDougall.3 Logie Avenue,Dundee.
Will they head south if there is a ‘yes’ vote?
Sir, – Jenny Hjul is yet another in the long line of the ”wittering classes” employed by The Courier in its anti-SNP crusade.
Once we had John J Marshall, then we had (or perhaps we still do) someone who shares the same surname as the deputy PM of the Unionist cabal aka the current British Government. Both without an ounce of impartiality in their bones.
Now to add to the list we have the aforementioned Mrs/Miss/Ms Hjul who without fail (when not rubbishing the current Scottish Government), blindly follows the Unionist credo with an adherence touching to behold.
Hopefully, should Scotland vote yes in the forthcoming referendum, she and others of her ilk will hightail it down south at the earliest opportunity.
I, for one, will not be sad to see her go.
John Campbell.40 Auchrannie Terrace,Dundee.
Claims were denounced
Sir, – Your report, by Jenny Hjul, concerning the walk-out of the Green Party of the Yes Scotland campaign doesn’t tally with the information I have.
It is common knowledge that Patrick Harvie has been denouncing these claims since the weekend.
The article compounds this error by wrongly reporting on Margo MacDonald’s attitude to the campaign.
The debate about Scotland’s future is too important to be clouded in this way.
Ken Clark.335 King Street,Broughty Ferry.
An insensitive proposal
Sir, – In Monday’s edition you showed dramatic photos of the Red Road flats in Glasgow prior to demolition and the way in which they dominated adjacent properties.
They were the highest in Europe in the mid-60s at 89 metres.
Readers may be interested to know that the six wind turbines proposed for Kenly Farm, near Boarhills, Dunino and Kingsbarns, would be 100 metres high and set in rural Fife countryside five miles from St Andrews.
Some 84 residences are within two kilometres of this insensitive proposal.
I hope readers will write to Fife Council to record their displeasure.
John Goodwin.3 Old Edinburgh,Boarhills,St Andrews.
Living beyond their means
Sir, – Rangers going into liquidation is only the latest example of organisations living well beyond their means.
We used to laugh at the acronym PIIGS Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain but it turned out to be far worse than anyone imagined.
Aberdeen City Council remains hampered by its debt mountain and the Blair/Brown governments saddled the country with a legacy of debt.
Individuals have been no better with personal debt at record levels. Have we learned the lesson yet?
I was brought up to believe if you want something you save up until you can afford it.
Shakepeare had it right: ”Neither a borrower nor a lender be”.
Stewart Whyte.25 Crombie Acres,Westhill,Aberdeenshire.
Eye clinic praise
Sir, – I refer to R Marshall Rogers’ letter of June 8 regarding his experiences at Ninewells’ eye clinic.
After attending the clinic for two operations recently I fully endorse his comments.
Every member of staff was very helpful and efficient.
The standard of treatment was way beyond what I expected and I am exceptionally grateful to all concerned.
Gordon Haggart.Hillside, Montrose.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL. Letters should be accompanied by an address and a daytime telephone number.