Sir, Quite how a humble chicken can actually cost more to put on a plate in Tayside when sourced from just down the road compared to one shipped across the world is plainly daft and probably nonsense.
I don’t doubt for a second that so far as Tayside Contracts is concerned it does cost them more, but that fact must surely be masking something quite fundamental. As far as I know we do produce chickens here in Scotland and in great numbers, so we must assume that someone finds the price acceptable and is able to make a profit when they sell them.
Part of the problem can be laid at the door of the local council who in their ambition to prove to us they are indeed efficient and practise the efficiencies of large corporations they have separated, or in the case of Tayside Contracts (and others), hived it off to become a limited company and a totally autonomous accounting unit.
Fine in theory, and if it were made to compete on a level playing field with the private sector some benefits might result, but I suspect the health of our children might be better served if cost and profit weren’t the overall drivers here. One can only assume that Tayside Contracts aren’t as efficient as, say, one of the supermarket chains, and in trying to balance the books, they understandably go for the “cheapest” price.
Solution? Perhaps local government should become more joined up and rather than look for efficiencies on paper they should using their resources to encourage local business to be in a position to supply them with the chickens they need to feed our children at a price both find acceptable.
We have an economic development department who are tasked to support business perhaps they should be looking at this “problem” of supply and demand? It might just help create some more jobs. Now that would be efficient two birds with one shot!
Peter Leyland. PDQ Print Services, 93 Commercial Street, Dundee.
Bring back the beat bobbies
Sir, In Kirkcaldy in the 1960s we had beat policemen and a Customs officer who were regulars in the area. They knew most of the people by sight and talked to everyone and definitely had their fingers on the pulse. They were well liked and respected and knew more, saw more and heard more about what was going on than the police these days we see passing at 30mph along our streets.
It is time the police returned to the Dixon of Dock Green type of policing with officers walking the beat and getting to know the locals. How many hours of police time are wasted by being in court waiting to be called? I spent three hours waiting to be called once only to be told go home.
Police Scotland is a mistake, it is all about political power. We need police under local control not under any first minister.
Better still, we need a local sheriff elected by the people of each town, with so many constables per thousand of population and a CID for serious crime. This along with a motorway patrol for the whole of Scotland administered from Edinburgh with local offices in the regions.
John George Phimister. 63 St Clair Street, Kirkcaldy.
Show where hazards are
Sir, Many years past while employed in East Africa I recall “driving” along roads with some amazing pot-holes, some of which would have engulfed a mini.
In many developing country environments this type of roadway hazard was to be expected and dealt with by having heavy duty suspension fitted to our cars. A costly but necessary exercise.
However, in our “developed country” such measures were, until fairly recently, considered unnecessary: the existing sorry state of our road infrastructure must be a reflection on the management of the responsible authority.
Although the police may not be directly responsible for repairing pot-holes and sunken drain covers, they should at least mark off such potential accident hazards.
Kenneth Miln 22 Fothringham Drive, Monifieth.
Are we up to the task?
Sir, The recent Courier Comment on reinvigorating an ailing Church highlights the precarious position the Church is in today. To address this and reverse terminal decline the Church must turn around and discover God anew.
It rediscovered God in the 16th century at the Reformation and in the 18th century through John Wesley; it can happen again today in the 21st century. To rediscover God anew requires letting go of many of our traditional beliefs about the Bible and Jesus and opening up to a new understanding of God. God is calling the Church forward. Are we up to the task?
Grahame Lockhart. 15 Scott Street, Brechin.
It’s quiet . . .too quiet
Sir, Now I’ve heard everything. A St Andrews resident objects to students living in nearby houses because they make the streets too quiet.
He should, however, be glad that the property at Pipeland Road was granted an HMO licence, as most such homes, being student dwellings, are occupied at least 30 weeks of the year.
The likely alternative use, as a holiday home, would have meant the house lying empty for all but six weeks, making the area even quieter.
Jane Ann Liston. 5 Whitehill Terrace, St Andrews.