Sir, I refer to your ongoing coverage regarding the comments by the President of Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce on the future of Dundee Airport.
I find it disappointing that the president of our local chamber of commerce advocates that Dundee firms take their business to Edinburgh Airport rather than support their own local airport.
In my mind, at a time when Dundee is undergoing a massive and welcome regeneration, we should be doing everything in our power to encourage more people to use the city’s airport.
What kind of message does it send to potential airlines and investors when the head of the largest business group in the city effectively says Dundee is closed for business?
I welcome the recent comments by two former chamber presidents who recognise the importance of the airport to the region’s economic development.
This echoes the sentiment of members of the airport consultative committee who met last week and voiced their strong support for the airport.
Dundee Airport has worked closely with Loganair and the local business community to ensure that flight schedules are aligned to meet the needs of business travellers.
We will continue to work with those who share our belief that Dundee Airport can and should continue to make a valuable contribution to the economic regeneration of our city.
Derrick Lang. Dundee Airport Manager, Riverside Drive, Dundee.
A self-imposed censorship
Sir, Stuart Waiton, Free speech, but how free?’ (Courier, February 20) will no doubt be aware that the term “political correctness” derives from the Marxist technique of scrutinising articles before publication to ensure they were indeed “politically correct” in Marxist philosophy.
When they “failed to change the world as they so wished” by revolution they did more than just try to change the language. They set about to subvert the capitalist and Christian culture which they saw as having the working class in thrall.
It was a brilliant and successful move to which the present state of the Western world more than testifies where even the pinkest of socialists and social democrats, Christians and Conservatives, media and institutions are caught in the trap of “political correctness”.
Civilised-sounding slogans, such as “Make love, not war”, attributed by most people to hippies and flower power, were coined by Marxists, such as, Herbert Marcuse a prominent member of the Marxist Institute of Social Research later known as the Frankfurt School.
The books, Eros and Civilization and The Authoritarian Personality gained much support in American universities. The hippie era had begun.
Mary Whitehouse and her ilk may have been anathema to free-thinking people but having replaced her with political correctness has censored freedom of speech to an even greater degree. A censorship not only self-imposed but welcomed as the civilised thing to do.
We’re all Marxists now.
Andrew Lawson. 9 MacLaren Gardens, Dundee.
No confidence in its claim?
Sir, I have no idea what the rights and wrongs of the dispute between Unite and NHS Tayside are, but it seems reasonably certain that what is at issue is the interpretation of a contract of employment.
If that is indeed so, and if the union is so confident of the justice of its case, why does it not seek a legal remedy before a tribunal or the court rather than going on strike with the inevitable unfortunate consequences to patients?
Is it too cynical to infer that the reason why this approach is not being taken is because the union lacks confidence in the legal basis of its claim?
Alastair L Stewart. 86 Albany Road, Broughty Ferry.
That explains a few things . . .
Sir, I’ve just found out why our outgoing Fife MP Gordon Brown is giving up his paltry £67,000 salary and retiring from Westminster at the next election. Last year his earnings outside parliament were £962,516.
That does, perhaps, explain the complaint many of his constituents had about his lack of appearances in the Commons. I don’t suppose he could have amassed such an amount if attending Westminster regularly.
Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind have tried it, but are clearly small beer alongside the great man. He has pride of place as the highest earner outside of his parliamentary duties.
The Westminster MPs still seem oblivious as to why the public hold them in such poor regard, too. However it could have been worse, I suppose. They could have been bankers.
Brian Macfarlane. 10 Beck Crescent, Dunfermline.
Intake of 2015 must do better
Sir, In the last week we have again been reminded of the distance some of our elected politicians have travelled from planet reality when they complain it is difficult to live on £67,000.
As The Courier online survey results demonstrate the public are sceptical of the need for MPs to earn from second jobs, perhaps influenced by another report this week that shows that too many of our neighbours are earning minimum wages with the area of North East Fife showing the highest proportion in Scotland.
Let us hope that the 2015 intake of MPs understand their responsibility to represent their constituents and not their own self-interest.
Iain Anderson. 41 West End, St Monans.