Sir, The recent Eastleigh by-election will be remembered as a turn in the political road when 11,571 electors voted for the Eurosceptic, anti-immigrationist UKIP, a mere 1700 short of winning the seat.
In a panic Ed Miliband reinvents Labour’s policy on immigration by calling for “a new approach” to this ever-present threat “by reducing the number of low-skilled workers coming to Britain”.
Unfortunately for this fork-tongued politician his feverish double-speak is drowned out the length and breadth of the country by the question, “What kept you?”
From the unfortunate ministry of Edward Heath, through the calamitous 13 years of Blair and Brown, Britain has been literally inundated by millions of the world’s “huddled masses” to the irreparable damage of population patterns, health service, social housing, benefits structure and employment levels.
Even if the frightened politicians who are now making full use of their verbal sticking plasters were to put their phoney prescriptions into practice, which of course they will not, the damage to the fortunes of our nation has been done and we must brace ourselves for the consequences.
Alastair Harper. House of Gask, Lathalmond, by Dunfermline.
Don’t blame it on the weather
Sir, Mike Cantlay, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, marked the beginning of Scottish Tourism Week (March 4-13) with the observation that we suffer from a poor appreciation of tourism’s importance to Scotland’s economy. He also bemoaned the fact that visitors’ knowledge of Scotland becomes “patchy” after whisky, tartan and the Loch Ness Monster.
I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Cantlay, but unlike him, I don’t think that our tourism industry’s tough times can be blamed on the weather. Since when did anyone come to Scotland to enjoy our temperate climate? If anything, our weather should be added to his list of things that tourists do know about Scotland.
Whether he chooses to believe it or not, the fact is that our own SNP Government has a poor appreciation of tourism’s importance to the economy. That is why the unbridled deployment of vast numbers of industrial wind turbines scours our iconic landscapes and visitor attractions.
Instead of lamenting that Scotland’s tourist industry is under-appreciated, Mike Cantlay should finish off Scottish Tourism Week by telling us why VisitScotland has not objected to wind farms which will loom over the shores of Loch Ness, the Old Course at St Andrews, Culzean Castle, Loch Lomond, Straiton and many other world-renowned locations which do attract visitors.
Struan Stevenson, MEP. The European Parliament, Brussels.
About making a fairer society
Sir, I was pleased to read in Friday’s Courier that the director of Shelter, Graeme Brown, concedes that the Government’s welfare reform programme has the support of the people of Scotland.
Perhaps he will now agree with the public that people in receipt of housing benefit should not be able to live in larger houses than those in work.
The purpose of the welfare reform is not just about saving money but making a fairer society where those in work do not have to subsidise spare rooms for those on welfare and people recognise this.
Councillor Mac Roberts. Ward 1, Carse of Gowrie, 2 High Street, Perth.
Bringing “buzz” to town centre
Sir, Your leading article and news story (March 1) reporting the Carnegie Trust’s brilliant initiative in launching the TestTown competition, to find remedies for the blight afflicting our town centres, has a direct relevance to Perth, where the centre has been decaying for more than a generation and is now in a parlous state.
That is why the Perth City Market Trust’s essential purpose is to revitalise the city centre by revitalising the City Hall. Features will include a long-overdue new tourist shop and visitor centre within the existing grand entrance hall but the main attraction is the conversion of the main hall into Scotland’s first fresh food market, open six days a week, selling the produce of our own countryside.
Not one fresh food retailer has survived in the High Street or St John’s Mall, which is crazy, since we all need fresh food every day. Altogether, some 40 or 50 independent stall-holders, all specialist fresh food retailers, will create excitement, colour, variety and competition the vital “buzz” that has all but disappeared from our town centres.
This is the surest way to reverse the decline of Perth’s centre to the benefit of everybody concerned and at minimal cost to the council.
Vivian Linacre. Managing Trustee, Perth City Market Trust.