The Courier’s letters week begins with discussion of the introduction of tuition fees, cats’ increasing boldness, the failed bridge on the River Tay and the amusingness – or otherwise – of Frankie Boyle.
Diversity of university education must remain
Sir,-I agree with Councillor Keith Legg (April 13) that graduates contribute to our society.
Universities train our doctors, teachers and public officials and we would be an impoverished nation without them.
So do we exempt those studying degrees with a view to entering essential occupations from any future tuition fees?
There is a case for doing so but in reality, these courses would become over-subscribed at the expense of courses in science and engineering.
The result of that too would be a nation unable to compete in the world, a nation where innovation would dry up.
We do need those who study for essential occupations and those whose enterprise contributes to the natinal wealth.
The only logical conclusion is that tuition fees must be resisted.
But perhaps we can be more selective about the availability of degree courses and ensure that all studies lead to a useful vocation.
Bob Ferguson.North Muirton,Perth.
Gagarin’s legacy
Sir,-I was standing in the vast crowd in the square in front of the Winter Palace in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) in 1961 when Russia’s Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.
On the wall opposite was written Nyet Boga. Yestch Gagarin (There is no God. There is Gagarin).
Where are Gagarin, Soviet Communism and man’s scientific answer to the mystery of creation now?
One dead, the other eclipsed and the third no further forward.
George K. McMillan.5 Mount Tabor Avenue,Perth.
Moggie mayhem
Sir,-It is spring once again (certainly here in the south, and I expect too in my former Angus home) and the plague of cats is upon us once more.
These animals become bolder by the year, perhaps reflecting their owners’ abandon.
There was a time they would bury their muck. Now they make full use of lawns and borders.
They prey on birds but are protected from predators.
I have nothing against cats but do not wish to see them in my garden.
Cat owners across the UK must take responsibility for their animals and keep them in their own gardens.
William Robertson.Greenford,Middlesex.
Other side to wind farms
Sir,-There are differing opinions about wind farms and their turbines.
Some see turbines as an unobjectionable and clean way of generating electricity while others see them as unsightly, expensive and useless intrusions into some of our most cherished natural landscapes.
But what is undeniable is that published photographs of wind farms show them in their “finished state.”
There are no signs of the monstrous 500 cubic metre reinforced concrete rafts upon which each turbine was bolted, there are no signs of the borrow pits from which aggregate and hardcore were mined.
There are no signs of the trenches which carried the power lines linking turbines to each other and to external pylon lines, nor are there signs of the roadways bulldozed and hard surfaced to bring heavy construction and maintenance machinery on site.
In addition there are no signs of the foundations of the electricity substation nor any of the transformer hard-standings.
Yet all these are still there hidden under heaped up subsoil and will remain there permanently even after the wind farm itself and all its turbines are long gone.
Although similar photographs of open-cast coalmines in their finished state show the ground reinstated with no visible signs of the damage done during the mine’s working life there are, in this case, no large constructions still left hidden under the final covering of soil.
Clearly then, the permanent ecological damage done by open-cast coal mining is several orders less than that perpetrated by wind farming.
It will take 4000, 400ft high, wind turbines to match the output from just one average-size coal-fired power station. For this small return, vast swathes of our precious wilderness will end up as brownfield sites suitable only for housing or further industrial development.
William Oxenham.5 Easter Currie Place,Currie.
Bridge on the river, why?
Sir,-While I am delighted to read that the Perth bridge will not be built (April 14), I am still concerned that the project was planned without any research into possible usage and that those involved on our council seemed to support a project without apparently having any idea of costs.
A doubling of costs in such a short period of time indicates that no probing questions were asked and I have to ask whether more than one contractor was asked to tender. If not, why not?
Garry Barnett.The Garden House,Campsie Hill,Guildtown.
No laughing matter
Sir,-I am at a loss to understand how “offensive” and “comic” can appear in the same headline.
I personally find Mr Boyle offensive but never amusing or funny.
Iain Inglis.49 Pinkerton Road,Crail.
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.