Letters Page

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Raptor danger to other species

SIR, – With reference to Tony Comerford’s letter (the Press and Journal, September 2) headed “Decline of bird populations”, I remember being told that buzzards eat only carrion and would not be a danger to other species.

I have proved this to be totally incorrect, as I witnessed a buzzard kill and eat one of my fully-grown domestic hens two weeks ago.

The buzzard returned to take another hen, but was chased away by my grandson.

Until I put a cage around the bird table, the sparrowhawks used it as a fast-food joint, taking on average five small birds every week.

Multiply that and you begin to realise the effect that raptors are having on our biodiversity. No wonder the “dawn chorus” is not a patch on what it used to be.

I have been sickened to see a sparrowhawk take a woodpecker off the bird table, the woodpecker screaming as it was plucked. By yelling at the sparrowhawk, it flew off and the woodpecker survived.

Yes, raptors are magnificent birds, but their total protection has been so successful that the balance has now begun to shift the other way, and the number of buzzards in particular has grown to an unsustainable level.

Sabrina Humphrey,

Dinnet House,

Dinnet, Aboyne.

Causes of collapse in housing market

SIR, – Tinkering with stamp duty will not solve any problems and will simply lead to a raid on other areas of government spending to recoup the lost income.

The solution is to understand the root causes of the apparent collapse in the housing market and then address them. As a society, we have been living for too long on too much borrowed money and because Alistair Darling and his colleagues have allowed this to happen, they are culpable.

Equally culpable are all those who feed off the market and whose interests lie in maintaining a super-heated housing economy.

All of this results in hopelessly overvalued property and a correction was unavoidable.

The trouble is that the correction comes at a time when other economic factors, inflation and oil prices are conspiring against us. I think it is fortunate that the banks have their own money-supply problems, for they now seem to have rediscovered the principles of prudent lending.

That will provide the foundations upon which a recovery can be constructed.

Mr Darling should concentrate on maintaining a reasonable money flow and the housing industry in all its forms will just have to adapt its business model to reflect a much-needed change in how our society conducts its financial affairs.

Richard Skene,

2 Roundhillock Cottages,

Inverugie,

Peterhead.

Council’s bid for begging bylaw

SIR, – Some councillors just don't get it, do they?

I refer to your story (September 3) about Aberdeen City Council making bylaws, in this particular case to ban beggars from city streets and by extension to draft and enforce many other laws.

The reason they must have bylaws approved by the Scottish Government is to curb the zeal of local party apparatchiks who would impose a totalitarian regime on citizens.

These same councillors could not run a whelk stall, let alone legislate in regards to our rights and freedoms.

Rather they turned their attention to making city streets safer by funding more police so that violence is removed.

Then, citizens would be able to walk the city centre safely.

What they do not wish us to know is that city-centre crime ranks highest of any Scottish city.

Perhaps our councillors should take a reality check; they are there to sort out the basics: roads, sewers, schools.

In any event, the law is there already to curb aggressive begging.

Peter A. Macari,

Queens Road,

Aberdeen.

‘Picking on the defenceless’

SIR, – Once again, Aberdeen City Council picks on the defenceless and vulnerable, by seeking a bylaw to prevent begging.

It takes money away and closes down resources that were aimed at helping the homeless.

Now that these people are back on the streets, the council wants to remove them. How much money is it now going to waste on trying to police this problem, which the council itself has caused?

Once again, Aberdeen City Council proves itself to be an embarrassment.

S. Domeracki

11 Craig Gardens

Cults, Aberdeen.

Pledging cash to save paintings

SIR, – It is time that the Scottish Government got its priorities right. Instead of pledging a “significant” contribution of public money to “save” two Titian paintings owned by the Duke of Sutherland from being sold, they should be putting our roads in order.

Dualling the A9 has been on the agenda for years, but they have not pledged anything towards it.

Apparently, a secret deal has been ongoing for a couple of years between various interested bodies to keep the two paintings together, but why should we have to put up the money?

It is not as if the paintings are part of Scottish history or even painted by a Scottish artist.

The duke is one of the richest landowners in Scotland. His ancestors played a large part in the Highland Clearances and no doubt made money from removing people and replacing them with sheep.

It seems that people were prepared to split up families, but not to split up a pair of Italian paintings.

Christina Mackintosh Palmer,

Carnyx,

Aultvaich,

Beauly.

Parking at hospitals

SIR, – I refer to the plan to scrap parking charges at hospitals (the Press and Journal, September 3).

Hospital car-parking spaces are in short supply, and patients and visitors compete with hospital workers for the use of them.

The challenge for NHS management is how to ensure that workers, patients and visitors who could travel to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary conveniently by public transport actually do so, thereby freeing up spaces for those who require them most.

That’s a tough challenge. What sort of scheme is equal to it?

R.D. Wilson,

98 Cornhill Road,