Sir, – I don’t know about building bridges but Nicola Sturgeon has kicked off one massive game of pontoon with 100,000 people’s jobs and families, egged on by her two jokers, Harvie and Slater.
Surely Kenny Rodgers’ advice “know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em” must be resonating with her own side: she’s a busted flush.
Allan Sutherland, Willow Row, Stonehaven.
Short-sighted politics must stop
Sir, – The north-east is being hung out to dry.
We need a government that can run the country for the good of all. Politicians who have the long term good of our whole nation in their heart.
We are being run by a group whose every decision is based on “will it get me towards my ultimate goal” of independence.
For this reason, we get short-sighted politics that hold us back and do nothing to aid the future.
The Cambo field is necessary. We cannot suddenly do without its product. Moves to other fuels must be transitional. Non-development means imports which have a far greater impact on our carbon footprint.
We are all aware that the oil and gas industry is on the wane. We require new industries to fill the void.
The infrastructure in our area is shocking to say the least – we require easy links to make investment a viable prospect. The upgrade of the A96 should be seen as a start.
The current incumbents at Holyrood have had years to show us what they can do.
However, their report card makes dreadful reading. If they were a business the management would have been given their jotters long ago.
The people of the north-east deserve better.
George Nicol, Spey Street, Fochabers.
Just another empty promise
Sir, – It was very refreshing to read Ron Campbell’s Letter to the Editor on “lesson learnt” with the abrupt demise of coal and the difficult consequences of such a major change.
It almost suggested a critique of the “Great Leader” or, as the editorial comment from “Voice of the North” put it, the “grandstanding Sturgeon”.
No doubt sitting on the fence was uncomfortable but the denouncement of the Cambo development now indicates that the “just transition” was all just another empty promise from an expert opportunist who persistently fails to deliver anything worthwhile.
All politicians should be challenged and held accountable, most particularly those who take the moral high ground at every opportunity.
The reality is always completely different.
David Philip, Knockhall Way, Newburgh.
Don’t blame Lego for plastic waste
Sir, – Your correspondent Hugh Millar is confused about plastics, wondering why it’s okay to build an artificial Christmas tree out of 400,000 pieces of Lego.
The world is not drowning in plastics as such but in single-use plastics: packaging, food wrapping and fizzy drinks bottles. These are the materials destroying our oceans.
Durable plastics, such as Lego, are created to be used over and over again. Many families have passed on their collections of Lego from one generation to the next, or have sold them on to other families to enjoy.
Apart from the occasional accident, I can’t imagine anyone sending Lego to landfill or flushing it away.
Jeff Rogers, Waters of Feugh, Banchory.
Fears over no go of Cambo
Sir, – Following on from Cop 26 I imagine First Minister Sturgeon had no option but to say she didn’t think the Cambo oil field should go ahead.
My worry is this: Cambo, in the greater scheme of things, will provide a tiny percentage of the world’s oil, but it also creates huge wealth for the UK treasury and jobs in the oil and gas industry over its 25-year lifespan.
Do we have enough renewable energy sources in the UK to transition from gas and oil? Somehow I doubt it.
We keep getting told of new Green jobs but that could take 10 years.
Add to that the cost of electric vehicles and alternate heat solutions for our homes – probably too cost-prohibitive for most of us.
I’m left feeling that if we don’t go ahead with Cambo we’ll simply be left importing oil and gas from Russia and Saudi.
So we might as well use Cambo to help our transition over the next 25 years.
Andrew Lamb, Fraserburgh.
Reckless gamble?
Sir, – I don’t know about building bridges but Nicola Sturgeon has kicked off one massive game of pontoon with 100,000 people’s jobs and families, egged on by her two jokers Harvie and Slater.
Surely Kenny Rodgers’ advice “know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ’em” must be resonating with her own side: she’s a busted flush.
Allan Sutherland. Willow Row, Stonehaven.
