Sir, – Rob Dickson from VisitScotland is spot on with his support for an energy museum in Aberdeen.
Like it or not, the oil and gas industry has a local history going back over 50 years, and has had massive influence on Aberdeen and throughout the UK. To have no commemoration for locals and visitors alike is hard to fathom.
Museums are the guardians not only of the past, but of our present and future.
The future of energy and its role in our lives will continue to develop, and a museum would be a perfect showcase.
Having a former rig or platform as a focal point could be spectacular. Surely many companies would be willing to pitch in with donations and sponsorships.
We have no museums for granite, fishing or papermaking – all iconic industries of Aberdeen’s past that shaped what it is today. We should not repeat the same mistakes with the energy industry. With the need to diversify and a cruise ship terminal nearing completion, time is of the essence.
Peter Stephen, Norfolk Road, Aberdeen.
Smiling away to Iain Maciver
Sir, – I write to say how much I enjoy Iain Maciver’s articles on a Wednesday, it brings a smile to my face each week.
Do pass on my appreciation to him and thanks for a good paper.
Jean Harper, Milton Crescent, Inverness.
Students show ‘curse’ of idealism
Sir, – Students from that venerable centre of learning, the University of Edinburgh, have banned oil and gas companies from recruiting on campus.
They follow 500 lecturers signing an open letter demanding universities decline investment from oil and gas companies but fund climate research instead.
All well and good. As taxpayers confront a tripling of energy bills, soaring food costs and rampant inflation, don’t expect the taxpayer to fund your education or subsidise university research.
To paraphrase HL Mencken: “It’s not materialism that’s the chief curse of the world, but idealism. Folk get into trouble by taking their views and hallucinations too seriously.”
I subscribe to a quote from WC Fields: “I am free of all prejudice, I hate everyone equally.”
Only joking.
But surely the quote lightens the sense of doom and gloom?
Bill Maxwell, Mar Place, Keith.
Heated feelings on fireplace axe
Sir, – The words of councillor Sandy Wallace will have done nothing to alleviate the fears of the Braemar council tenants fighting to save their environmentally-damaging, planet-destroying fireplaces. Along with other council tenants in Aberdeenshire facing the fireplace axe, they are nothing more than collateral damage in the SNP/Greens drive for net-zero.
If the planet really is sitting on a time bomb and the human race is facing extinction, then the Braemar residents can at least take a little solace in the fact that a net-zero Scotland will have delayed the end by a minute or two at the very most.
I don’t have a fireplace, but I do have a gas heater as a back-up when the inevitable power cuts visit us again during the winter months, and call me selfish if you want, but I will not be giving that up.
Stewart Archibald, Dee Street, Ballater, Aberdeenshire.