Sir, – All wars end in packed graveyards and piles of rubble, briefly demonstrating to everyone some dictator’s futile ambition.
War memorials aren’t effective enough to remind future generations of the grief and devastation left after the guns fall silent, as exhausted antagonists go on to spend decades picking themselves out from among the debris they created.
This most recent war has already left broken cities in Ukraine, although Russia, the aggressor, is virtually unscathed, so why shouldn’t Russia be told that they will pick up the tab for rebuilding what they have destroyed?
If the nations of the world, who have agreed to impose sanctions and freeze Russian resources, also agreed to withhold repayment until adequate reparations were begun, then the sheer folly of it all might get through to other would-be aggressors.
If that were to be a function for the United Nations it would begin to give that body some practical reason to exist.
Sam Coull, Lendrum Terrace, Boddam, Peterhead.
Business, not trees, creates prosperity
Sir, – Re the article by Calum Ross. Lots of facts and figures, but not unexpected in a Scotland that has seen mismanagement as the order of the day since the SNP took over running (or ruining) Scotland.
The comment attributed to Ariane Burgess about it being very worrying is strange as her party are largely responsible for the increase. Since the SNP came to power we have seen our once-proud, vibrant industries struggling against a myriad of red tape and the SNP’s obvious incompetence when dealing with businesses, forcing companies to seek a way of trying to even the odds out.
This has accelerated since the two parties tied the knot. I have been trying to think about the opposite of “a marriage made in heaven”. The combination of the SNP and Greens is definitely not made in heaven, more like hell.
For the wealth generators in Scotland to be told that growing trees is far more important than improving the country’s infrastructure does not give them the confidence to invest in their country.
Neither the SNP nor the Greens have grasped the concept that business creates jobs that generate taxes which if used wisely could benefit all in Scotland – and I mean all, not those favoured few who are not accountable for the mess they got us in and who at the end of their inglorious political careers will retire on pensions that the majority can only dream of.
So, Ms Burgess, huff and puff, but legislation will not bring about what you and the Greens aspire for – Utopia.
Finlay G Mackintosh, Forres.
Rail revolution talk showboating
Sir, – Is there no limit to the brass neck of the first minister? Here she is showboating again, unveiling a plaque on a commuter train with a barrage of waffle as to how much of a revolution it will be to nationalise the rail network, and cure all its ills.
She would have been better advised to see how much of a fist Jenny Gilruth makes of the reorganisation along, no doubt, with another collection of supposed professional advisers added to the payroll to be paid for by the taxpayer yet again.
I got the impression from the Gilruth slot on BBC Scotland that the nearest she has come to running trains is the plastic variety in Legoland. I never noticed if the train bearing the plaque had painted-on windows and doors just like the under-construction Glen Sannox.
Alexander Sutherland, Hilton Drive, Aberdeen.