Sir, – I was amazed to read that Aberdeenshire Council is planning to replace 77,000 “old-style” wheelie bins with a new version which is more “efficient”.
Our bins are efficient as they are; they may be getting on in years but are still perfectly serviceable.
What will happen to the old bins? Will they go to landfill or be “recycled” on a mud flat in some impoverished third world country?
The bins being replaced are in Marr, Kincardine and Mearns and still use the 15-year-old diamond lift system.
They will be replaced with bins with a standard comb-life mechanism.
Councils across Scotland are bleating that they can’t give the binmen an inflation-matching pay rise because they don’t have the cash.
Surely someone in Aberdeenshire Council has the wit to say stop this nonsense and use the money to give their essential workers a proper pay rise.
G Duncan, Stonehaven.
Decline of wild salmon just shows that we reap what we sow
Sir, – You have published many stories on the scourge of the seagull recently, with calls for a cull. This is not the only moan over changing habits in wildlife.
Salmon fishermen are seeking a cull of seals in river estuaries, blaming them for the decline of the Atlantic salmon, along with cormorants and mergansers which increasingly hunt upriver.
They are correct in their observations, as they hunt salmon smolts – the future generations. Another species does the same without causing a furore – dolphins in Aberdeen’s harbour, which is a completely new phenomenon.
I am old enough to have seen these changes in behaviour and to remember how it was in my youth when none of this was a problem. So what drove the change?
An enlightening article appeared in your paper entitled “Fishermen call for return of 1889 limit to preserve stocks”, about inshore fisheries.
The cause was put down to “indiscriminate trawling” with a Mr Philp quoted, saying fish landings have declined by (wait for it) 98%.
This is where my childhood memory kicks in.
Where are the shoals of millions of sile (young herring)? Where are the huge cod and whiting that we fished for off the breakwaters? And where are the masses of sand eels that fed half the North Sea stock?
I remember when their demise began, with tons of sand eels harvested for fertiliser. These were the staple for all larger species of fish.
It has to be remembered that not only the caught fish are diminished but future generations are deprived because of the millions of eggs the caught fish would otherwise have laid.
The efforts of salmon fishers are an attempt to address their shortfall by a catch and release policy, hatcheries and egg stripping.
They are having success with hatching and rearing. Then the smolts congregate in large shoals in the estuaries, ready for their migration to more northerly oceans; bringing me back to my opening lines.
Seals and dolphins are by nature shoal feeders. Cormorants and mergansers capitalise on the herding instinct of these mammals, as has been brilliantly portrayed in TV nature programmes. And, surprise, so do the herring gulls.
So, now we have the reason for the changing habit and the complaints.
Mammals that were offshore raiders deprived of food at sea find another source in the estuaries with the smolt shoals.
While the gulls are opportunists and move to where the food is. And there are easy pickings thanks to the modern takeaways, rubbish and every other source, be it crisps or people holding their fish suppers.
So stop moaning. It’s our fault. Just as it is with the other much-publicised planetary changes.
As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
George G Mitchell, Changehill, Newmachar.
Power needs to be wielded carefully
Sir, – Catherine Deveney’s suggestion that Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, is “the kind of leader Britain needs” pushes my understanding of the word “zeitgeist” way beyond its dictionary definition as “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era”.
It may well be her opinion but it’s certainly not that of the majority. The current climate is one of growing hysteria, egged on by doom and gloom merchants and forecasters each attempting to outdo each other, with the BBC vigorously stirring the pot.
The reality is both Catherine Deveney and Mick Lynch have much in common in promoting “a class war”.
This will make things much worse as they fuel the fire of discontent. The inflation situation is very serious and is not helped by the protracted election of a new prime minister.
It is a time for cool heads and clear focus on the situation and an agreed solution.
Urgent help is needed for those requiring help and what is affordable. Strikes demonstrate the power of unions. Power, however, needs to be used very carefully and not abused.
Labour’s utopia promoted by Corbyn was very firmly rejected. We need to move forward not backward.
David Philip, Knockhall Way, Newburgh.
Give hard-hit GP practices their due
Sir, – Since the start of Covid I seem to have had to use the services of our GP practice more than ever, particularly since the beginning of the year and I cannot praise them highly enough.
I am very aware of the negative press primary care and GP practices have been facing, so I feel it is important to highlight the fact that many practices are doing their best and getting it right.
This has also had me reflecting on the changes that have been forced upon GP practices with the advent of Covid, as well as on us as their patients. Within a few days of Covid being identified for what it was, all GPs had to turn their way of consulting with patients on its head, to protect patients and staff.
From seeing patients in person they have had to rely even more heavily on their receptionists and make fuller use of the telephone and computer as a means of contact. This cannot have been an easy change.
From the patients’ perspective we, in turn, are having to learn that asking for an appointment is not now the best way to have a consultation. We need to let the receptionist know what the problem is, so she can relay this to the doctor who, in turn, makes a decision on how best to handle the referral.
In my own case, when the doctor has thought it necessary I have seen him or her on the basis of the information I have given.
More recently the GP has rung me back, often within the hour, in order to check on the nature of the problem and how to proceed. Sometimes this has been followed up with an evening phone call to monitor me.
Referrals to hospital clinics have been similar and again the care and monitoring has been excellent.
I appreciate many practices are working under extremely difficult conditions and some perform more effectively than others, but that is the way of any business.
Let us be thankful we have the NHS and our GP service, for all its current difficulties.
Gillian Shirreffs, Woodburn Avenue, Aberdeen.
Stagecoach ought to invest in wages
Sir, – According to your article in The P&J, Stagecoach announced it is investing £9.1 million in electric buses in Inverness and surrounding towns later this year.
Good news as I am in favour of net-zero buses along with many other people.
In the meantime, Stagecoach insists “most city routes in Inverness run normally”. I suggest Dave Beaton tries to get a Number 2 or 3 bus to town from Kinmylies and back as here, the “temporary adjustments” mean the bus fails to turn up.
It might help their recruitment drive if Stagecoach used some of the £9.1m investment to pay their drivers a bit better.
James Paterson, Kinmylies Way, Inverness.
Questions over record of the SNP
Sir, – Ron Campbell’s long letter on SNP achievements could be summed up as “not very good but better than England”.
He claims we have the best-performing NHS in the UK – try telling that to anyone trying to get a GP appointment.
The widely reported sewage leaks in England are indefensible but a report by the Ferret website last autumn showed that Scotland is way behind England in respect of sewage leaks. Twenty-five Scottish beaches were found to be contaminated with faeces. So, no reason for smugness there.
He has no evidence to say that education standards in Scotland are as high as England because the SNP withdrew from internationally recognised surveys several years ago in order to save themselves from embarrassment.
This followed results from PISA and TIMSS showing steep declines in Scottish educational standards under the SNP.
The infrastructure projects Mr Campbell refers to happen as a result of Barnett consequential funding.
The main project in the north-east, the AWPR, was actually approved under the Jack McConnell administration.
Mr Campbell didn’t get on to subjects like ferries and the Gupta scandal.
Keith Shortreed, Cottown of Gight, Methlick.
Taxing visitors can help city residents
Sir, – It is a well known fact that other major cities in Europe impose a tax on visitors staying in hotels, B&Bs and private lets.
This is because these visitors, although spending money in the city, enjoy all the facilities provided to residents paying a yearly council tax.
So to help councils, they should impose this tax to help council tax payers keep their bills affordable.
Don McKay, Provost Hogg Court, Torry, Aberdeen.
Double standards after Hearts attack
Sir, – Goalkeeper Craig Gordon is hit by a coin in a competitive European match, and the reaction of the media and footballing authorities is to shrug their shoulders.
Were he still playing for Celtic, rather than “only” Heart of Midlothian, there would be a complete meltdown by Scotland’s media; all broadcasters and newspapers would be screaming “something must be done about this rising tide of hooliganism”.
The Hampden beaks would be demanding that Uefa expel FC Zurich from all European competitions.
Aye, welcome to Scotland, where some are more equal than others.
Mark Boyle, Linn Park Gardens, Johnstone.
Leaflet dodges the referendum facts
Sir, – Delivered through my door yesterday was a leaflet featuring Nicola Sturgeon, on behalf of the SNP, extolling her view of independence, as if the referendum was now fixed and a fact.
Is it my suspicious mind that this is a ploy preparing “her troops” for a negative decision from the UK Supreme Court hearing on October 11 and 12, allowing her to criticise or blast the new PM and Westminster?
The leaflet is evasive in many ways failing to provide facts, and certainly does not indicate any financial consequences.
But, she goes on: “Scotland is being dragged down”, “didn’t vote for, imposing policies we never asked for” and “Scotland has got what it takes to prosper”.
The leaflet adds: “The countdown to the independence referendum on 19th October 2023 has well and truly started” and, finally: “No one, least of all Westminster, has the right to stop the clock on democracy.”
Wow! Congratulations for preparing the SNP response including a likely attack, if there is a negative decision from the Supreme Court.
I have never commented on politics, but costly expenditure for a leaflet, just prior to a legal decision, leaves a large question in my mind.
Mike Barron, Gordon Avenue, Inverurie.
Paying the price for renewables
Sir, – I see in the news that another offshore wind farm has started to produce power for the National Grid.
This will mean less fossil fuel being consumed but I have to laugh when the large companies selling this new form of energy state that it is renewable energy without telling us that it would cost a lot more than fossil fuels.
In a way this new form of energy is coming online too soon. Sadly many thousands of businesses in Scotland and the rest of the UK will close as no one will want fossil types of fuel. And just like an oil field, there is a very short lifespan for wind farms on or offshore.
We can no longer sit back and let the energy companies charge a fortune. Someone somewhere is pocketing a fortune and this needs to stop now.
Soon the poor will be poorer and the rich, well I don’t think they will be as well off.
Gavin Elder, Prunier Drive, Peterhead.
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