Sir, – My children are all grown up and my grandchildren live away but I have to come out in defence of all young families should they wish to take their children to the funfair at the Christmas Market.
The prices for the attractions are astronomic.
It would cost more than £100 for a family of four to enjoy a half decent visit without adding food to the cost.
I understand that Codona’s have set these prices.
Do they not realise there is a cost-of-living crisis and put community over profit for once? Also, is it beyond their ability to offer an all-day band as they do at the beach?
Are the council not able to put a cap on prices when permitting Codona’s to run this funfair?
Patsy Jardine. Cuninghill Ave, Inverurie.
Is Heathrow festive rush pie in the sky?
Sir, – Heathrow Airport has announced there will be no cap on passenger numbers over the Christmas period and with Covid restrictions no longer an issue, expects to have its busiest time for more than three years.
Surely this must be an exaggeration of a Trumpian dimension – the country is in the stranglehold of approaching recession, many in our society are having to rely on foodbanks for the bare necessities of life with children arriving at school so hungry they cannot concentrate, many are relying on government support to pay their energy bills, many professions that were considered as reasonably well paid are now going on strike for more cash, thankfully not an option for our much maligned police force, every bad apple thought to represent the entire crop, or the country would fall into the abyss.
So that rules out a fair proportion of our population being able to afford joining in the festive flying fun, for them it will be chicken legs, a bottle of Prosecco and Morecambe & Wise (again) on the telly.
Where are all the passengers to come from?
Could it possibly be that the real cost-of-living crisis is confined to only a relatively small proportion of society, inflated out of proportion by the broadcast media in their never-ending search for victims, so many single mums with tears to shed, endless interviews with “the man in the street” will always get responses saying “ terrible how much everything costs nowadays” but most are able to continue the lifestyle they enjoy?
I think I may have hit the nail on the head, so can expect to see the airport lounges thronged with excited holidaymakers, not the filthy rich, just ordinary families from my street or yours.
Ivan W. Reid. Kirkburn, Laurencekirk.
No support for AFC stadium is own goal
Sir, – The council should be making decisions based on helping with the prosperity of all parties within the city.
They have contributed by partly funding the APWR, Marischal College, the art gallery, Cowdrey Hall, music hall and His Majesty’s, completely funding Teca and Union Terrace Gardens to benefit the city.
What is wrong with the council and Aberdeen FC working together to get the best deal for each party that benefits the city overall? Is it better just to say no and be anti before any firm facts are even out there.
To benefit the city it maybe prudent for the council to help with some costs for any proposed stadium that would ultimately help the many businesses within the centre for the next 100-plus years.
Many businesses are trying to operate in very challenging times and generating the footfall to keep coming into the city to help the pubs, restaurants, bed and breakfasts, cinemas, museums, shops, parks and hotels must be a positive. Just saying no is not the best for the city?
Part of the idea to re-design our wonderful beach area, which has been a beacon for many visitors to our city, is the stadium but it appears to be a negative to many people. Why?
We should be looking to help all parties in achieving these improvements to regenerate the beach, which may also require some funding to help with the bigger picture to achieve this.
Lindsay Bartlet. Sunnyside Road, Aberdeen.
Not all pensioners need the triple lock
Sir, – I refer to Don McKay’s letter arguing that the 10% triple lock rise in the state pension “won’t even touch the sides”.
How ungrateful can you be? Many hard-working families, who are not entitled to benefits but really struggling with rising costs, are in many cases getting nowhere near to a 10% rise and they are the wealth creators in our economy.
I would totally agree that pensioners relying solely on the state pension require additional support, and that is only right and proper.
However, there are many extremely well-off pensioners with handsome private pensions, for whom the state pension is mere pocket money.
Given the state of the public finances, it is time that the state pension was means-tested – and I say that as someone who is only a couple of years away from being entitled to receive the state pension. I would be perfectly happy for my state pension to be means-tested, if the money can be re-allocated to hard-working young families, whose need is far greater.
Edwin Duncan. Northfield Place, Ellon.
True spoken Scots a separate language
Sir, – Emma Harper is a good MSP, and the Scottish Government’s determination to support the Scots language deserves all encouragement – now that at long last they have wakened up to the necessity of it.
But Allan Sutherland is exactly right – Ms Harper’s speech in what was offered as Scots was lamentable.
The issue is complex, no doubt about that. Present-day spoken Scots has many dialects, for a start.
The written language, thanks to the wonderful inventiveness of our poets and fiction writers, is even more diverse: a writer can choose to employ any of the dialects from classical Buchan Doric to up-to-the-minute Glesga patter, a literary register based on the Ayrshire-Edinburgh axis of 18th-Century poetry, a quasi-archaic style drawing on the language of the mediaeval makars, or any permutation of these.
One thing, however, is certain, and is painfully obvious from some of the efforts we see in print and on social media – you do not arrive at credible Scots by composing a passage in ordinary journalistic English and replacing some words with their Scots equivalents, a procedure which simply reinforces the mistaken idea that Scots is merely mangled English.
Before being able to write or speak Scots it is necessary to learn it, as with any other language. There is a vast amount of high-quality literature in Scots, and a wealth of reference works and scholarly studies to assist those who want to find out more about it.
The government’s efforts at promoting the language should begin by encouraging people to make use of the abundant resources for learning about it.
Derrick McClure. Rosehill Terrace, Aberdeen.
Hole in the boat for Scots shipbuilding
Sir, – Well Nicola Sturgeon came out with one of her best so far – if Scotland goes independent we would be able to keep shipbuilding going with contracts for the Scottish Navy.
Two aircraft carriers and eight frigates built and billions-of-pound contracts for five more frigates.
This amount of shipbuilding would be unsustainable and unaffordable in an independent Scotland.
Also, this is coming from a government that can’t even build ferries on time or on budget and sources them out to Turkey.
Ian Gray. Mosstowie, Elgin.
Scots need help now
Sir-, People in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are going to foodbanks and are worried about heating costs and food costs.
The National Health Service is in freefall due to lack of funds yet Nicola Sturgeon is on a jaunt to Egypt to which she has generously decreed £5 million of our money to help others (who are not in Scotland).
And now we have SNP MSP Gillian Martin being so upset about something that happened in the 1800s that she now feels she has to tell everyone they have a “moral responsibility” to right wrongs in her eyes.
Well, Ms Martin, it’s 2022 and you and your party have a moral responsibilty to help the people of Scotland struggling today, if you don’t mind!
Bob Strachan.
Qatar not fit to host World Cup
Sir-, Qatar 2022 has attracted criticism over corruption and human rights abuses so that even ardent football fans are hesitating over whether to go or not.
US prosecutors alleged three Fifa executives received payments! But they were cleared of bribery and wrongdoing.
Qatar remains one of the few countries left where being gay is illegal, being a woman is scarcely better.
There’s also the abuse of migrant construction workers – more than 6,500 may have died since construction began.
And England and Welsh fans are complaining of overpriced accommodation. Qatar has Draconian rules on drinking and public displays of affection, vaping, betting and swearing, offences that can lead to arrest.
The reasons for Qatar’s bid for the World Cup was to present itself as a tolerant, liberal, western-friendly face of modern Arabia. Unfortunately, not much progress has been made!
A month before the tournament Qatar’s ruler praised Russia’s Putin saying he is “proud of the relationship between the two”.
Surely this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back! It’s not too late to boycott Qatar by officials, teams, fans TV channels and the press. I will be boycotting it!
T. Shirron.
Penny must drop over economic argument for independence
Sir, – The piece by Herbert Petrie (P&J letters) about how the SNP miraculously “balance” their books at a time when Scotland runs a fiscal deficit at least four times the rest of the UK (due almost entirely to much higher spending on public services than our large neighbour) beggars belief. Indeed, it reminds me of the old adage which states: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”.
The lie can be maintained only for such time as the state (SNP) can shield the people from the political, economic and-or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the state to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the state.
The “truth”, of course, can be found in Scotland’s own annual Gers report produced by their own statisticians and verified by Strathclyde University, the IFS and the OBR – all venerable institutions which the financial markets accept as fit for purpose, not social media claptrap.
Indeed Gers would have to be the basis of any fiscal projections for day one of independence by the financial markets before agreeing to lend a single penny – especially a Scottish one.
The “lie” is that the Scottish Government is happy for its supporters to remain ignorant about the financial black hole – without the Barnett formula – we would be faced with if we ever voted for independence. They are aided by the large number of “deficit deniers” who wrongly accuse Westminster of short-changing Scotland, “repeating” the lie but recognising that without their support Nicola Sturgeon’s “dream” would disappear like snow off a hot spring dyke.
Finally, you really would think the penny would have dropped by now, after many years of a Scottish Government, for even the most ardent SNP supporter as their party have completely failed to produce an economic argument for breaking from the union without incurring massive cuts to our public services and much higher taxes compared to the rest of the U.K.
Small wonder the desire for so-called independence has hardly changed from the “once-in-a-generation” democratic referendum a few short years ago.
Ian Lakin. Murtle Den Road, Milltimber.
IndyRef2 is a road to division and despair
Sir, – Sleaze, nonsense, procrastination.
As a former supporter of the Scottish Government, I regret to say that the above three words now symbolize the present regime.
To fellow citizens who voted for our new city leaders in the belief that money earmarked for the Central Belt would come to the north-east, I also regret to say it will not happen.
Instead, expect a big rise in council tax and also cuts in services, especially on vital bus routes, leading to an increase in CO2 levels.
Finally, to anyone who thinks independence is the high road to a land of milk and honey, it is in fact a low road to division and despair.
B Mitchell. Whitestripes Place, Bridge of Don.
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