AS someone who made a living in the engineering industry in Scotland for over 40 years I would dearly love to see any steelwork for a new Forth crossing being made in Scotland – in the event that a new bridge must be built.
Transport Scotland originally estimated that a cable-stayed, 2.5km, four-lane highway bridge over the Forth would take 5.5 years to build and cost £1.5 billion. This figure has risen since then to an estimated £4.2bn!
Contrast this with the case
of a bridge near Shanghai, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which is nearing completion after a four-year programme of works. This bridge is a cable-stayed structure that spans 36 km, has a six-lane highway and is reported to have cost only £750 million! We are paying £100m for a bridge feasibility study!
With the taxpayer set to pick up the tab if the existing bridge cannot be fixed, we must have value for money as we cannot afford another Scottish Parliament fiasco and if being competitive in the tender process means bringing modular steel deck sections in from abroad, then so be it.
This is nothing new and happens all the time – would we insist on our car, television or camera being made in Scotland?
Tom Minogue, Victoria Terrace, Dunfermline Time to arrest PC nonsense in policeONCE again, well done Lothian and Borders Police (Police reckon they've given Rommel the dog a bad name, Evening News, July 18).
The debacle over changing a police dog's name is yet another display of the current mindset of those influencing current policy within the force and smacks of the worse kind of PC rubbish, no pun intended.
One would have thought that someone, with all those razor-sharp trained detectives to hand, would have known that Erwin Rommel was far from a Nazi.
Maybe they are just too scared to say anything for fear of the new regime within the force who seem intent on changing the force over to their "jobs for the boys" chorus line.
My father served as an infantry NCO from the first to the last day of the war and was part of the 8th Army, attached to the 7th Armoured Brigade not exactly laggards.
Despite this he openly declared that the Africa Korps were the best soldiers he ever fought.
He bore the scars mental and physical to prove his mettle and would have knocked down any man who dared to imply other than that Erwin Rommel was a man to be admired.
John Byrn, Seventh Street, Newtongrange, MidlothianBus firm gets no special treatmentTHE letter from John Galloway regarding Lothian Buses in yesterday's Evening News (Lothian Buses has an easy ride with its subsidy) contains allegations which are inaccurate and require correction.
Mr Galloway states Lothian Buses is "subsidised by the people of Edinburgh through council tax". This is incorrect. Lothian Buses receives no general subsidy from the City of Edinburgh Council. Indeed, as the 1985 Transport Act requires Lothian Buses be financially run completely independently of the City of Edinburgh Council, it would be illegal for the city council to pay, and illegal for Lothian Buses to receive, any subsidy that is not also available to other bus companies.
Secondly, Mr Galloway states that Lothian Buses receives "fuel rebates that other bus operators don't get". This is also incorrect, as Lothian Buses receives no fuel rebate that is not also paid to all other bus companies.
Contrary to Mr Galloway's allegations, Lothian Buses, in all aspects, competes on a level playing field with all other bus companies.
Ian Craig, managing director, Lothian BusesGlamorising drink to young bad ideaIT was my understanding that the recent alcohol strategy developed by the Scottish Government and endorsed by Edinburgh City Council with the co-operation of responsible alcohol makers and vendors was against the promotion of alcohol to young people.
Hence my surprise when on Saturday and Sunday afternoon the Sol beer promotion team rolled into the Royal Mile with three cars covered in the company's logos and pumping out club music. The young trendy Sol staff with megaphones gave away scratch cards, limes and other promotions.
OK, they were not giving away alcohol but they were glamorising their product and giving promotional material to small children who were attracted to the cars, music and young staff. This is alcohol promotion plain and it's just what Edinburgh and Scotland does not need, the promotion of alcohol to young people.
What next, the Marlboro promotion team?
John M Mitchell, Stevenlaws Close, Royal Mile, EdinburghOff your butts and take responsibilityHOW annoying! Three times over the weekend I have spotted people dropping their cigarette butts on the ground with not a care.
All shop workers on their breaks it would appear – a member of staff outside the Ladbrokes on Leith Walk, one outside Iceland on Easter Road and another from a chip shop on London Road.
What's really annoying is that in two cases there was a bin right outside their shop! People need to take responsibility and change their attitudes!
Stuart Walker, Leith WalkThe full article contains 869 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
