SNP demonstrate how U-turn with trams is possible

I AM really confused. Your "Quick News" story on page 11 on August 7 states that Alex Salmond was in Inverness telling people there that the money he intended to spend on the A9 is being spent on the Edinburgh trams.

On page 17 your article highlights an SNP U-turn. Apparently Stewart Stevenson now wants to support further extension of the Edinburgh trams. His reason for doing so is that he can see the "logic" in expanding the network because it would cost considerably less per mile once the initial framework in place.

As a civil engineering contractor for 40 years I have never heard such rubbish. The only economy that could be gained would be in using the same rolling stock and making it go further or faster.

Trams are a linear construction process, there is no way that substantial economies could be won just by having an existing line. There is indeed evidence to the contrary from places like Manchester were the extensions to there tram systems cost a lot more that the initial lines.

It is conceivable that Line 1b could be built for the price due mainly to the fact that it will run on an abandoned rail line which would obviously be cheaper than digging up Princes Street. The line out to the Royal Infirmary would however be a different and more expensive project that will cost much more that the current route under construction per mile.

Would the real Stewart Stevenson stand up and do a U-turn again!
John R T Carson, Forthtag, South Queensferry

It's time to speak up over Caltongate
IT would be great it the council's incompetence over the Caltongate planning application actually put the project at risk (City's major blunder, August 7), but for some reason the SNP and the Liberal Democrats seem determined to bulldoze people's homes and a Victorian school building for Trevor Davies's grotesque vanity project.

Shirley Anne Somerville is always keen to express her reservations about it: perhaps she could speak to her colleagues in the Cabinet and get them to call the public local inquiry they should have agreed to months ago. Or is her opposition pure cynical positioning?
James Mackenzie, Marchmont Street, Edinburgh

Let's splash out on thorough mop-up
PERHAPS the regularly reported incidents of flooding within Edinburgh could be alleviated if the council took the time to clear the countless blocked roadside drains.

Alternatively the water could be mopped up using flags and bunting!
John Bell, Braid Road, Edinburgh

No clean sheet to start with for city
ANY money that is put into our NHS service has to be welcomed, not by the way of a "quick fix", but as a long-term investment. For future improvement of health care services such as dental health.

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP's Health MSP, has already "stuffed" the pockets of the medical consultants, it would appear she is doing the same with dental services, just to score political points.

Overall, £75 million of the public purse is to be spent by phasing the cost over two years, but what does this really mean for the taxpayer and for those who work in the public services and especially for job security?

It will certainly mean taxes will have to take the strain of adjustments over the two year period, which will have a possible knock-on effect on future employment in public services and many more cutbacks in consumer services.

The SNP-Lib Dem city council are espousing they are starting a new financial year with a "clean financial sheet". That is not quite true. They have a £5m deficit created by themselves, homelessness and poverty are still rife in the city, as it is all over Scotland.
Chas Dennis, Niddrie Marischal Road, Edinburgh

New fridge a cool way to go green
TOO often "going green" suggestions are synonymous with shelling out loads of money. So your article "Some bright ideas to beat the rise in household energy costs" (News, August 7) made refreshing reading.

Our family recently replaced an old fridge. For interest, we tested its energy consumption and compared it with its replacement. We were over the moon to discover that the new identical capacity model used 80 per cent less electricity than its predecessor. By our reckoning that is going to save our family £73 per year – not far short of the cost of the new fridge – to say nothing of the reduction in our carbon footprint.

There is an obsession with comparing prices whereas what we should be looking at are the comparative running costs.
Jenny Mollison, The Laigh House, Inveresk Village

Insult prompted a return to sender
RE the article on the Land Army badges (Scots women are honoured for their war efforts, News, July 23). I was not at all pleased with the outcome.

The certificate was unsigned, it had been sent without much thought and on the very day I got mine 50 ladies were in No 10 Downing Street, with only one from Scotland. I took that as an insult and returned the box to the sender.
Katherine P Wright, Dunsmuir Court, Edinburgh