Carelessness to lose councillors

SIR, – I note with interest the report about the deselection of Councillor John Cox and the subsequent denouncement of him, along with Councillor Partridge, by the SNP leadership.

By my reckoning that now makes at least three of the Banff and Buchan area committee members “ex-SNP”. I have known each of these members professionally over an extended period, in one case almost 50 years, and have the utmost respect for their dedication to their communities.

With apologies to Oscar Wilde, to lose one councillor may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness, but to lose three seems much more sinister.

I am afraid that voters need to recognise that our governing party has only one real focus, despite losing the referendum. In this scenario such excellent councillors, but capable of independent thought and wishing to support their communities, will continue to be considered expendable. Robert Sinclair, Fordale House, Rathen states that his country does not need such payment.

When we have 20% of children in Scotland living in poverty and an NHS that is in dire straits, the aforementioned amount could be put to good use without any of it leaving the UK.

On the other hand, maybe the “mandarins” of the aforementioned government department would put the funds to supplement such good overseas projects, to use just one example, the annual award to Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, of £173,000 to train trapeze artists.

I can think of many “artists” at the Department of International Development, but would not prefix them by the word trapeze!

John Reid, Regent Court, Keith as mine’in the wye things were deen on fairms in post waar eers, wi nae computers, mobile phones, aye, an’ for a file, nae electricity! Bit noo we a’ bide in a multicultural society an’ it necessary to speak English ti mak wirsels understood.

I would be the first to applaud Aberdeenshire Council in trying to promote speaking the Doric in north-east schools. However, because to my mind much of the Doric language has already been lost, or at least watered down, it could well be difficult to find teachers with the necessary natural vocabulary to be able to pass on the language, and be able to spell the words when it is written. I struggled in writing the first paragraph of this letter!

Having said that, for several years I have attended the Buchan Heritage Society Doric Concert at Strichen where youngsters as young as eight from schools around the Buchan area give excellent recitals of well-known Doric songs and poetry, much of which is our heritage as these verses often describe the way of life of our forefathers.