Lacklustre May

sense and made that change in the last weeks of construction. I rather saw Professor Chris Harvie MSP not as part of nationalist government but as an infiltrator determined to make a change in transport policy and get the Borders Railway built. ZWS. The key factor discouraging such applications as hotels, casinos and windfarm hubs is the deepwater location of most central and northern North Sea platforms and the significant and prohibitive overhead funding required to maintain and logistically support such structures in the longer-term. It may be different in shallower waters closer to shore.

However, much to the amusement of the project team, the additional reason for discounting the use of the platform as an offshore prison was that, ironically, the normal accommodation provided for offshore workers fell far below the standards required by HM Prisons to house prisoners in their care and the cost and technicalities of upgrading would have been totally uneconomic.

Full details of the options considered are still available in the Maureen Decommissioning Programme approved by the then relevant Government Department, DECC (now BEIS).

Maybe a quick glance at this might have saved ZWS some funding and effort? Theresa May, at Prime Minister’s Questions, responded to a question on the NHS crisis of ambulance delays at A&E and cancelled routine operations by saying she accepted it was difficult, frustrating and disappointing. A lacklustre response at best. Would she ever wait for hours on a trolley in an NHS hospital, or wait for hours in an ambulance to get into hospital? The words I would use to describe the crisis are “disgraceful, appalling and shambolic”. It is completely unacceptable that Jeremy Hunt is still in his position as Health Minister. What does someone have to do to be forced to resign, he is a liability to the government and NHS, from the handling of the junior doctors’ strike to IT problems that could have been prevented.

To add insult to injury, all this comes in the same week that the International Development Secretary has said Britain will contribute £21 million to an emergency aid fund and that the foreign aid budget will remain at 0.7 per cent and the UK spends £13 billion on foreign aid each year. How much help could the NHS get if Britain restricted foreign aid to emergencies and disasters only? Theresa May must put the needs of Britain first, particularly the NHS. But that would require strong, courageous leadership and a willingness to take tough decisions for this country, qualities Theresa May is sadly lacking. GORDON KENNEDY Simpson Square, Perth