V&A comments beyond the pale

IN RESPONSE to my letter on the positives of the V&A, there was a reply by Billy (March 28) which was full of derogatory remarks, dubious claims and untruths.

Firstly, I didn’t describe Dundee as a “tourist city”, such as Edinburgh or London in the UK or Venice in Italy, but it is a city which can and does attract tourists and the V&A is one of the reasons for that.

Apart from the V&A, Dundee has many other attractions and I’ll list but a few – the McManus Gallery, The Discovery, The Unicorn, City Quay, Verdant Works, transport museum, botanical gardens, science museum, DCA, The Rep, Whitehall Theatre, Caird Hall, various parks, Law Hill, Riverside

Walk and Broughty Castle and beach.

The V&A cost £80 million to build but, in the five years up to 2023 it generated £302m for the Scottish economy, so about £60m a year. Running costs are an issue, as it lost about £1m in 2023, but it did benefit from the UK Government levelling-up grant of £2.6m recently and the economic benefits to Dundee and Scotland more than outweigh any costs.

Billy describes the exhibitions at the V&A as, and I quote, “rubbish” and “garbage” which shows just what an uncultured and ignorant person he is, in my opinion. He also said Dundee’s hotels are “overflowing with migrants”. I don’t see the connection with the V&A but this remark exposes Billy as a person with bigoted and possibly racist views.

He then weighs in against Scottish devolution and makes inflammatory comments about demolishing the V&A and the Scottish Parliament. His comments are way beyond the pale and certainly the majority of people would condemn them.

Billy, if you are a citizen of Dundee, born and bred, you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself. Your views are certainly not representative of the majority of Dundonians as you appear to claim. Dundonians I know are positive, outgoing, sympathetic and welcoming.