Beachd Ailein

Churches and their congregations in Scotland have been especially hard done by in these virus times, according to Angus MacDonald, Letters, October 8.

Angus correctly identifies visible and immediate problems for congregations. Collection plate takings are down, while expenses continue to accrue or increase, leaving some churches facing a survival challenge.

C S Lewis wrote: ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world’. The sovereign Lord always has a plan and is never surprised by any turn of events.

The pandemic has reminded us of our fragility and weakness. We have seen moral and political hypocrisy exposed on a grand scale. We have seen modern science and technology fail to deliver us from a minuscule viral particle.

While we are grateful for the benefits of NHS healthcare, and a relatively high standard of living, the pandemic has fixed our minds on deeper existential and spiritual questions. There are abundant evidences in science for a creator God and no serious historian doubts the impact of Jesus Christ on human history, remembered in the three paragraphs of One Solitary Life. The pandemic time period, with its lockdown-type restrictions, has gifted us a precious time to prayerfully reflect upon that One Solitary Life.

Dr James Hardy, Belfast.

After finding out after many years of searching that my grandfather lived at 10 Lundy Road, Inverlochy, I would love to know if anyone in that area remembers him and his wife Elizabeth.

He worked at the aluminium factory and after he and my grandmother divorced, he moved from Muirkirk to Fort William, where he remarried. My mother was only a child when she last saw her father but never forgot him.

Neither my brother, sister or I ever saw a photograph of him, so any memory we could find, however small, would be dearly treasured. He passed away in 1968 and his wife in 1980 but I feel certain someone, even now, would have knowledge of them.

Kate Cartwright, william.cartwright2@

btinternet.com

As many of your readers will be aware, Transport Scotland is currently engaged in consultation with the public on corridor options for the A83. editor@obantimes.co.uk

Tha an deasbad eadar an Riaghaltas ann an Lunnainn agus ceannardan chuid de bhailteanmòra chinn a tuath Shasainn air teasachadh fiù ’s barrachd, le casaidean air Ministearan gum bheil burraidheachd agus breugadh ga chleachdadh gus poileasaidh a chur an gnìomh. Bheil cus air atharrachadh ma-thà bhon t-seachdain a chaidh? An e iongnadh a th’ ann gum bheil daoine a’ fàs pailt cho sgìth de naidheachdan Covid 19 ‘s a bha iad de sgeulachd Brexit fad chòrr air ochd mìosan deug roimhe?

Ach chan eil modh oistric dhan t-sluagh dol a dhèiligeadh ri dùbhlain den t-seòrsa agus tha feum air aonta chiallach bho cheannardan ris an gabh a’ mhòr-shluagh. Sin dùbhlan eile! Ged a tha luchd-poilitigs air a bhith a’ feuchainn ri slighe èifeachdach a lorg le Brexit agus Covid, tha e fìor cuideachd gun robh iad a’ dèiligeadh ri suidheachaidhean annasach air nach robh eòlas aig neach sam bith. Cha do chuir sin stad orra a bhith a’ toirt gheallaidhean air adhartas soirbheachail. ’S e pàirt de dhual-nàdair luchd-poilitigs nach eil e cur cus dragh orra nuair nach tig na gheall iad gu buil, gheibhear leisgeul air choreigin. Bidh mi a’ cuimhneachadh air an sgeulachd aig mo sheann neach-teagaisg Calum MacLeòid mu nach biodh seanalair airm uair sam bith a’ tarraing air ais, ’s ann a bhiodh e a’ tionndadh agus a’ dol air adhart!

Eadar na deasbadan air aonta dealachaidh

The Argyll and Bute branch of the Scottish Green party is concerned that the 11 proposed options fail to address the present and future needs of Argyll and Bute, including the need for secure and resilient supply routes to the whole of Argyll and Bute, particularly to island communities; safe, well-maintained roads that go to and from the right places and a joined-up transport policy designed to serve the needs of residents, businesses and visitors to Argyll and Bute. Most alarmingly, the consultation provides no reference to climate change, either as a cause of the current A83 emergency or as a factor to be considered in each of the options.

There appears to have been a process of elimination of options prior the publication of the consultation, for example, there is no reference to rail links, a tunnel, improved ferry services or alternative routes for freight, and it would be in the public interest to make explicit how this process was undertaken, by whom and whether any bhon Roinn Eòrpa agus an t-srì an aghaidh a’ choròna-bhìorais chunnacas mar-thà iomadh gealladh, bho Mhinistearan, a chaidh a bhriseadh. Chan eil e soilleir a bharrachd gum bheil na poileasaidhean a thathas a’ feuchainn ri chur an gnìomh dol a liubhairt an toraidh as fheàrr dhan dùthaich. Saoilidh mi gum bheil sin a’ fàgail ùmhlachd an t-sluaigh dha riaghailtean nas dorra a ghleidheadh, ach ged a thuigear sin gu ìre tha e draghail da-rìribh gum biodh uimhir cho beag tùir ’s gun siùbhladh iad gu taighean-seinnse anns na Crìochan a choimhead ball-coise air telebhisean. Beagan tlachd ‘s dòcha a bhith a’ dùbhlanachadh Prìomh Mhinistear na h-Alba, gun ghuth air a’ chunnart san robh iad gan cur fhèin ‘s an teaghlaichean agus an dùthaich gu lèir.

Chaidh Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail 2020 seachad air-loidhne, agus ged a chòrd na chunnaic iad ri daoine bha ionndrainn air coinneachadh. Ged a bha i fliuch madainn Dhisathairne seo chaidh nuair a bha còir aig na còisirean a bhith a’ cruinneachadh, thog a’ mhadainn oirre agus nochd a’ ghrian gu brèagha. Ag amharc a’ cheò ‘s an smùid a’ dol à sealladh fo bhuaidh theas na grèine bhuail e orm gur dòcha gur e deagh shamhla a bh’ ann air na bhios romhainn airson Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail 2021. Bidh sinn beò an dòchas!

Allan Campbell, ailean@obantimes.co.uk

surveys or studies on the geological, economic, social or environmental impact of each option have been undertaken.

We believe most of the options presented would be so unfeasible in terms of engineering costs that we would be drawn to only one or two that would appear to offer the least challenging short-term solution for restoring a safe and reliable route in Argyll and Bute. If we are correct, this is not a consultation in the true sense of the word. There is no doubt the need to address the A83 crisis of connectivity is an urgent one. However, we must not be driven to actions that might bring even greater problems further down the line. Is it time perhaps for both a short and long-term solution?

We would be interested in hearing the views of your readers and would invite them to contact us at argyll-bute@scottishgreens.org.uk

Dennis Archer and Cathy Cameron, co-convenors, Argyll and Bute Greens.