Act now and help keep our seas safe

the process under which they were appointed in the first place? Do their respective skill sets, previous experience and past performance qualify them for the positions they hold? When, for instance, we see an apparently seamless move from local councillor to chairman of a large, complex and expensive organisation some might question the dynamic at play.

It seems that the present chairman “refuses to resign”. With serious failure and a senior position in the private sector that option might not be there. And this in itself points to another most serious of problems.

Holders of positions in public service seem to be ironclad in situations of failure; impregnable regarding their tenure of office. Resignation very often comes only after sustained public and media clamour. And even then, the consequence is sailing off with a generous pension.

Perhaps the taxpaying general public is getting rather fed up of the lack of accountability and apparent immunity in the public sector when things go badly wrong.

The question hangs there. SIR, – I refer to the reports (Press and Journal, July 19, 20) of a cargo ship running aground in the Pentland Firth in clear and calm conditions.

Despite modern technology, both human error and engine failure can have disastrous results.

On a regular basis, ships carrying highly radioactive waste sail from Scrabster to Barrow, commencing their voyages in the Pentland Firth.

The nuclear flasks carried on these ships have not been tested in the undersea conditions existing along the route and could rupture over time as recovery would, in many areas, not be possible.

The fact that the only UK Government Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV) covering Scottish waters was the last rescue vessel to get to the scene of this latest incident is also concerning.

HANT (Highlands Against Nuclear Transport) has been campaigning since 2013 to have shipments from Dounreay stopped and to reinstate the ETVs previously stationed in Scotland.