Four thousand holes in Balerno, Lothians - your views

"Take the A70 through Balerno; I counted over 80 potholes in just half a mile”

Four thousand holes in Balerno, Lothians

During the 1982 Falklands War, RAF Vulcan bombers peppered Port Stanley airfield to make the runway unusable for the Argentine air force.

You’d be forgiven for thinking Edinburgh’s streets have been subjected to a similar campaign, judging by the number and depth of potholes which the SNP-led administration seems to ignore, in contrast to the vigour with which they have imposed their controversial Spaces for People programme across the city.

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Take the A70 through Balerno; I counted over 80 potholes in just half a mile which had been circled by the council for “fill yer boots” tar which, if we are lucky, will last until next winter and then crumble in the next big freeze.

But maybe that’s the SNP-Labour coalition’s cunning plan; make the roads so unusable that you leave the car at home.

The problem is, of course, that they are becoming unusable for everyone else, including buses, and cyclists must have the vision and reaction times of fighter pilots to avoid hitting the chasms and flying over the handlebars.

The A70 is no different to the majority of roads in Balerno and right across the city just now, but officers can only deal with the budget they have and the political priorities they have been set.

That’s the problem in a city constantly under-funded.

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Transport convener Lesley MacInnes claimed in October 2019 that, “You’ve never had it so good.” I do wonder which planet she is on, but maybe inspiration comes from the Mars lander.

Applications to become a European Space Agency astronaut open at the end of this month, and with an SNP administration with its collective head in the clouds, they should be at the front of the queue.

Graeme Bruce, Ravelrig Road, Edinburgh.

Murray doesn’t get it – Labour’s irrelevant

The new tenth Scottish Labour leader in 20 years and Labour’s sole MP still don’t get it (“Ian Murray – SNP and Tory Priorities are wrong”, March 4), ensuring Labour’s irrelevance in Scotland.

They cling to the Union, avoiding the reason support for restoring independence is rising. It’s because Scots are sick and tired of being ignored and exploited by a government they didn’t choose.

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Even with devolution, which gives limited powers to the Scottish government that the Tories are currently wrecking, the Union is rigged so that Scotland will never have a voice.

Let’s be clear why Boris and Sir Keir want to keep Scotland trapped in this unequal union. They know that England needs Scotland’s economic support and its vast natural resources. Independence threatens the flow of revenue and resources south.

Scotland sends its revenues to London but gets back just 40%. The fabricated data in GERS is designed to show that Scotland can’t make it on its own, which is patently absurd.

Scotland desperately needs an effective opposition party. That party could be Labour. Unfortunately, it seems we will have to wait until Scotland leaves the UK for that to happen.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Merchiston Crescent, Edinburgh.

National debt trick

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Chancellor Rishi Sunak must know that money borrowed to finance lockdown does not have to be repaid.

It is not real money in the sense that lenders have been deprived of its use. It is digital money, created from thin air by computer keystroke by the banks, and should merely be added to the ever increasing national debt and forgotten about.