Readers' letters: More bus lane fines don’t help road safety

I read that bus lane fines have rocketed by more than 60 per cent in a year yet only three months ago there were reports that 15 speed cameras across the city had been decommissioned (News, February 14).

This seems to me a significant mis-prioritisation of resources by the council but not a surprising one. It has long had a reputation of trying to make life awkward for car drivers to get them off the road rather than focusing on safety.

Much of the old Spaces for People infrastructure seems to have been installed for this purpose and none more pertinent than on Lanark Road, where local residents have long complained that floating car parking to accommodate a cycle lane did nothing more than create a dangerous slalom course.

The speed limit was also reduced from 40 to 30mph, but what difference would this make to irresponsible and dangerous drivers already being clocked by police doing 68mph?

The camera on Lanark Road has, of course, been decommissioned. Surely it would have made more sense to properly police motorists in a known danger spot rather than chasing bus lane infringers.

Christopher Cowdy, Conser-vative Candidate for Fountain-bridge/Craiglockhart Ward

Make fuel for public good, not profit

There can be no doubt that fuel poverty is the most pressing issue facing people in Scotland today.

Scottish Socialist Party volunteers are petitioning Holyrood and Westminster to address the problem.

The response has been overwhelming, with people often queuing in the cold to add their names and give us their own testimony.

To those who say energy is a reserved issue, in 2017 Nicola Sturgeon promised a national energy company 'with no shareholders or corporate bonuses to consider'. Instead, the SNP/Green coalition has handed North Sea renewable potential to multinational polluters.

Meanwhile, more than a quarter of households in Scotland are officially in fuel poverty and Westminster's raising of the price cap to nearly £700 is set to exacerbate the problem.

We demand solutions, such as bringing energy back into public ownership, building 100,000 homes for public rent built to high environmental standards and making funds available to retrofit homes with efficient insulation.

Energy is a vital resource and must be used and controlled for the public good, not for private profit.

Michael Davidson, Scottish Socialist Party, Edinburgh.

Pension funding

The responsibility for "funding" our current state pension lies with Westminster - we've paid our individual National Insurance contributions to that government.

That "funding" responsibility will apply regardless of which country in the world we choose to live, just as it currently does.

At the 2014 independence referendum, the Scottish Government stated a desire for responsibility for "payment" of UK state pension to residents of Scotland, following Independence, be transferred. That also appears to be the wish of the current Scottish Government.

The First Minister has stated that transfer of responsibility would be "subject to negotiation". Those negotiations will be conducted between respective civil service departments and will be civilised, although having seen public performances by the Westminster Brexit cabal, I can understand reservations on that!

Those pension rights will be guaranteed to the level of our contributions.

Ian Waugh, Dumfries.

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