For the record

Just for the record and for the sake of accuracy, Neil Craig (Awaiting SIC response, SN 25/7/12) has got it slightly wrong:

I did not really make criticisms, but just raised points that I thought were worth considering:

1. I didn’t suggest that Shetland was of softer rock than Norway, but that Faroe was of softer rock than Shetland.

2. Tunnel maintenance (and related infrastructure): I’d still like to see some figures for comparison.

3. The volume of traffic MAY not justify the cost. I take Mr Craig’s point about the relative capital costs but are there not other factors involved, such as secure and skilled jobs, which far from being a drain on the economy, actually contribute positively to it?

4. My feeling about reducing road transport volume is not so much philosophical as environmental: a potential for actual carbon reduction. And I don’t understand his point about ferries running everywhere.

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I don’t know if we have to try and emulate Norway’s position as the second richest country in the world. There are many other things to admire in that country, such as the moving testaments of young witnesses to last year’s dreadful massacre: perhaps that’s more to do with how wealth is distributed rather than just wealth itself.

James Mackenzie
The Lea
Tresta