It's madness to throw good money after bad at Ferguson Marine

They cannot design the length of electrical cabling needed so that when it is too short, it had to be removed and new cabling costing millions of pounds refitted. The bulbous bow was designed wrongly and had to be removed and replaced: again at increased cost. The crew accommodation had to be redesigned to abide by safety regulations relating to emergency exits. I am afraid it just goes on and on.

I feel for the present employees who don't know what their future holds, but throwing good money after bad is not a stable ongoing position. If repeating the same action over and over while expecting a different result is the sign of insanity then the Scottish Government needs to prepare for its next accommodation.

Colin Gunn, Glasgow.

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A lack of scrutiny

IAN McConnell ("Shipyard investment is heartening to hear and should safeguard futures", The Herald, July 17), writing about the Ferguson Marine investment, tells us that "of course, what has gone wrong has to be scrutinised", and thereby lies the rub. Exactly what scrutiny has there been? Lots of heat but very little light.

What we know is we've spent more than £300 million on two yet-to-sail ferries at least eight years late. In anyone's estimation this has been a failure. What we don't know is why.

CMAL blames Jim McColl's Ferguson's, which in turn blames CMAL for design and specification changes. Questions remain unanswered about the actually legality of the awarding of the contract. Meanwhile the Scottish Government has blocked an inquiry.

Several committees of good people have tried to get to the bottom of this debacle but have been thwarted by Scottish Government obfuscation and secrecy. The fact is we, the taxpayers, deserve detailed answers to many unanswered questions before we throw further money into the unknown.

This is not doomsaying, this is common sense. Indeed scrutiny is exactly what we need but have yet to see.

I resided and worked in Inverclyde for more than 30 years and know Port Glasgow and Ferguson's very well and no one more than I wanted Ferguson's to succeed, but surely not at any cost and without scrutiny. Perhaps Mr McConnell would like to enlighten us with exactly what went wrong and what has been done to fix it. Kate Forbes and John Swinney have been at the heart of this fiasco but have provided no answers. It's high time they did. Open and transparent government this is not.

Ian McNair, Cellardyke, Fife.

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We must learn how to use NHS

I ASK folk what they think of our health service and though they all say it is better than the English NHS there is a fair amount of dissatisfaction, mostly due to not being able to see their doctor, either that day or the next so they go to A&E and find themselves in a queue.

This does not please them. It does not please the doctors, nurses and other staff working flat out in A&E either, if they are faced with a simple burn injury, which prevents them examining a patient with a possible heart attack.

How has this come about?

The old NHS that I worked in has changed radically, but we, the patients, have not, and that, I believe, is the problem.

It is time for our Government to teach us how to get the best out of our NHS service, before Westminster tries to unite both services, and we find ourselves paying for our prescriptions and encouraged to take out private health insurance.

For instance, when a friend rang me to complain that she had blood in her urine and couldn't get an appointment that day to see her doctor, I asked if she had rung 111 for advice. "No," she replied. "I didn't know they could help."

The next day, she rang to thank me. She had rung 111, and a nurse asked some questions, and arranged an appointment at the hospital that afternoon. The doctor diagnosed her condition as a bad infection and gave her a prescription. She took it to the chemist and started the course at once and was soon much improved. "So what do you think of our NHS now?" I asked. "It's marvellous, she replied.

I believe it is. We don't use it to our advantage.

Perhaps the SNP Government could fund a television series to explain the best way to use the Scottish NHS for various problems.

People watch doctors on television. They seldom read leaflets.

It might even prevent ambulances and the A&E being overused.

Elizabeth Scott, Edinburgh.

Tommy Armour (Image: Augusta National/Getty Images)

Level-headed advice

WITH the Open Championships beginning this week at Royal Troon, I thought I would pass on a story told to me many years ago.

I grew up in Milngavie and in the 1960s my grandfather served on the local town council, the baillie of which - and a local Justice of the Peace - was a man by the name of John Gardner. Mr Gardner was no mean golfer himself; I believe he played off scratch.

Mr Gardner told of how in the 1920s, when he was just a young lad, he could earn a shilling by working as a caddy at Milngavie Golf Course. On one occasion he was asked to carry the clubs of a visiting player who turned out to be rather good indeed.

After the visitor beat the club champion, the seriously impressed young caddy was given advice by the gentleman: whenever anyone plays golf, they should play for level par at all holes and that would make them a strong opponent for anyone.

The golfer's name turned out to be one Tommy Armour. Born in Edinburgh in 1896, Armour won 25 PGA tour titles and is still, all these years later, tied 24th on the list of most PGA tour wins.

In these days of high-tech clubs and balls, and scores regularly in the low sixties, I'm not sure that the advice from the "Silver Scot" about playing for level holds true any more.

The romantic part of my nature likes to think, though, that if Armour could play today with all of the modern equipment, then perhaps he would play for birdie at all holes and still be a strong opponent for anyone.

Gordon Fisher, Stewarton.