THE news that college lecturers plan to continue with their action short of strike (ASOS) is a slap in the face to all the young men and women who need resulted in order to progress to the next stage of their apprenticeship/career ("Lecturers suspend strikes in breakthrough over pay", The Herald, August 20).

Although some of these apprentices will be employed by local authorities, the vast majority of them will work for private contractors. These contractors, ranging from multi-million-pound international companies to small, family businesses are the core of the construction industry. They are therefore a key part in the Scottish economy. They do what much, if not all of the public sector doesn't do; they generate growth. They don't work in the the clean, warm environment that a college affords. They don't get 13 weeks of holiday entitlement. Many of them don't have the greatest pension provisions. A lot of the time, they don't even have the security of employment. Their world of hard work is nothing like the cosseted comfort of taxpayer-subsidised college lecturers.

But what the growth generators do is compete. And in competing well they earn their place in their place in the market. It is meritocratic and genuinely moral behaviour. Marx somewhere describes capital as vampire-like, only living the more labour it sucks. Well it seems that that wheel has turned full circle: it is now trade unions in taxpayer-funded education institutions that have become vampires, returning repeatedly to bleed the taxpayer dry with their incessant demands.

When you kindly published my letter supporting the withholding of pay from striking lecturers (February 13), an EIS-FELA member contacted my employer to complain. Thankfully, the manager who took the call recognised that I was entitled to my personal point of view and that I had the right to express that point of view in a free press.

I was however heartened to read a foretaste of Jon Moynihan's forthcoming book Return to Growth where one of its prerequisites for growth is the banning of strike action in the public sector. The lesson of ASOS is that the medicine needs to be stronger. That will take political courage, but somebody needs to put a stake through the heart of the red beast. Is there a Van Helsing in the Scottish Conservative leadership election?

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In better news, the launch of the BAE Academy ("Academy will let shipbuilding talent flourish, says BAE Systems", The Herald, August 20) promises to provide life-long learning and skills development activities for around 4,500 employees. It will ensure the vital industry thrives “for generations”, its owners have said. But perhaps it will do even more than that. Perhaps it will inspire others to think that there is an alternative to the current model of tertiary education. Perhaps other growth-generating industries will conclude that the state model is unsustainable and that the solution is to train in-house. Perhaps then, it won't be necessary to ban disruptive industrial action after all. Perhaps the growth-generating industries will simply be able to do away with their need for colleges altogether.

Graeme Arnott, Stewarton.

In search of a new Christianity

ALTHOUGH Neil Mackay has little time for religion (certainly as currently practised) I reacted positively to his article on Tuesday (“Scotland feels intellectually dead”, The Herald, August 20).

I suggest that our faith communities have much to offer by way of “stories, paths, hope and imagined futures” as he put it if only they knew how to express them in a language understandable by those outwith their walls. They also need to demonstrate that they understand the nature of the cosmos as revealed by 21st century science. It is not surprising that so many folk are leaving my own community, the Church of Scotland, given that its world-view is two millennia old.

Fundamentally I believe that the Kirk ought to be aiming towards making a fuller life for all. It is currently too obsessed with “getting to Heaven” as opposed to creating a “heaven” here and now on Earth: the promotion of which was Jesus’s priority, as a consequence of which he was considered to be too subversive and executed by the religious and imperial powers.

I draw your readers’ attention to the books of the American bishop, the late John Shelby Spong. I mention in particular “Jesus for the Non-Religious” from which I quote: "I have a lively hope that a new Christianity can grow out of what I perceive to be the death of the old supernatural forms of yesterday’s Christianity.”

John Milne, Uddingston.

20mph limits: why bother?

I LIVE in a rural village and in a street which has a 20mph speed limit, and a chicane giving vehicle priorities. The neighbouring village also has a 20mph speed limit. Nobody adheres to them.

A while back on their introduction I wrote to my local MP about the speed of vehicles in my street.

I received a letter from her in due course, and she confirmed that she had been in touch with Police Scotland and had received a communication from them regarding my complaint.

The letter stated that the 20mph limit was self-enforcing and it was the responsibility of drivers to adhere to the speed limit, and the only place where it would be enforced was outside schools.

My question is: why bother with signing, chicanes and lights when nobody takes the slightest notice of them?

Neil Stewart, Balfron.

Are many 20mph limits a waste of time?Are many 20mph limits a waste of time? (Image: Newsquest)

What's afoot here?

A CURRENT TV advert, doubtless to attract DIY gardening enthusiasts, involves the serrated-edged razor shovel. The narrator excitedly enthuses as to the power-driven shovel's capability in removing weeds, shrubbery and tree roots. One is also assured it assists your hands and wrists... no mention of your feet. Not surprising as the casually-dressed operative is sporting a pair of open-topped sandals.

Safety first appears to be a low priority.

Allan C Steele, Giffnock.

A question of priorities

CORRESPONDENCE about dogs being welcomed or otherwise (Letters, August 13, 14, 15 & 22) reminds me of the male-only Scottish golf club said to have displayed a sign with the words "No Ladies" above the words "No Dogs".

The order of the wording suggests that ladies were even more unwelcome than dogs.

David Miller, Milngavie.