farm noise and low-frequency sound waves ("Living in the shadows of the wind farm’s turbine tyrants", The Herald, September 26). Scottish Power Renewables should buy Pat Spence’s home, now surrounded by 184 enormous wind turbines. SPR is part of Iberdrola, advertised on its website as a global energy leader, one of the world's biggest electricity utilities in terms of market capitalisation. It can well afford a fair price.
My husband and I moved to Peebles in 2013 for family reasons. We had been living just outside an area designated by a Welsh government as particularly suitable for a small number of large wind farms or power stations. Such designation strongly influenced planning decisions and county development plans, and it is arguable that council officers were not equipped for the massive effects of the designation.
The first wind power-station, at the edge of the village, began operating in October 2009. Within days people and families living nearest the turbines had their sleep damaged and lives disrupted by the effects of the wind on those huge blades and the turbine foundations deep in the hillside. Mrs Spence’s description of the effects of the audible sound and inaudible low frequency vibration-waves precisely echoes what our neighbours said about their own experiences when the wind blew.
The health effects of such intervention into people’s lives, acknowledged by many in the medical establishment, were consistently denied by the local authority, the Welsh and UK governments, the developers and their organisations. Against these denials, we heard of villages in Australia deserted because residents couldn’t live alongside giant turbines. We had visits from an American couple who had left their home for a wind-turbine fact-finding tour of Europe. And we heard of occasional compensation, buyouts and non-disclosure agreements when somebody successfully took turbine owners to court.
Pipistrelle bats which had bred and lived in our loft for generations left when the turbines came, and our neighbours nearer the turbines reported the same. Yet giant wind turbines, now known to affect weather monitoring above ground and seismic monitoring below ground, are said to have no effect on human beings.
Wind turbines clearly have a part to play in the development of alternatives to fossil fuel burning. But if they are to be the "utility of the future" as Iberdrola intends, companies and governments should stop victimising and discrediting turbine neighbours whose lives are damaged. Governments should not associate themselves with ignoring facts on the ground, and in human lives, for financial reasons.
Jan Dubé, Peebles.
CRACK DOWN ON TROLLS
IT is time for the Government to introduce legislation requiring social media companies to manage the content of postings online. Issuing death threats to individuals because of disagreements with their views ("Actors and authors defend ‘honourable and compassionate’ JK Rowling after death threats", The Herald, September 28) cannot be acceptable under any circumstances and social media companies cannot use arguments of freedom of speech to justify either no or delayed action.
Options could include requiring all social media users to register with fully identifiable information to put an end to anonymous threats or alternatively introducing punitive fines on social media companies for each threatening post.
Bill Eadie, Giffnock.
BONA FIDE, HONEST
AH, the era of the bona fide traveller, so joyously recorded by your correspondent Ed Robertson (Letters, September 25).
Those were the days of the early 1960s when a Sunday traveller (alleged, bona fide or otherwise) would sign a book on entry to the hotel, stating name, start point and destination.
I turned 18 in 1961, and unusually for a teenager, never took drink until August, two months after the magic birthday. I was on a 12-hour 144-mile cycle tourist trial, a circular route out from Glasgow to Girvan and back over the hills by Dalmellington and Muirkirk.
Three of us stopped in Straiton, and in the Bull's Head, the eldest of us (he was an ageing 20) ordered three half-pints. Rite of passage into manhood was completed by my signing the book as Tommy Simpson (famous racing cyclist then), with start point Land's End and destination John O Groats. That book would surely have contained the signature of a Mickey Mouse and quite probably a Donald Duck.
We'd be passed on the road by busloads of thirsty travellers, all bona fide of course, heading to country hotels, some of which all but advertised that bona fide travellers were particularly welcome.
I signed the book twice more, before the great days of the bona fide traveller were consigned to legend.
Gordon Casely, Crathes.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel