YOUR Letters

If you are could you please write and let me know to the following address: Mrs Pollock, 33a Townend Road, Dumbarton, G82.

On April 1, myself and other representatives from the area are meeting with the management of RAH to highlight the problems we know of - and I can tell you there is many.

Please help us to make sure no one has any bad experiences if they are in the RAH.

It is a patient's right to have good attention and services while in hospital.

We need your help.

Jackie Pollock United Campaign Group EARLIER this month, a majority in the Scottish Parliament called for the cancellation of the planned rise in fuel duty and the implementation of a fuel duty regulator and the SNP confirmed it will continue to make soaring fuel prices a key campaign for the Holyrood elections.

The party's declaration comes as a survey by the public think-tank Theos shows that fuel prices is the issue most people in the UK are prepared to protest about.

The vote in the Scottish Parliament saw a motion calling for a cancellation of the planned fuel duty rise and the introduction of a fuel duty regulator was backed by 75 MSPs to three, with 43 abstentions.

No Labour MSP supported the motion and one even voted against.

Why then did our MSP Jackie Baillie and Gemma Doyle MP go on YOUR Radio on March 7 calling for the Chancellor to give drivers a better deal on fuel?

They are writing to him, apparently, to ask him not to implement the increase in April.

The debate was an opportunity for the parties in the Scottish Parliament to unite to put pressure on the UK Government to take the action that people want.

The fuel duty increase must be scrapped and a fuel duty regulator introduced as promised.

This is another example of Baillie hypocrisy.

Charlie Webster Gartocharn I WRITE with regard to the letter from Graeme McCormick printed in the Reporter (8/3/11) regarding the rising costs of fuel.

Firstly, I have seen for myself that the price of petrol at the pumps has soared - it now costs over £60 on average for most people to fill up their car.

For many families these increases will mean real hardship.

The facts are that the Tories have actually made the situation worse by increasing VAT to 20 per cent adding nearly 3p to the price of a litre of petrol.

I have joined with Gemma Doyle MP to call on the Chancellor to reverse this tax rise and stop making life difficult for families in West Dunbartonshire.

Secondly, Mr McCormick once again neglects to mention the full story.

Labour proposals to call on the UK Government to reverse the VAT rise on fuel and postpone planned duty increases were rejected in a vote at the Scottish Parliament by a combination of Tories, Lib Dems and yes, you have guessed it, the SNP. I invite your readers to guess which SNP party member and former candidate is guilty of hypocrisy and not telling the full story.

Jackie Baillie MSP Dumbarton constituency COUNCILLOR George Black needs to come out of the capitalist closet (Reporter 8/3/11).

This is not a time for novice prima donas.

Out with it George, which side are you on?

You can't go on playing the Independent card under these circumstances without compromising your own integrity.

You're sitting on the fence George.

What about the people and their independence?

That is being sacrificed on the alter of bankers' bonuses.

You'll be sad and lonely looking 'Independent' when the rest are in Con/Dem chains.

Today, councillor Jim Bollan is the only man of truly independent mind, who stands up for the freedom and independence of people on the council.

The rest are only there for the appearance money and to do the bidding of their paymasters.

It's decision time George. Stand up, or stand aside.

You and your fellow Independents need to team up with Councillor Bollan and form a socialist alliance.

In view of all the cuts that are in the pipeline for West Dunbartonshire. going forward over the next four years at least, you and your fellow Independents must form an effective and organised resistance to be in with any chance of success.

James Graham c/o Socialist News I WRITE to explain the importance of Scotland's biggest population survey - the census, which takes place on Sunday (March 27).

The census counts everyone. We have a census because it is the only way to build a complete picture of our nation. It asks the questions that help the government, local authorities and businesses to target billions of pounds worth of public services, including health, housing and transport. The census gives a snapshot of the nation and how we live in each community: how many people are there in my part of Scotland? What kind of homes do we live in? How healthy are we?

Scotland has changed a lot since the last census 10 years ago.

Our population is ageing, more people live alone and family structures and living arrangements are becoming increasingly complex.

Young people today have different needs from the youth of 2001.

By holding the census every decade and asking similar questions each time, we understand how we develop as a nation. But, just as society changes, so too does the census.

2011 sees the questionnaire re-designed to make it easier to follow with more tick box options. Some questions have been dropped, others have been revised and new ones have been added. Most households can fill it in online for the first time.

It takes about 10 minutes per person.

But like other censuses, personal information gathered in the 2011 Census is protected by law and kept confidential for 100 years.

Organised in Scotland by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS), the census has taken place every ten years throughout the UK. The census is so important to Scotland that people risk a £1,000 fine if they do not participate.

The questionnaires are being delivered to households before census day. Help is available from the helpline on 0300 123 1702. For more information on the census visit www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk Thank you for helping to shape Scotland's future.

Duncan Macniven Registrar General I WATCHED with amazement last night after the SNP's first party political broadcast of the election campaign. I was amazed not at the policies put forward by the SNP or the presentation itself but amazed at the bare-faced cheek of the SNP in claiming credit for things it did not do.

In the film, the SNP claims that it abolished tuition fees for university, but we have had tuition free university education in Scotland since 1999 when Labour introduced the policy.

The film claimed that the SNP has rebuilt 330 schools. The truth is that these are schools Labour started rebuilding prior to 2007. Not one new school has been built under the SNP and we are still waiting for the first brick to be laid at the new Dumbarton Academy.

Other "achievements" by the SNP include reduced class sizes, even though the SNP have admitted that the policy to reduce P1-P3 class sizes to 18 or fewer has been ditched.

Incredibly, the SNP boasts about free bus passes for pensioners, when it was Labour who introduced the policy in 2006.

It is true that we have the most ambitious climate change legislation in the world, but only after a Labour amendment which forced the SNP to get serious on carbon emissions.

I suppose Labour should be flattered by the SNP taking credit for its policies, they do say that imitation is the best form of flattery after all.

Robert Kelly Address supplied IT has now been exposed that BBC bosses have instructed their journalists to use the word "savings" instead of "cuts" when discussing the public sector, as the latter is deemed too negative for our sensitive ears.

How thoughtful of them.

This farce is played out locally as jobs and services are cut but we are told it is mere "savings". Workers suffer a wage cut, attacks on terms and conditions with compulsory redundances looming, while local people experience a jump in charges and loss of services.

But don't worry it's all in the name of "savings" and as we know "savings" are a good thing.

When are the local politicians going to unite and turn their fire on the real enemy, the Tory led government, and join with the trade unions and their community and oppose these cuts.

Because at the moment they are carrying out the demands of a vicious anti-working class government who are allowing the super rich and big business to get away with tax evasion to the tune of £120 billion.

A government which wastes further billions on nuclear weapons and foreign wars, while our young people can't get work and services for our old and disabled are cut.

As these brutal cuts hit home people are going to get really angry. So to the local councillors the question is - whose side are you on?

Tom Morrison, secretary Clydebank TUC WELL, I see that see that councillor Martin Rooney is still, as they say in Egypt, in "De Nile".

He cannot accept that because he has rewritten history, it does not become fact.

If Martin were ever to encounter the truth I am sure he would not recognise it and would require an introduction.

Fact one, the Labour group budget as first presented did not balance and was declared not competent by the legal officer.

It had to be amended before passing muster.

The term "two buses, and could'nae count" springs to mind .

Fact two, if Martin's group had supported councillor Jim Bollan at the Housing, Environmental and Economic Development Committee in December, they would not have had to mount a rescue mission to save the cafes in the leisure centres.

They did not, as usual, understand the position they supported or failed to support, depending on your perspective.

Fact three, Martin's assertion that he has information that only he is privilege to in relation to "securitisation of assets".

This is a monstrous slur on the chief executive, who is legally obliged to treat all elected members without fear or favour with regard to information.

The truth behind this comment is perhaps contained in a letter that Martin wrote to Mr McMillan where he claimed "that not all councillors understand the intricacies of securitisation." He confesses in this letter that he does not fully understand it, despite the fact that with his group he put forward a motion to involve the authority in this dubious "Follicy".

I can state that there were two councillors who did understand the issue, namely myself and Councillor Bollan, who voted against the proposition as we recognised the true cost to the public purse.

In financial terms we are "MAXED OUT" - our corporate credit card has reached its limit and we cannot borrow any more through traditional methods, so Martin and his crew would have us pawn the assets or in his own capitalist nomenclature "sweat them" in order to allow us to incur more debt .

Fact three, I have never welcomed a budget cut of £2.2m. Martin has uttered this one so often that I am sure he believes it himself.

On the day originally set aside to set the council's budget, Labour put forward a motion to adjourn until a later date, a motion incidentally that I supported as, once in a millennium, they do have a point of view that I can rationally support.

The reason for this adjournment was to discover what additional monies would be released by the Scottish Government and what effect this would have on the budget gap which we, as an authority, were facing.

The outcome of this was that with additional money released at that time, the budget gap at West Dunbartonshire was reduced by £1m.

It was this fact that I welcomed and it is interesting to note that by criticising my approval of additional funds, Martin must be indicating that he did not welcome the money.

Like Martin, I could go on and on but will close with this observation.

Check the mirror Martin because I am sure that the photograph over your letter shows a distinct increase in the size of your nose and we all know what happened to Pinocchio.

Councillor George M Black Ward 3, Dumbarton