Letter: Tram crazy

The great Edinburgh tram fiasco is not in an irretrievable state. One could go into enough detail to fill an encyclopaedia, but suffice to say that about £500 million has been spent and about half of the scheme has been completed. All that needs done is to identify the source of the additional £500m.

If the extra money is not going to be available, then the scheme must be stopped in its tracks.

The Edinburgh councillors and the various companies and contractors involved in the tram scheme are proving their first-class intelligence. It was F Scott Fitzgerald who wrote: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."

The two opposed ideas are simply put: we are pressing ahead and we have run out of money.

Michael Hamilton

Stodrig Cottages

Kelso, Borders