News that a committee in the Scottish Parliament is to interview Alex Salmond over the proposed Trump golf course brings to mind the words "dead horse" and "flogging", "molehills" and "mountains". Do we elect MSPs to waste public money like this?

So far we know that Donald Trump is rich, is American and has a silly hairstyle bordering on the criminal. He also wants to invest $1bn in Scotland and we don't want his money.

Or do we? As far as I can see, those who are prosecuting this infantile vendetta against Alex Salmond are doing so in desperation. Like a team three nil down with 10 minutes to go they throw caution to the wind, lose all discipline and judgment, lump everything and everybody forward and lose another four in the process.

What I find really funny is that many who accept with equanimity or even support a huge and dangerous nuclear weapons dump on the Clyde are going ballistic over a proposed golf course.

David McEwan Hill, 1 Tom Nan Ragh, Dalinlongart, Sandbank, Argyll.

The Scottish planning and development system can be slow and cumbersome, which foreign developers employing competent advisers must already know. The advantages include a time to reflect before creating a large new community, the democratic duty of appointed organisations and citizens to state potential dangers and problems.

The idea of a Middle Ages throwback to a gated community, imported into Scotland by the Trump organisation, suggests a no-go area and lack of comingling with local inhabitants.

Rights of way and enjoying the beaches and foreshore have been apparently put at risk while an odd-looking hotel will probably indulge in gambling and add a casino - or has all this been legally discussed under Freedom of Information already?

It is probably unique for any group of Scottish councillors to vote out the elected chairman of the planning and development committee because he has dared to vote democratically at an open meeting to discuss the views of those legally present. This does suggest undue media pressure by the developer, who has been widely reported as stating he requires prompt approvals as he already has other options in his sights.

While the public has found big business developers to have ways and means to persuade reluctant councillors to see things from the developers' point of view, it is another matter to try to influence a government to intervene early on.

In Scotland we want to see our tradition of good vernacular architecture to be considered in relation to any newly created development (that definitely excludes a gated community!). We want our rights of way, enjoyment of the beaches and foreshore, primary school provision, careful attention to essential environmental issues which must now be incorporated in all new-build by required laws; our heritage and landscape attractions must be conserved.

We expect foreign developers to show respect for those among whom they hope to work long-term.

M E Mackenzie, Springhill Road, Peebles.

There has been no indication that Aberdeenshire Council acted in any way improperly in refusing planning permission for Trump's project.

In view of existing Aberdeenshire policy concerning development on areas of special interest it seems that rejection of the submitted plan was the correct decision.

The policies and procedures followed were the product of a democratic process, voted on by a committee selected by councillors who had themselves been elected by the constituents.

Martin Ford's dismissal as chairman of the infrastructure committee would appear also to have been the result of democratic process. But on closer inspection almost as many councillors abstained as those who voted either way on the dismissal. Effectively, almost half of the constituents of Aberdeenshire had no say on this.

The Scottish Parliament has called in the planning application, which sends the message that the democratic process in Aberdeenshire is only a construct of convenience and can be overturned arbitrarily.

The justification offered is economic, that the development would provide building jobs in the short-term, then some employment toting visitors' golf bags in the longer term.

The economy of the north of Scotland is already top heavy on tourism. Wouldn't it be better to attract timber-frame and furniture-construction companies to provide sustainable employment?

Alas, the north of Scotland is not exceptional in this. In the central belt, instead of making steel and ships, we answer telephones for companies not based in Scotland.

Will this be the Scotland of the future - more of the same - competing with Portugal for tourism and India for call centres? It profits a man nothing to sell his soul for the world. But for a golf course, Alex?

A Hamilton, 37 Castlelaw Crescent, Abernethy, Perthshire.

There is hypocrisy at the heart of all the attacks on Mr Trump now emanating from the Labour Party and exemplified by Alex Gallagher (Letters, December 19). Former First Minister Jack McConnell twice visited Mr Trump on his own turf in New York, in relation to the proposed golf course at the Menie Estate. Alex Salmond has one meeting with Trump's "people" and suddenly it is a political scandal. McConnell also ferried Trump from Menie to St Andrews by helicopter, at the taxpayer's expense, in an attempt to impress the American tycoon.

Why - Mr Gallagher - was it in the national interest to encourage the Trump development while Labour was in government? Why - Mr Gallagher - is it no longer in Scotland's national interest for the development to go ahead?

Patrick Kirkwood, 22 Weston Terrace, West Kilbride, North Ayrshire.