Sir, On behalf of the Royal British Legion Scotland (RBLS), Angus and Perthshire Area, Festival of Remembrance I would like to convey sincere thanks to those members of the RBLS, regimental associations, war widows and cadet forces who attended with their standards, and to those members of the armed forces, regulars and reservists, cadet units and national bodies, and the veterans and the war widows, who made up the muster, without which the festival would not be possible.
Then there was the fantastic music provided by the Central Band of the Royal British Legion and the Pipe band of Arbroath Branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland. The two young buglers from the Sea Cadets who played the last post and the reveille were a credit to themselves and their units.
Sincere thanks must also go to the staff of the Caird Hall for their assistance, and to the staff of the Lord Provost’s office who organised the pre- festival reception and made the guests most welcome.
But most of all a sincere thanks must go to themembers of the public who purchased tickets and supported the festival. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the massive support and commitment of the festival committee.
If I have missed any group or person from my thanks list please accept my apologies. Thanks to you all.
Alastair McLean. Festival convener, 4 Fletcher Place, Crieff.
Changing the truth to suit
Sir, It has become very common for The Courier front page headline to begin with the word “shock” but I must confess I was in no great state of shock when I saw “Shock as visitor numbers plummet” in Thursday’s paper.
However, I was genuinely shocked, when I read on page 19 the Scottish Government advert, or statement, which declared: “Scotland believes in equality for transgender and intersex people.”
Equality? Never before has a word been so misunderstood and applied indiscriminately to any situation!
Of course God has no favourites, but he gave clear roles to men and women. Genesis chapter 2 tells us: “And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground.” (verse 7) And the Lord God said: ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’.” (verse 18) “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (verse 24).
This is not so much about equality as about changing Christian values held by this country for generations.
It is about challenging quite non-negotiable truths of scripture to suit the current generation. It is about discriminating against those who honour God’s word as truth. These things really are shocking.
Stuart Wishart. 12 Walnut Grove, Blairgowrie.
Loophole must be closed
Sir, We all owe a debt of gratitude to John Bird, the founder of the Big Issue.
In a recent article he stated he was against giving beggars money since it does absolutely nothing to alleviate the plight of the recipient.
He points out that the politicians put no safeguards in place when they opened the sluice gates and imported destitution from Eastern Europe.
He says it was an ill-thought-out policy that meant Big Issue sellers were classed as self-employed and had to have a national insurance number.
Having this national insurance number resulted in the exploitation of a raft of income-related welfare benefits and even social housing.
He highlighted the case of a Romanian who is a “self employed” Big Issue seller who claims £550 a week in welfare.
The Government must close this “self-employed” loophole as it is one of the main attractions for migrants.
Dan Arnott. St Brycedale Court, Kirkcaldy.
Humourless cybernats
Sir, It must take a lot of papier mach to build an effigy of Scotland’s First Minister in his state-supplied trews, a saltire hidden in his sporran, accompanied by policy wonk Nessie.
The Lewes organisers are well known for their equal opportunity satire having already set fire to David Cameron, Margaret Thatcher, John Prescott, Tony Blair and the lovely Cherie.
Anyone who assumed the cybernats had emigrated after the referendum was sadly mistaken as they took to the ether with a lack of charm so total it was almost a thing of wonder.
Alex Salmond’s notoriously humourless “45” demand to know “Wha’s like us?” deserves the answer “Gey few and the fewer the better.”
Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
A ridiculous attitude
Sir, The so-called outrage at the recent use of an effigy of Alex Salmond at a bonfire night in Sussex once again demonstrates how ridiculous some people’s attitudes towards such satire have become.
Considering the contemptuous way Mr Salmond regularly refers to his political opponents, and in particular the Tories, it is not surprising that he should now be the target of some retaliatory jibes particularly since he lost the referendum.
Those of us who voted “no” should be grateful it was only Alex Salmond’s effigy which went up in smoke rather than the Scottish economy, had the Yes campaign succeeded.
Jim Shaw. Dundee.