Sir, Re Gordon Rennie’s thoughtful and quite sensible article on GM crops (Farming Supplement, October 3), I wonder what the difference is between a “hybrid” and a GM plant.
This planet we live on has been virtually destroyed by nature or extraterrestrial activity several times meteor strikes, ice ages, fouled volcanic atmospherics, catastrophic ground activity and so on.
And yet life has always survived, somehow, in some form, to produce the present day world, with humans, flora, fauna and such things.
Our freshwater rivers continue to flow (with a few exceptions such as the Volga and the Jordan) into our great salty oceans with no apparent effect on sea levels or general salinity.
Surely this survivability of species must be the result of various forms of genetic modification? Not to mention hybriding?
African and Asian elephants, dromedary and bactrian camels, crocodiles and alligators, fir trees/deciduous trees, fine grass/rough grass, vultures and eagles.
Different humans, white-skinned, black-skinned, short-legged, long-legged, raspberries and brambles. This list is endless.
True there a few things we humans must do better.
Control of plastic is the main one, in my opinion.
Our First Minister not alone, unfortunately, with 14 advisers seems incapable of understanding what GM is.
Something, surely, which has been happening on our planet for thousands of millennia.
For the purpose of survival there’s the crux of GM.
Do our politicians want us to survive, or starve?
AT Geddie. Carleton Avenue, Glenrothes.
Very good end to city hall saga
Sir, I was delighted to read (October 2) that sense has prevailed in the long-running Perth City Hall saga.
As one who appreciates craftsmanship, I believe it would have been criminal to pull down such a building one that is irreplaceable, and for which we should be grateful.
So many city centres are devoid of individuality. Pedestrian precincts with their modern paving are all very well but let’s not destroy these iconic older buildings they can be preserved for future generations to appreciate.
Ray Will. Dundonnachie, Bank Street, Aberfeldy.
Named person a threat to families
Sir, The proposed named person or state guardian scheme in which the state can overrule the God-given parental authority of potentially any child in Scotland has naturally appalled people from all walks of life, and Lesley Scott (letters, October 3) rightly expects the Labour Party to oppose it.
It should be clear to the thinking person that such a scheme can only lead to disloyalty and betrayal within the family unit, a tactic employed by totalitarian states to control people.
It is imperative we learn from history.
AW Tozer wrote: “It is my opinion that if all the families in Russia could have maintained complete loyalty and concern for one another within the family circles, communism would have died out in 10 years.”
I have yet to encounter a single proponent of this scheme, yet I would urge a note of caution to its many opponents.
In order to resist this particular intrusion into family life, I consider it wise not to fight the battle in the self-centred arena of human rights, where some of the victors are not always honourable for example, religious frauds or criminals.
Rather by simply basing the appeal on truth, human decency and common sense this madness can be defeated.
Stuart Wishart. Walnut Grove, Blairgowrie.
Eviction a state-sponsored act
Sir, The eviction of a man, apparently causing no traffic problems, by a gang of Transport Scotland and police employees is another example of the police-state mentality creeping into our country.
Can we assume the successful eviction of one man will now lead Transport Scotland, supported by the Scottish Government, to undertake a similar operation at Faslane to evict the criminal elements who regularly prevent law-abiding workers from carrying out their lawful duties by blocking the roads around the base?
Failure to carry out such action would indicate that the Scottish Government believes in supporting this type of unlawful behaviour as it strengthens their resolve to rid Scotland of Trident.
CR Garland. Califer Road, Forres, Moray.
Drug abuse and US gun control
Sir, I find myself writing again on the subject of yet another unnecessary and tragic school shooting.
My message hasn’t changed, but the death toll has.
The thoughts of people around the world will lie with the families affected by the latest tragedy at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.
And as the search for answers begin, the cause of violent behaviour is once again under the spotlight, along with gun laws in the United States.
While there is never one simple explanation for what drives a human being to commit such unspeakable acts, all too often one common denominator has surfaced in hundreds of cases prescribed psychiatric drugs, documented to cause mania, psychosis, violence, suicide and in some cases, homicidal ideation.
It is vital that the general public are informed about the links between psychiatric drugs and violence.
At least 35 school shootings and/or school-related acts of violence have been committed by those taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs, resulting in 169 wounded and 79 killed.
The correlation between psychiatric drugs and acts of violence and homicide is well documented.
Despite 22 international drug regulatory warnings on psychiatric drugs, there has yet to be a federal investigation on the link between the drugs and acts of senseless violence.
I won’t apologise for repeating myself.
It is time for the public to demand an investigation into any school shooting, mall shootings, or any acts of senseless violence that leads to mass murder and the correlation to mind-altering psychiatric drugs.
Brian Daniels. National spokesperson, Citizens Commission on Human Rights.
It’s time for Scots to back England
Sir, Last Saturday I was in St James’ Park in Newcastle for Scotland’s Rugby World Cup match against South Africa and spoke to several Englishmen supporting Scotland.
I know some Scots who will support anyone playing against England we mustn’t.
We all love to support the underdog. We Scots love to support anyone playing against England because Scotland is
England’s underdog (38,500 registered rugby players compared to two million) however, the Scots and English should stick together through thick and thin, be it rugby, football, any sport, anything.
I have great sympathy for our neighbours being knocked out early from the Rugby World Cup’s toughest group.
Will Ramsay. Bughtrig, Coldstream.
Poor judgment, not misogyny
Sir, Pete Wishart, my local MP who, I hasten to add, I did not vote for, is claiming in his latest tweets that the MP Michelle Thomson is the victim of misogyny and discrimination over the press handling of her business dealings.
In my opinion, he has reduced the argument to absurdity.
Michelle Thomson has only herself to blame for what has happened and the press has every right to let their readers know what is going on behind closed doors within the SNP.
If she is finding the press coverage difficult then I have no sympathy, and I don’t think she needs Mr Wishart
desperately jumping to defend her because she is a woman.
It is completely absurd for Mr Wishart to claim the press are victimising her because she is a woman. I am certain a man caught doing something similar would face the same treatment.
It seems that when all else fails use the discrimination card although, it does make a change from blaming Westminster.
Gordon Kennedy. Simpson Square, Perth.
Better Together balderdash!
Sir, Better together balderdash. Better together if you are one of them a member of the establishment that seems to need more money than the rest of us to make ends meet.
Just what kind of people are MPs who give themselves a £7,000 wage rise then expect working people on the minimum wage that is now the norm for the low paid?
Just how can working people be better off as claimed by one of these well-heeled MPs on the politics programme on Sunday.
It is time our SNP politicians all came home as they have no say in London. They are like the voters they have had their three seconds of political power.
The SNP is not a democratic party they are like the rest.
They like power and no one else is supposed to have a say.
If they had their way we would not be having a referendum on Europe that has been promised so many times by both Labour and the Conservatives.
Scotland’s industry has been getting smaller by the year and what have our politicians done to reverse it? If the money these bleeding hearts had given in aid had been spent in the UK on projects that create work the country would be a different place.
Poor people on the minimum wage can’t find a decent job or house, but our politicians can find housing and university places for people who have never contributed one penny they put them before our own, why?
Just how can they do this?
Politicians need to answer this question in the letters page, but will they?
Scotland needs independence, but not the set-up Brown devised. We need the Swiss
system where the people get a real say, but we have a clique of ex-university clones who are all tarred with the control freak brush.
I voted for the SNP because they were the only bus going to independence.
When I get there I hope we don’t find ourselves living under another Westminster-style elected dictatorship.
Try something new SNP. Listen and give the people a say, or is that too much to ask for?
John G Phimister. St Clair Street, Kirkcaldy.