Monday’s correspondents discuss their opinions on matters including Baby P, wildlife crime, bias against England, and perceived NHS waste.
Unfair to accuse gamekeepers of wildlife crimeSir, I was concerned to read the statements made by PC Bryan Prestwood, of Tayside Police, who attributed general blame for wildlife crime to gamekeepers and land managers.
He needs to be reminded that we are all innocent until proven guilty and it is not the remit of a policeman to accuse any profession of a crime, particularly without any evidence that one has been committed.
The absence of particular birds does not mean that they have been illegally killed.
Tayside Police and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association are members of the Scottish Government’s Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) an organisation which is dedicated, among other things, to ending the illegal poisoning of raptors.
Unwarranted accusations from lone spokesmen are counterproductive to the spirit of cooperation to which our organisations are committed.
Alex Hogg.Chairman,Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association,Arran Business Centre,Perth.Appoint child welfare tsarsSir, “I’m not in the blame game. I don’t do blame,” said Sharon Shoesmith, the sacked head of children’s services at Haringey Council when a court decided the Children’s Secretary had been wrong to dismiss her from her post over the death of Baby P.
She will now be in line for massive compensation for her dismissal.
She apparently earned more than a cabinet minister, yet she does not accept that the buck stopped with her and that the preventable death of a child in her jurisdiction was her responsibility. She should not have needed to be sacked; she should have resigned when she learned of Baby P’s death and the catalogue of errors leading up to it.
She was right on one point, however, and that was that the policies which led and still lead to such errors were not hers. They are part of the politically correct agenda dictating all our dealings with criminals, potentially dangerous mental patients, school discipline and dysfunctional families.
Baby P was not the only one to fall victim to our flawed system. Dundee has had its own child tragedy and there have been many more such cases throughout the country.
How to ensure that such mistakes are kept to a minimum? I suggest that box-ticking bureaucrats should have an independent children’s tsar appointed over them in every council area to check on social work, police and health departments’ activities and on the welfare of children at risk within their jurisdiction.
George K. McMillan.5 Mount Tabor Avenue,Perth.End this anti-English biasSir, I am beginning to feel disgusted with the SNP leadership’s anti-English statements such as over the influence of the UK Supreme Court.
They seem to forget that many of Scotland’s population are foreigners, even they themselves if they care to delve into their ancestry.
Looking at historical facts, the only true Scots were the Picts and even they originated in part in northern England.
Scotland only came to be so after the Romans named part of it Scotia. Most of the north-east was over-run by Vikings, some of the north and south west were colonised by the Irish.
I am English but proud to be called British. I married a Scots girl in 1943 and have always felt at home in Scotland.
The nature of my job led to living in England for most of our early years together but I have been living in Scotland for nearly 40 years now. I love this country and have no desire to move back to England. I feel that Salmond’s bias towards the English will alienate many people.
His current rant about the Supreme Court should be focused on the fact that Scotland’s law courts are not prepared to listen when people declare their innocence and so they apply to the Supreme Court as a last resort.
(Capt) T. R. Willis.61 Craigmill Gardens,Carnoustie.Bring cost cutters into NHSSir, With reference to your searching editorial (May 31) and Mr Macdonald’s letter (June 1) may I support both views.
I have been both beneficiary and victim of excellent and dismal care within NHS hospitals.
The NHS suffers from the curse of nationalisation and the bureaucracy that brings. Such can be found in most areas of the public service.
But Fife Council, to the credit of the council leader, whose party I certainly do not support, called in administrators to examine their organisation and staffing.
The results, as you have reported, were impressive. In my opinion, the NHS needs to do the same.
The cost would cost millions of pounds but would be well worth it.
A. T. Geddie.68 Carleton Avenue,Glenrothes.Hollow words on dreadful caseSir, If the “utterly unacceptable” treatment of a dementia patient in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, was due to a lack of staff training, why had this not been identified previously?
The ill treatment, has been described as “torture.” This would suggest there may have been deliberate cruelty involved, which would probably take more than training to rectify. Too often “training” is substituted for disciplinary action, which makes NHS Tayside’s assurances sound hollow.
Angus Ramsay.34 Kings Road,Rosyth.
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