Bridgehead school obvious solution for Madras

Sir,—Debate continues regarding the best solution for north-east Fife pupils. Despite the adversity of a two-site school, Madras should be commended for maintaining a high level of attainment and positive staff-pupil relationships. But over-population and building disrepair needs to be addressed.

The school board chairman advocates “joined-up thinking”/land swapping between university, Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the education authority to create a new school on the west side of St Andrews. It might be tempting for many to concur with such a high-brow proposal, however this is a utopian view. The involvement of other local parties would undoubtedly protract the whole process making a speedy and satisfactory solution unlikely.

Clearly it would be to the university’s advantage to possess the Madras College South Street building, and this would increase their collection to almost all the prestigious properties in St Andrews. It is an abhorrent thought that the beautiful South Street building with its charisma and long-standing history might be passed over for university ownership.

Politics, finances and demographics have all been discussed. What of pupil well-being? Commuting 12 miles twice daily for six years (in excess of 1200 hours) greatly reduces life quality.

Not only does this eat into extra-curricular activity and home study time (it is not possible to study on a school bus), it also compromises social interaction with peers. For a significant number of pupils the school bus experience can be extremely stressful with bullying resulting in longer term psychological damage (bus escorts are not always effective).

It is the sole responsibility of Fife education department to address the problems that Madras is facing. As a significant number of pupils travel from the Tay Bridge area the obvious solution is to create a new school in this vicinity. Revenue via the sale of Kilrymont could be utilised to renovate the South Street building. South Street and Station Park sports ground would be perfectly adequate for the immediate St Andrews area.

Pushed over edge

Sir,—Your Leader, Faltering Network, (June 21) highlights a deepening problem with the decline of the Post Office network in Scotland.

This Government may say it is fully committed to maintaining a viable network, yet allows its own departments (DWP, DVLA, Passport Agency) and other publicly-funded bodies (BBC) to take business away from post offices. This has pushed many rural post offices over the edge of viability and it is little wonder so many are closing.

Many more will close unless someone takes ownership of the problem instead of passing the buck. The network of post offices in Scotland is a major asset to the nation and adds significantly to the vibrancy and well-being of local communities.

Instead of removing government and local authority business, this network could be utilised to conduct business such as payment of fines and fixed penalty notices, provision of council services. Of course, to achieve this would require joined-up thinking, something clearly lacking in government at all levels.

One less to deal with

Sir,—In his letter (June 20) Patrick Newman attempts to put a soft filter on the practice of removing part of a puppy’s tail, asserting that it is a small, brief, and apparently pain-free operation. For confirmation of this, as part of an attempt to lend weight to its acceptability, he suggests going to a dog show and asking the owners of such breeds. Well, that would hardly be an objective survey, would it?

The two common reasons for for tail-shortening are: a) the involvement of dogs in so-called field sports wherein they retrieve the bodies of creatures their masters have shot, and b) the competition-driven dog show scenario, wherein an obsession with appearance drives otherwise animal-loving people to surgically alter a dog’s natural features.

Of course these owners will uphold this practice. Fortunately the rest of us don’t need a partisan explanation to help us decide the rights and wrongs in the treatment of animals. I would agree there are a lot of animal welfare issues yet to be addressed. Thankfully the Scottish Parliament has dealt with tail-docking, so that’s one less.

Birds would learn to adapt

Sir,—I refer to recent correspondence regarding wind and tide generated electricity.

Wind is irregular and unpredictable, so, no wind means no generating. The tides are dependable and predictable, ebbing and flowing twice in every 24 hours. Barrages can harness this when both ebbing and flowing.

Not every river or estuary would be suitable for a barrage so only a few bird habitats would be affected. The birds would not be overwhelmed with a sudden, tsunami-like flood, but could relocate to other estuarial sites.

In any case, if the environment is threatened by greenhouse gases, this would be bad news for birds as well as human beings.

A missed opportunity

Sir,—What a pity The Courier did not review the exhibition Divided Selves when it was shown at the University of Edinburgh’s Talbot Rice Gallery in April/May this year. The importance of the exhibition in analysing the Scottish psyche and social history through portraiture was explored by four Scottish national newspapers.

It is regrettable this exhibition with such strong Dundee connections through the Fleming family history and artists such as Alberto Morrocco and David McClure had to wait until it was shown in London for your coverage, thus denying many of your readers the opportunity to see it.