Claim laughable if it wasn’t so serious

Sir,—Jeff Duncan asks what makes me think that male homosexual couples are less equipped to foster children than heterosexual couples. I suggest none of them being a woman, for a start.

Children are born from mothers, they need mothers, or at least a woman to whom they can attach. Two homosexual men playing happy families will fool no one and will lead to a very confused child.

He says statistics demonstrate that more children are abused by heterosexual men than homosexual men. Since there are many more heterosexuals than homosexuals that is hardly surprising. Millions of children live in heterosexual households, but hardly any live in homosexual households.

He claims that people are only pretending to be concerned about child safety in order to cover up their homophobia. That is an abominable accusation.

His claim that two homosexual men can give a child a stable and secure background from which to start again would be laughable if the issue wasn’t so serious.

More rubbish at Perth Lade

Sir,—The Perth Lade is again filling up with dumped rubbish. In spite of pleas to the council from several concerned citizens, nothing has been done to clear the unsightly and unhygienic mess.

So much for Perth and Kinross Council’s boast that they are improving Perth’s image. Instead of spending thousands of pounds on unsightly and dangerous road-calming measures—more and more obstacles keep appearing like mushrooms overnight—our councillors should direct their attention to such eyesores and health perils as the lade.

Another monstrosity which should have been dealt with decades ago is the former St Paul’s Church. The building is still empty and almost derelict in the centre of the town, with broken windows and boarded-up doors. It even has sizeable trees growing next to scaffolding erected by workmen who have since disappeared, leaving the scaffolding and trees intact to add to this ugly scar on the townscape.

Get your priorities right, councillors! Come down from that Cloud Cuckoo Land where you bask in mutual congratulations and attend to the real task of councillors: simply ensuring that the area’s essential services are run efficiently and economically and that no new projects are undertaken until these necessities are properly delivered.

Hand it back to brewers

Sir,—I take it I am not the only person to be fed up to the back teeth with this ineffective and hugely expensive layer of bureaucracy that is the Scottish Parliament?

Earlier this year, you will recall, when our MSPs had the chance to vote to remove the tolls from the Tay Bridge, the “flip-flop five” did an about-turn to toe the party line and scupper the SNP motion.

We even had the ridicule of the Transport Minister Tavish Scott saying that removing the tolls would cause congestion in Dundee City Centre at peak hours.

The man had obviously never been to Dundee as we all know it is the tolls that cause the problem.

Now even the “Sir Humphreys” of Holyrood can’t get it right. Bruce Crawford’s bill will not see a vote this side of the May 2007 election because one of their “officials” can’t schedule a bill correctly.

I’ve got an idea. Why not hand the building back to Scottish & Newcastle Brewery, the original owners of the site?

I’m sure they could organise a Parliament in a brewery!

Boundaries have changed

Sir,—I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Mr Douglass for the way in which my letter earlier this month was worded. I agree that the attitude of some teenagers is disrespectful.

It has probably always been thus to a certain degree. What has changed today is that boundaries we once had which we did not cross years ago have gone. It is all part of the liberal agenda that says, ‘as long as it suits you then it’s alright’.

Young people learn all about their rights but not much of their responsibilities. The lines of acceptable behaviour have become blurred. This begins when adults let children see that getting drunk is acceptable.

What annoyed me was that Mr Douglass’s letter was going on about a golf ball being moved. The girl was not going to let her pals see an adult telling her what to do in front of her friends. It was almost inevitable she would react to stop embarrassment.

However, it all depends on how she was spoken to. I have approached groups of youths on occasions. Being confrontational does not work. It even annoys adults. Hence, the reaction to my letter, which was itself confrontational.

Having carried out voluntary youth work both here and in the city areas has taught me even teenagers will eventually see an error if it is presented in a certain way.