Today’s letters to The Courier.
Treatment of RAF families is like bear baiting
Sir,-Now that north-east Fife’s worst kept secret is out,over the Leuchars closure, I would hope that the decision makers can sleep easy.
The way the whole thing has been handled will we, won’t we has been tantamount to bear baiting.
For the service men and women and extended families this has been a bad time and a bad result. The changes to life in north-east Fife will be enormous.
The way this government has handled the situation (of their own making) has been appalling.
Leuchars has always provided the cover the nation required and its subsequent treatment has not been deserved.
I would expect every voter to remember this in any election that will come.
Sandy Alston.Clayton,St Andrews.
Clear case of asset stripping
Sir,-The announcement from Westminster that more defence assets are going to be removed from Scotland marines and another RAF base together with a vague promise of army units being re-located to Scotland some years in the future, is another example of asset stripping.
Westminster is again attempting to drive a wedge between the people of Scotland and England.
Terrorism is not the primary enemy of the people of England and Scotland the primary enemy is the corrupt Westminster cabal.
Why is the Scottish Government subserviently accepting this overt asset stripping? The SNP have an overwhelming majority in Holyrood.
The Scottish Democratic Alliance (SDA) which is developing a defence policy for sovereign Scotland, extends an invitation to the SNP to collaborate with us in creating a practical and affordable defence policy.
Robert Ingram.Forrestview House,Kemnay.
Nuclear weapons keep us safe
Sir,-Ron Yeoman (July 23) misses the point of why we have nuclear weapons.
They are vital for national security, as nobody would launch a nuclear attack on Britain because our response would be overwhelming.
That is what keeps us safe. Without that deterrent we would be open to attack from a number of current and emerging sources.
He is wrong to say that nuclear weapons would never be used. Of course they would. In retaliation. That’s the whole point of having them, and they are worth every penny.
Malcolm Parkin.15 Gamekeepers Road,Kinnesswood,Kinross.
Content to be normal
Sir,-The propaganda for a no vote in the referendum has begun.
London has our taxes and will devise many diverse ploys by employing taxes to ensure that Scotland does not achieve freedom.
It is proposed that an influx of some 5000 military families will come to Scottish towns in the coming years. We can be sure that it will be claimed in the “no” campaign that these bases will close or be much reduced in an independent Scotland. Watch out for this claim, it will come.
Our taxes will be used against us as Scotland tries to get normality.
Many of our small neighbours in northern Europe never give their independent status a second thought as they are already normal.
Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Denmark are all normal countries with small populations.
None of them is clamouring to be governed by a big neighbour.
Jim McGugan.7 The Square,Letham,Angus.
In-fighting is a turn-off
Sir,-Is the public really enthralled by the endless detail about News International and the phone-hacking scandal (July 22)?
In my experience it is not the “talk of the steamie”. Compared to the outrage over MPs’ expenses just over two years ago, there’s very little discussion about it among ordinary folk.
Why? Because, on the expenses issue, people were rightly angry that their elected representatives seemed to begetting away with misdemeanours most ordinary mortals would either be prosecuted or sacked for.
By contrast the current controversy is just seen as the establishment Downing Street, the Murdoch empire, the Metropolitan Police fighting among itself.
What explains the desire to phone-hack? Simply the desire by sections of the tabloid press to get exclusive stories that the public will want to read.
What explains the close links between some of the political parties and the top people in newspapers? Simply the desire to keep on the right side of the press in the hope that it will sway large sections of voters at elections.
The illicit links between some journalists and the Metropolitan Police are more difficult to explain. It probably comes down again to mutual interest.
There is nothing new in all this. It’s the scale of it that has taken both press and parliament by surprise. I just hope that trying to sort it all out won’t lead to less freedom for the press and less respect for the public’s right to know.
Bob Taylor.24 Shiel Court,Glenrothes.
Not only Scots at bases
Sir,-The letter from C. Laing (July 22) about the base closures was such drivel I thought that it must be from a staff writer trying to get a debate going.
If not, does Laing know that the British Army does not only consist of English soldiers?
Also, the current incumbents of the bases are not just Scottish airmen.
The suggestion that Holyrood might be surrounded by tanks doesn’t even qualify for a response.
It all seems well spiced with Salmond’s anti-English rhetoric. Any connection?
R. Dunlop.Glenfarg,Perthshire.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.