Sir, – Around 25 years ago, the farming press was alive with the prospect of proposed changes to the Common Agricultural Policy.
Those changes, it was said then, would lead to a massive reduction in cultivated land in the UK.
But the EU decided to postpone those changes and to allow time for all farmers to prepare.
The advice to farmers then was to diversify and to combine into bigger holdings to get costs down or face ruin.
The motivation then is much the same as farmers are now facing.
As the farming industry in the central and eastern nations of the EU were expected to catch-up with the efficiency of UK farms, the competitive pressures would bear down hard on our less productive farms. This is now coming to pass.
None of us is immune from competition from other low-cost producers.
That has applied to our textiles, ship-building, coal-mining and steel industries.
Each industry has suffered severe competition and inevitable closures and unemployment.
There is no way any of those industries was ever able to resist international competitors.
Neither the UK nor Scotland has the economic levers that can do anything other than ease the changes a little.
Simply because farming has much supporting sentiment, it is likely that changes in market prices and the squeeze on farm incomes may be more gradual than in other of our traditional industries.
Prudent farmers are making plans to diversify or combine with others to secure economies of scale, where those are possible.
Looking for long-term government support from either Holyrood or Westminster to overcome competitive pressures is not realistic.
The decline of marginal farming lands in Europe is now inevitable.
Andrew Dundas. 34 Ross Avenue, Perth.
Secularists fear diversity
Sir, – Gary Otton of the Scottish Secular Society (September 10) is afraid.
He fears that religious groups have representatives on the local education committees.
He fears that children should be educated according to what their parents want.
He fears that religious proselytising is taking place in schools.
He fears that religious people are not paying their taxes.
He fears that millions are being handed out in government grants to religious organisations.
But like much of the fear mongering of the atheistic secularists, his fears are misplaced.
They are simply the ignorance and prejudices which are used to blame the bogeyman of religion for all of humanity’s ills.
Most people think it is a great idea that parents should have a say in their own children’s education and would not like our children to be left to the indoctrination of the atheistic secularists.
Given that so many schools have a religious ethos, it is a great idea that representatives of the churches which are so involved in education should be included on education committees.
Religious proselytising is not taking place in state schools, however, there are considerable attempts by the humanists and secularists to ensure that only their doctrines are taught and that our children are the recipients of their social engineering.
Religious people pay the same taxes as everyone else. We get no exemptions. Not a penny is handed out to religious organisations to enable them to spread their faith.
On the other hand, the government does see the value in the great work that many religious groups do, at no cost to the state, and so sometimes they support them.
The Trussell Trust feeds tens of thousands through their foodbanks. Is this what the SSS are objecting to?
Perhaps they should be more concerned about groups such as the Equality Network, a government-funded organisation who are holding a dinner for hundreds for the LGBTI awards in a posh hotel in Glasgow.
The tiny Scottish Secular Society and the Scottish Humanists are afraid that anyone would dare to think, speak or behave differently from them. Little wonder that Alex Salmond prefers people of faith.
David A. Robertson. St Peter’s Free Church, 4 St Peter Street, Dundee.
Remember our own history
Sir, – How many refugees should we allow into Britain? I can look back to 1938-45 and recall the Britons who left our shores for safety and better lives in the USA, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Kenya, India and other British colonies.
None of these fleeing refugees had to worry about permission to enter the countries they chose.
Tom Black. 83 Lawside Road, Dundee.
Save innocence of children
Sir, – I think it is scandalous that sex education is being given to younger and younger children.
These children risk losing their innocence.
If I had any children I would opt for home schooling.
Mrs J. Taylor. 25 Nimmo Place, Perth.
A time for compassion
Sir, – I would like to respond to A T Geddie’s letter (September 7).
Mr Geddie questions why Abdullah Kurdi took the bodies of his two sons and his wife back to Kobane in Syria to bury.
He suggests that this proves that Syria is not a dangerous place after all.
I find that attitude to be shameful and totally lacking in empathy.
Perhaps Mr Geddie should look at the before and after pictures of Kobane.
The city now looks very much like Hiroshima after the nuclear bomb had destroyed it.
Mr Geddie also criticises the fact that Syrian refugees refuse to cooperate with the Hungarian authorities.
Can I suggest that when he has finished looking at the Kobane pictures that he looks at the many reports that show the reality of what is happening in Hungary away from the cameras.
I suggest that he looks at the record of the Hungarian government when it comes to minorities.
I used to wonder how the world could sit back and allow the murder by the Nazis of so many millions of innocent people. I now see that there are a great many people who do not want to see the reality of what is happening.
Harry Key. 20 Mid Street, Largoward.
Make migrants join military
Sir, – With Europe being flooded with refugees fleeing conflicts within their own countries, is it not worth considering what they could do to help themselves instead of becoming part of an EU problem with mass immigration?
Having watched the news, I have yet to see a single person who looks as if they have suffered under any regime. They all look well-fed, dressed and have mobile phones, and have paid thousands of pounds to be transported to the EU.
These are not the actions of people under persecution and the comparison to the plight of those who were being persecuted by the Nazis is wrong.
These are economic migrants.
With the Government telling parliament that they may consider ground troops, I would suggest that perhaps any person from any of these countries that they are fleeing who enters the European Union be made to take part inmilitary training so that they can be deployed back into their own countries to fight ISIL.
Why should British troops be expected to fight for them when they are sitting comfortable in a safe country.
Why not make it a condition of entry to do a type of national service and, if they refuse, then return them to their country of origin?
I find it incredible that opposition parties wish to make a big fuss over the killing of two ISIL terrorists.
When they left the UK they renounced their rights to be called British citizens.
Alastair McLean. Ar Tigh Ceither, 4 Fletcher Place, Crieff.
Why so many Madras buses?
Sir, – I write in reply to Gordon Dilworth (September 9) who commented on my letter regarding the number of bus movements to the new Madras College.
Mr Sangster, in his letter, implied 72 buses.
He did not state if this was the daily total of bus movements during the day or if it was the number required in the morning and the same again at the end of the school day.
If it was the total number for the day; that would imply 36 buses in the morning and the same at night which still seems to be an excessive number of buses.
Are there any schools in the area served by so many buses?
Colin Topping. Crathes Close, Glenrothes.