Sir, The editorial in Monday’s Courier responds to the “sex implant” article with the banal mantra of “more sex education”.
Anyone who has watched the Living and Growing programme that is fed year after year to primary school children in Dundee will know that sex education is teaching children to have sex.
To pick just one of the programme’s many problematic aspects, Living and Growing teaches children that the correct context for sex is between people in a long-term relationship.
For 13-year-olds, a long- term relationship can be anything that has lasted more than a week.
More sex education has been tried time and again it was the answer to teenage pregnancy, abortion and STIs from the last Labour government and the answer from the Tory government before them.
If the goal is to stop children having sex, then sex education of the current style isn’t the answer.
Clare McGraw. 12a Castle Terrace, Broughty Ferry, Dundee.
Consequences for councillors?
Sir, I read in The Courier recently that more than 3,300 council and housing association tenants in Dundee will be affected by changes being made to housing benefit. I also read in the same paper that Dundee City Council tenants who claim housing benefit and who will be affected by the bedroom tax will not be evicted if it forces them to fall behind with their rent.
One wonders if this new policy (not to evict tenants for non-payment of the bedroom tax) is a very noble gesture by these SNP councillors or merely a ploy to try to win favour with voters prior to the forthcoming referendum?
As I understand it the Government in Westminster still determines policy, (in this case the bedroom tax), which all local councils are legally required to implement.
The 16 Dundee SNP councillors clearly have no intention whatsoever of implementing the bedroom tax. I hope for their own sakes these 16 councillors realise the enormity of what they are doing because I believe it may be possible that, ultimately, these 16 councillors can be personally surcharged for any loss of rent to Dundee City Council caused by their policy.
I recall Derek Hatton, (the former Deputy Leader of Liverpool Council), coming to national prominence when he and 46 other Liverpool councillors showed that some councillors in Liverpool were prepared to stand up and be counted despite terrible financial consequences to themselves when they took on Mrs Thatcher in 1984.
Mr Hatton and the other 46 put themselves on the line when they were surcharged £106,000 each and banned from office by the House of Lords.
I very much doubt if any single one of the 16 SNP councillors in Dundee who voted the way they did last week would have voted that way if they knew they would face the same consequences as the “Liverpool 47”.
I also fear for Dundee tenants subjected to the bedroom tax if they are silly enough to listen to the SNP and fail to pay the tax because they will end up with substantial rent arrears and would still be liable to be evicted once the SNP are booted out of Dundee, (if not sooner).
Kenneth Brannan. 42 Greenlee Drive, Dundee.
Lack of signage and advice
Sir, I refer to the letter from David Cruickshanks (March 25), Leave that ivory tower. I travelled the route mentioned in it on October 10 last year to carry out tree pruning and hedge trimming work at a property on the Rosyth side of the works.
I was not made aware of a road closure and no diversion signs were evident. I approached the security fence but a member of staff there could not direct me to an alternative route.
A dog walker in the park opposite advised me of a route through Dunfermline.
I totally agree with David Cruickshanks comments that the councillors involved are seen in a blaze of publicity when projects go well,but nowhere to be seen if these projects run over budget and are years behind schedule as with this project.
Ian Robertson. Station Road, Crook of Devon, Kinross.
Popular venue now a mess
Sir, In past times the Den O’ Mains in Caird Park would have been crowded with families having their Easter picnic there.
It is perhaps fortunate that even if the weather was warmer it is no longer such a popular venue.
While it is still a beautiful place with abundant wildlife, the park is sadly neglected. Paths are rutted and muddy and obstructed by fallen trees.
The only rubbish bin in Caird Park, apart from on the golf course is at the car park by Mains Castle.
This is only emptied sporadically and is usually overflowing.
There are no rubbish bins whatsoever near the football pitches.
However, the main issue now is a major health risk.
For a while there has been a faint smell from the water flowing through the Den but now there is obvious raw sewage with a trail of sludge and scum all the way down the Gelly Burn from Old Glamis Road and through the ponds.
Parents would be well advised to discourage their children from playing there for some time.
John Richmond. 12 Shamrock Street, Dundee.