Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – Here we go again, as Fife’s present Chief Constable, in the article in The Courier (Friday, August 3), confirmed, the present system of recording crimes began in 2004. It is obvious from her statement in the article that this system is not recording all crimes, but only those falling within the system. As a retired police officer, I take offence at statements such as these, which seem to indicate that the present establishment is performing in a superior manner to those such as myself. At least in my day, we recorded all crimes and if we had not, we would have been subject to disciplinary proceedings. We were also encouraged to engage with the public and get to know those who lived in our respective beats. I can certainly vouch for the present so-called community officers having very little engagement with the public. This is evidenced by their repeated failure to attend meetings and on other occasions cancelling such meetings at the last minute. The current system of local officers is only a public relations excercise. What surprises me is that politicians, both local and national, give the impression that they believe these less than truthful crime figures.
Allan Murray. 44 Napier Road, Glenrothes.
Forget politics and just enjoy the sport
Sir, ““ It is deeply disappointing to note those who have sought to make political capital out of the success of Team GB at the London Olympics. The independence debate has another two years to run and for those in favour will lead to greater economic growth, the ability to tackle social deprivation and the removal of Trident from our shores. The notion that people will somehow make a judgement on independence based on how many gold, silver and bronze medals could be achieved at an Olympics Games is patent nonsense. This week Jamaica celebrates 50 years of independence from the UK, and one wonders if Usain Bolt and his colleagues would surrender that precious independence and become part of the British Empire again so it could be part of a bigger entity in order to deliver more medals. The independence referendum will take place in autumn 2014 and it would be great if we could put the politics momentarily to the side and enjoy the fantastic sport.
Alex Orr.Flat 2, 77 Leamington Terrace, Edinburgh.
Scotland will be destroyed
Sir, ““ What is the point of having the costly governmental department Scottish Natural Heritage, which supports the destruction of our landscape by constantly coming out on the side of wind farm developers? The Grampian foothills and the Sidlaw range are the nesting grounds of larks, pipits, whinchat, stonechat, snipe, curlew and many more birds that are becoming rarer in Angus. Scottish Natural Heritage gets round the question of the visual impact of wind farms by saying they would not impact on the lives of those living near to them. Well, I for one don”t need SNH to speak for me: wind farms are a blight on the landscape, they destroy the natural environment and they will destroy Scotland if Alex”s mad dream is fulfilled.
George Donaldson. 48 St Ninian”s Road, Padanaram, Forfar.
Wrong people punished
Sir, ““ In all the recent discussion about banking there seems to be no mention of the fact that by fining Barclays and earlier the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Financial Services Authority punishes the shareholders, who are in no way responsible, not those at fault. Surely someone is in a position to reverse such a serious injustice involving so many people: those with shares in RBS have already lost dividends for four years. If the FSA do not understand the effects of their actions, perhaps they should resign and be replaced by others more competent.
Malby Goodman. 70 High Street, Aberdour.
Carrier bag fee is necessary
Sir, ““ In The Courier a representative of CBI Scotland is complaining that the Scottish Government is considering introducing a charge on carrier bags. My response to that is: please ignore the CBI and introduce a charge, Wales and Ireland already have a charge so there are already two test runs from which we can learn. Plastic bags are to be found littering almost every roadside, they wash up on beaches and generally add to the amount of litter in our towns. In addition to their appearance they cause damage to wildlife by getting into the food chain and may break into smaller sections but are not biodegradeable. A final point is that they are made from oil which is not unlimited and this is a waste of a finite resource.
Robert Potter. 16R Brown Street, Dundee.
Could not agree more
Sir, – Congratulations to Robin Valentine (Letters, August 3), I could not agree more! I have been saying for ages that Perth should have a central tourist information office. St Andrews has a splendid refurbished one in the middle of the town. I totally agree with all the points made by Robin about Perth City Hall.
Isabel Wardrop.111 Viewlands Road West, Perth.