Sir, I am appalled at the fiasco that is the inquiry into historical child sexual abuse.
We have seen Fiona Woolf stepping down from leading the inquiry and Lady Butler Sloss doing the same, because their impartiality was questioned.
Surely it was a completely avoidable situation?
I, like many others, am asking the question: “Is it so difficult for the government to find someone independent to chair this inquiry?
How about someone non-establishment, perhaps somebody from a working class background with some real experience in life?
I feel desperately sorry for the victims, they need to find closure and some peace. As a country we failed them in the first place by allowing them to suffer the abuse and now we are failing them again by the mismanagement of an inquiry.
Theresa May should do the honourable thing and resign.
She promises a lot but delivers little.
Another question many people will probably be asking now is: “Is this a whitewash?”
Gordon Kennedy. 117 Simpson Square, Perth.
Why the need for rebels then?
Sir, The letter in yesterday’s Courier from Captain Ian F McRae gives me a feeling of deja vu. The very same letter was printed in The Courier quite a while back almost word for word.
My reply to Ian F McRae at that time has not changed. It was as follows. If the indigenous peoples of these unfortunate countries were so happy being ruled by the British Empire, why did they see the need for people like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi and others who were forced to rebel against this wonderful, benevolent British Empire?
The memory of the British Empire leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many people. I for one am glad to see the back of it. Maybe instead of living in the past on so-called glories we should be apologising to these ex-colonies on behalf of the British people.
T Tolland. East Park Cottage, Bradestone, Meigle.
Can he explain this paradox?
Sir, Councillor Bryan Poole was well warned by Fife Council officials when he proposed siting the replace-ment Madras College in the newly established St Andrews green belt that this would provoke staunch opposition.
Having ignored this warning he pushed ahead with this plan, despite the knowledge that at least one much more suitable site was available. He now purports to be surprised and hurt that his plan is now being opposed by a judicial review being initiated in the Court of Session.
Stranger still, three educationalists, who banded together as the St Andrews Environmental Protection Association (STEPAL) to exercise their democratic right to have this decision reviewed in the courts, are being blamed by Cllr Poole for delays in the delivery of the school.
An examination of the facts show that all delays to date have been caused by Fife Council putting forward, on several occasions, inadequate plans and then having to withdraw them.
Even so, Fife Council have already incurred an overspend of almost £3 million on the school before they have obtained planning consent a process which should pose no problems to the council which is both applicant and decision-maker in its own case.
The council has stated it is continuing with its detailed planning for the school and a delayed decision is now due in mid-December. On current form, there is no guarantee this date can be met.
As recently as October 17 Councillor Poole is quoted in The Courier as saying that “the council never suggested or implied that any delays were the fault of STEPAL”.
When it was pointed out to him that his officials were saying precisely the opposite, he was then quoted in The Courier, October 24, as saying: “Directors of STEPAL should be big enough to face up to the consequences arising from their action of lodging a judicial review, one of them being a delay in the provision of a new Madras”
Leaving aside the contradictions in Councillor Poole’s statements, it would be helpful if he could explain the apparent paradox in his position.
That is his statement that a judicial review (which is a legal part of due process in planning law), which is still to take place, rather than a whole series of avoidable mistakes and changes by the council, is responsible for a serious overspend and delays in taking the new school forward.
Bill Sangster. 24 Main Street, Strathkinness.
Lucky to have these hospitals
Sir, With the NHS holding such a high profile on television and in the press these days and crisis after crisis being highlighted it is indeed a pleasure to be able to thank the surgeons, doctors and nursing staff, both employees and agency, of ward three at Ninewells Hospital, for the very professional treatment I received recently.
During my short stay there every member of staff was whilst being extremely busy polite, courteous, attentive, friendly and efficient, always ready to help and always very cheerful.
I was very well treated and I am grateful to them all. We, who live within the catchment area of both Ninewells and Perth Royal Infirmary are indeed fortunate and should always remember that.
George Caithness Betty. 9 Cowden Way, Comrie.
Democracy in action
Sir , The referendum is past, the result not necessarily binding known. A practice of democracy. A full election would have been desirable, if constitutionally viable, with the result likely to have been the same.
Would the “indy” people please now go away, back to their proper jobs.
Referring to Jennifer Dempsie’s article (October 30) there are some correct-ions to be made.
Although not a supporter, I would say that UKIP is not “isolationist and anti- European” but anti-EU as it presently exists and operates, becoming more suffocating with its endless production of “regulations” and demands for cash from its member states.
UKIP seems to have no problems with Norway, Greenland, Switzerland or Albania. Nor any other European states individ-ually. For trade, tourism, defence arrangements and other agreed activities.
If the UK Parliament, with its Scottish MPs votes to have a referendum on continued EU membership, then so be it. Scotland is part of that UK.
1707 may well have been a bit “iffy” but we benefited from it then (Scotland’s national debt cleared by Westminster for example) and have remained part of a constitutional monarchy not a republic federal or otherwise with different voting systems, since.
How can Nicola Sturgeon claim democratic beliefs, if she thinks she can refuse to accept democratically made decisions from our elected central government in Westminster which she disagrees with?
If her reasoning is to be accepted, how are we, the majority, to be protected from her and any other secessionist or dissenting people or organisations? Where would democracy lie?
Many would consider this a matter for concern if not actually frightening.
The Greenland example is an inversion. Possibly that will have allowed Denmark to negotiate lower EU subscriptions. Why did Greenland opt out of the EU? Interestingly, Jennifer omits to tell us.
An opted-in Scotland, without the rest of the UK declaring itself to be oil and gas rich, would find itself being “hammered” for cash, just as the UK is now.
Finally, it would never be for the EU to “make” Scotland independent.
A T Geddie. 68 Carleton Avenue, Glenrothes.
‘Doggy bags’ still free
Sir, With regards to letters concerning the supposed 5p charge for dog waste bags, I can advise these will remain free of charge, despite the introduction of the charge for carrier bags at shops.
We are in the process of making sure every place that distributes the bags is made aware of the situation.
The free bags have been an important element in our ongoing campaign to keep our streets tidy.
I would like to thank the vast majority of Dundee dog owners who clean up after their pets. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the continuation of the free bag scheme.
Cllr Craig Melville. Convener of Dundee City Council’s Environment Committee.
Who will cover cost of excesses?
Sir, Gordon Brown may have his father’s moral compass but his ability to slip something toxic into what appeared on the surface a good idea is one of his least attractive traits. His idiotic timetable for the delivery of a raft of increasingly complex devolutionary powers has made many of us wish he had remained in purdah last September.
Like many unionists I am not opposed to extra powers such as provincial air passenger duty, but more devolution within Scotland is of much greater importance.
In addition Holyrood’s lack of scrutiny under the SNP was a scandal, a Scottish Office of Budget Responsibility is essential and a celtic rate of income tax is a can of worms.
Above all, with fewer than 15,000 people likely to pay the top rate of income tax, who is going to cover the £5 billion worth of excesses promised by Nicola Sturgeon?
Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
First language figures decline
Sir, Mr Robert Cairns is right to take me to task for the figures I used in my Welsh language comparison (letters, November 3).
I’m afraid the passage of time deceived me and my “50 years or so” was a bit too woolly!
I was, fact, going back nearer 70 years, to when a nine-year-old girl in my class, who spoke nothing but Welsh at home (the one native Welsh speaker I referred to), was taken to have her mouth washed out with soap and water for forgetting herself enough to speak it in school (not everything in “How Green Was My Valley” was fiction).
I was called a “dirty little Welshie” when I moved to Cardiff from the valley (by my teacher, not my fellow pupils) and when I opted to learn Welsh in grammar school found that it was only taught on Saturday mornings.
No doubt there are those in Scotland with similar stories.
I suspect the Welsh speaker figures he quotes are, in fact, those who speak it as a first language, rather than those who simply can speak Welsh, and reflect, as in our own Highlands and Islands, the movement of incomers to the area and the movement of young people out of it.
I think perhaps the figures for those in England who speak English as a first language would show a similar decline.
Laurie Richards. 100 Crail Road, Cellardyke.
Nicola should pull the plug on this
Sir, Scepticism has greeted the publication of the development blueprint for the regeneration of Prestwick Airport. The flights from Prestwick are only one a day whereas Glasgow has 100.
There is even the suggestion that Prestwick could become the UK’s first spaceport which is unfortunate in view of the Virgin Galactic crash in California.
The Scottish Government, or should we say the SNP, bought Prestwick for £1 and they have already loaned £15 million with another £10 million to be released in 2015.
Edinburgh airport chief executive, Gordon Dewar, summed it up admirably saying that the recovery plan was “not credible” and that millions were being spent to support a “failing business” with “little prospect of success”.
So this is £25 million of taxpayers’ money going down the drain.
Time for Nicola Sturgeon to shake off her mentor’s discredited hand and stamp her own authority by pulling the Prestwick plug.
Clark Cross. 138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
What about our home news?
Sir, Channel 4 News is increasingly obsessed with the fate of people in faraway lands, to the extent that home news, or news from the Commonwealth, is now nearly non-existent.
The EU and its ramshackle affairs is also glossed over. Is this bias anything to do with Channel 4 sources of funding, one wonders?
Malcolm Parkin. 15 Gamekeepers Road, Kinnesswood, Kinross.