Sir, – I was horrified to read (August 6) that Dundee University will be educating Chinese students in the health sector.
In my opinion, university principal Sir Pete Downes should be banning all Chinese students from studying at Dundee University for the simple reason that we are fighting a major elephant poaching epidemic in Africa that is directly fuelled by the Chinese lust for ivory products.
The emerging middle class Chinese person is demanding ivory products because in China, ivory is a status symbol.
As a result, elephants are being massacred at an unprecedented scale of 94 per day to meet Chinese demand.
Organisations throughout the world have asked China to shut down its ivory-carving businesses but China refuses, stating that it is part of its heritage.
But it is the rest of the world’s heritage, the African elephants, that are being put at risk.
Experts reckon that within 10 years time the African elephant will become extinct in the wild, all thanks to the China’s actions.
I hope Sir Pete will reconsider allowing Dundee University to educate Chinese students.
If Scotland bans Chinese students, then the Chinese will hopefully get the message that they need to close down all their ivory-carving businesses.
Kelda Lang. 12 McCullum Court, Dunbeg Oban.
Beavers not to blame for flood
Sir, – Two friends and I paddled the River Ericht on July 17 from Blairgowrie to the Isla Brig at Coupar Angus. We are all competent canoeists.
I took the trouble to print out a graph of the river level rising.
I know the Ericht is not the Alyth Burn but they have a similar catchment area.
At 6am the gauge reading was 0.7 metres ; 7am 1.4 metres; 8am 1.9 metres; 9am 2.2 metres; 10am 2.5 metres; 11am 2.7 metres and finally, noon 2.8 metres.
That is a rise of more than two metres, or nearly 13 feet in old money.
Water does not compress. When it reaches a confined channel it rises dramatically and floods.
Look at the figures for the first two to three hours again. Had you been watching, you would have seen the river rising before your eyes.
The obstructions I saw when recently in Alyth Den may have played a contributory factor but they were man made or at least man ignored. Beavers? Someone is grinding the wrong axe.
Tony Cook. Muir of Lownie, Kingsmuir.
Responsibilities of owning a dog
Sir, – I refer to Barbara Sturrock’s letter (August 8) in which she paints an idealistic view of dog ownership. Surely she must know that every year, hundreds of people are attacked by dogs, resulting in people having to seek hospital treatment.
There is also the problem with owners failing to clear up dog mess. Children coming into contact with this can develop health problems.
I am a dog lover but recognise there are serious issues associated with ownership.
Alex McLaren. Rosslyn Cottage, Cairneyhill, Bankfoot.
Time to reform House of Lords
Sir, – Why do we tolerate a House of Lords of almost 800 people?
If peers turn up every day at the House of Lords they can earn £48,000 a year.
The United States of America has a population of about 300 million people and has a second house of only 100 democratically elected senators, two for each state.
We have 800 overpaid peers for a population of about 60 million people.
Let us have a referendum if see if taxpayers will agree to the continuation of this long outdated system.
We are lectured on the importance of democracy, yet we have an unelected upper chamber and an unelected head of state.
Alister Rankin. 93 Whyterose Terrace, Methil.
Sturgeon can teach Corbyn
Sir, – If Jeremy Corbyn becomes Labour leader, there is much he can learn from Nicola Sturgeon about achieving electoral success.
They share a common challenge in that their core supporters are more radical than the electorate.
Mr Corbyn’s “traditional Labour” stance plays well with the party faithful though seems too left-wing for most UK voters.
SNP members demand another independence referendum but most Scots are tired of constitutional bickering, plus opinion polls show we will again reject separation.
Ms Sturgeon walks on water while Labour is in the doldrums.
So what can she teach Mr Corbyn?
Firstly, Mr Corbyn, in the run-up to the next General Election, must abandon fundamental principles and campaign on whatever platform will most appeal to the electorate.
Ms Sturgeon demonstrated this tactic perfectly at the election, campaigning on an emphatically non-constitutional, exclusively anti-austerity platform and secured 95% of Scottish Westminster seats.
But, once Mr Corbyn wins, he must immediately reassure party members with soothing radical rhetoric, as Ms Sturgeon promptly did after her success in May, threatening another referendum if Westminster didn’t cave in to her every demand.
Then, over subsequent months, Mr Corbyn needs to dispense carefully choreographed contradictory messages, to appease both party faithful and the wider electorate.
Ms Sturgeon again reliably provides a precedent: supposedly renegade nationalist MPs daily inform us another referendum is imminent whereas Ms Sturgeon now vaguely implies a post-2020 date for any vote.
Finally, Mr Corbyn must attract wealthy lottery winners, appoint numerous taxpayer-funded spin doctors and regularly employ silver bullet soundbites.
Only then will he truly emulate Ms Sturgeon’s success.
Martin Redfern. 4 Royal Circus, Edinburgh.
Remember our service people
Sir, – Much is being made at the moment about remembering the atomic bombs which were dropped on Japan during the Second World War.
While the outcome of these bombs resulted in an enormous loss of life, we must not forget the appalling cruelty and inhumanity shown to our servicemen in Burma and the Far East by the Japanese.
In a recent television programme, a British soldier recalled how a Japanese soldier threw a whole can of creosote over him, resulting in the most terrible injuries.
He finished up in a Singapore hospital where a group of Japanese soldiers burst into his ward and bayoneted many staff and patients to death.
He was only spared because, with his blood-soaked body, they thought he was already dead.
We must remember our own wartime casualties as well as those of other countries.
James Grahame. 2 Panmure Street, Monifieth.