This morning’s letters to The Courier editor discuss the pressures of modern life, Cupar traffic congestion, the right to refuse, Christianity, teacher strikes and the housing market.
Take time out to ease pressures of modern life Sir,-I am sure many of us have heard the maxim ‘early to bed, early to rise, makes one healthy and wise’. The way we are living today is the opposite and has caused us to become the ‘sick man’ of Europe.
I do suggest some presbyterian ways of dealing with the crisis. Bring back the Sabbath, where, more or less, everything closed down on Saturday at midnight and any drunks and other non-law abiders were questioned by the police and told to disappear before causing further trouble. The system seemed to work.
Neil Sinclair.New Fleurs,St Martins,Balbeggie.
Move Cupar war memorial
Sir,-When is Fife Council going to realise that the only complete answer to traffic congestion at the end of St Catherine Street in Cupar is a roundabout?
To achieve this, it would be imperative that the war memorial is removed.
The toilets in the park, which have been closed for several years, could be demolished to make way for a relocated war memorial.
Andy Pryde.Brandon,Ceres.
A matter of conscience
Sir,-I write with reference to the furore concerning boarding houses refusing accommodation to gay people.
The landlord of licensed premises can refuse to serve a potential customer without giving them any reason.
A landlord can advertise a flat for let only to non-smokers. Why, then, is it so terrible to refuse accommodation to a gay couple?
Is the government going to force Christians to act against their consciences to please a minority? The two world wars were fought to bring freedom to this country freedom of speech. But it seems to be no longer the case. Surely we have to be given moral freedom.
Leslie Morrison.10 Nursery Caravan Site,Brechin.
Liberating way of life
Sir,-I am becoming fed up with attacks on the Christian faith in the media. What is so frightening about the Christian faith and Christ’s teachings of love?
The Ten Commandments give excellent guidelines for society. People have fallen away from these principles and what a mess the country is in now. Lack of family values, greed, selfishness, materialism and irresponsible behaviour abound.
Christianity is a very personal faith and is not always easy to live up to but it can completely change lives.
Patricia Mayland.11 Sandeman Place, Luncarty.
Striking a blow for education
Sir,-John Montgomery (April 23) wrote of his brother “a teacher less militant you could not meet.”
Well, here’s one me.
I began my non-striking career as a 12-year-old Harris Academy pupil in Dundee at the tatties during the second world war.
I missed the bus one morning and, unaware that Harris pupils had been switched to another farm, I cycled to the farm near Coupar Angus to find myself working alongside pupils from another school.
All day long, these pupils went on strike for every reason under the sun the bits were too long and so on.
At the end of the day, although I had arrived more than an hour late, the farmer took me aside, gave me an extra half-crown, a fortune in those days, and asked me to persuade the Harris pupils to come back the next day.
I agree that teachers, or any workers, are being harshly treated if they lose pay because of silly decisions, first by the politically correct committees which decide whether planes should fly or not and by bosses who dock pay for reasons out of the control of employees. But strike action? No.
I continued working through several teacher strikes, mostly about pay and conditions.
Teachers should have been more concerned about the destruction of the once excellent Scottish education system.
When I began teaching in the 1960s, there was job satisfaction, although pay was relatively poor. Job satisfaction went and the strikes began after so many teachers either backed the ill-advised sweeping reforms or went along with them, as did their unions, or stood by and let it all happen, with little or no opposition.
Now we have the dreadful results, with low standards, our schools in chaos and even more drastic changes on the way. Losing pay because of a volcanic eruption pales by comparison with the damage our leaders have done to Scottish schools since 1945.
George K. McMillan.5 Mount Tabor Avenue,Perth.
Priced out of housing market
Sir,-With campaigning for the General Election now well under way, it is extremely worrying that none of the main parties has set out plans for correcting the fundamental constraint which remains on housing market recovery the availability and terms of mortgage finance.
Whatever the political colour of the next Westminster Government, it is vital that the major problems of the mortgage market (the quantum of funds available and the terms of borrowing) be tackled urgently.
While recent news on stamp duty relaxation may have been welcome, the full benefit of such a move cannot be felt when credit-worthy first-time buyers are still being expected to find deposits of up to 25%.
Jonathan Fair.Chief Executive,Homes for Scotland,5 New Mart Place,Edinburgh.