Today: parking problems at Ninewells Hospital, the banks bail-out, early electioneering, and religious philosophy.
Heartbreak trek because of Ninewells parking
Sir,-After reading about the problems the public is having parking at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, I thought I would relate my experience.
My mother was recently admitted to Ninewells and diagnosed with terminal cancer. Six days later, I was phoned about 1pm because she was deteriorating quickly and I was advised to come to the hospital.
When I got there, I drove twice around all the car parks but they were full with huge queues of cars waiting to access.
I drove to the foot of Ninewells Avenue and found a space near the roundabout at the entrance to accident and emergency.
It was a very long walk to get back to the hospital and I worried that I was going to be too late to say farewell to my mother.
You can imagine how distraught I was but thankfully I managed to be with her when she passed away hours later. I then had to make a extremely sad return trek to my car.
I appreciate that patients are distressed at the difficulties they are having trying to park for their hospital appointments and hope that nobody has to experience the traumatic problems I had at such a stressful time.
(Mrs) Linda J. Renwick.Craigievar,91 Dalhousie Road,Broughty Ferry.
Put squeeze on wealthy bankers
Sir,- Just when I thought that all newspapers agreed that Gordon Brown and the last government were responsible for everything from the fiscal deficit to eggs not boiling in three minutes, I find a gem from David Clegg in Political Diary (February 12).
He says that the bankers did “nearly destroy the global economy … and are largely to blame for the mess we are in…” So there it is. Thank you David.
What did frighten me though was the first televised speech last year when George Osborne laid down his strategy in the Commons and the Tory backwoodsmen bayed like wolves when he announced the onslaught on the poor.
It’s a return to laissez faire economics where anything will be acceptable to those who still favour children up chimneys with big brushes.
The Tories are following an ideology for its own sake and will run this country into the ground.
The greed here is not now from the unions but from shareholders who expect their income to increase every year. Action is now needed on the banks to start lending. Lend or be nationalised. That’s the threat that should be held over them.
Bailing out the banks cost this country £892 billion — from the taxpayers. Let’s have that back and there will be no deficit.
K. J. MacDougall.3 Logie Avenue,Dundee.
Neglect of Tayport street
Sir,-I have just received the first of the brochures for the May Holyrood election.
This early start was from North-East Fife MSP Iain Smith. Cover to cover it is full of self-promotion and praise.
If Mr Smith or his Westminster colleague ever visit this neck of the woods, it must be under cover of darkness.
If either of them grace Tayport with their presence, they should be vigilant walking or driving in Maitland Street in case they disappear down one of the many craters.
R. H. L. Mulheron.28 Cowgate,Tayport.
Mankind’s core values
Sir,-There are many things in which I do not believe — fairies, that the price of fuel is going to fall and that Scotland will ever win another Grand Slam.
There are many who share the same views, but, individually or collectively, we would not describe these as faiths. My lack of belief in a god is no different.
Atheism is the rejection of belief in deities and fails any test that attempts to prove it is a faith.
There is no ideology or set of behaviours to which atheists adhere, unlike Christianity or Islam.
My lack of belief in no way influences my life, other than freeing me from the suffocating hand of religion.
It is a fallacy to talk of extreme atheism, as John Montgomery does (February 15).
There cannot be degrees of non-belief, whereas belief can offer an incomprehensibly wide range of possibilities.
I doubt if Stalin or Pol Pot even briefly considered their lack of belief as motivation or justification for their abominations.
Nor can the absence of an atheistic ideology or set of standards or behaviours be used to explain such inhumanity, for, with the to-be-expected exceptions, we live normal lives according to shared core beliefs and values, just as the majority of Christians do.
Murray Duncan.100 Craigie Road,Perth.
Dogma put before pupils
Sir,-Stephen Moreton (February 12) in his disapproval of faith schools grasps the opportunity to denigrate religion as delusional, superstition-based and subversive and calls for the “right of children to an unbiased education free from indoctrination”.
His hints at Islamic extremism muddy the waters. True adherents of all major religions are respectful to others.
The decline of religious teachings of traditional values in schools and families can be traced to a corresponding increase in incidents of aggression towards parents and teachers.
Serious crimes by children against children are on the increase.
The “rights” agenda is now being directed at our classrooms and attempts are systematically being made to elbow parents out.
It goes far beyond fostering tolerance, equality and fairness and is more to do with promoting political agendas and questionable lifestyle choices than concern about the well-being of our children.
Sylvia Brown.9 Beech Avenue,Ladybank.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.