Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, We have the City of Discovery. Can we please have the City of Freedom?
Those that will visit Dundee to see the new V&A will be experiencing a new Dundee a modern Dundee.
As they enter that area, the thought of those visitors walking freely through an area of statues of those who have also visited Dundee and went on to great freedom seems a strong one to me.
The V&A location at the waterfront was indeed an entry point to our city. Some of those who greatly influenced our freedom were not born in Dundee but were surely influenced by their time in the city.
Winston Churchill was MP for 14 years and was part of the government that introduced the old age pension. Churchill later also introduced unemployment benefit.
Was he influenced by his time in Dundee?
Mary Slessor and Mary Brooksbank were not born in Dundee but came to Dundee and achieved great things after being here.
William Wallace visited and was educated here.
The chartists found support from the people here. The Irish and Poles came and influenced the city. The Black Watch became Dundee’s regiment. Freedom was the result.
Dublin have empty bronze shoes to represent the lost and the people who left Ireland my idea of bronze freedom statues would represent those that visited our city and were influenced by our city when they stayed or left to achieve greater things.
That air of spiritual freedom from such statues would breathe into that large open horizon of the Tay.
Dundee was a radical city and freedom was the result of such activity. Our history often unknown is often how we and our visitors see us.
Graham Duncan.7 Downie Park Road,Dundee.
McTaggart not Wallace
Sir, Re Mr Campbell’s letter on a William Wallace statue in Dundee (Dundee minds on higher things, November 25).
As he was not born in Dundee but in Paisley, I would like to suggest Dundee Council take up John J Marshall’s idea of a statue to Dundee’s own Olympic gold medallist boxer Dick McTaggart.
He has been sadly ignored in Dundee with regard to sporting honours.
M. Campbell.St Mary’s Road,Dundee.
Can they be trusted?
Sir, After reading the articles on Dalgety Bay and Rosyth Naval Dockyard we must ask ourselves do we really want Fife to become a radioactive dump?
Rosyth has rusting hulks of nuclear submarines and the radiation at Dalgety Bay is alleged to come from old aircraft luminous dials (but may well prove to be from other sources).
Two factors are evident radiation and the Ministry of Defence. Both can be described as unstable, unreliable, untrustworthy and useless.
After almost 60 years the Ministry of Defence are still refusing to divulge the radiation levels ‘Service Human Guinea Pigs’ were forced to endure during the British nuclear tests thousands of miles away.
How can we trust them to make humanitarian decisions regarding nuclear waste on our own doorstep?
Dave Whyte.Blackcraigs,Kirkcaldy.
Radon gas a greater risk
Sir, Dave Dempsey’s fears of the possible harm caused to residents by the trace elements of radiation in Dalgety Bay fall under the theory of “black swan events”.
This is a metaphor developed by Nassim Taleb when discussing the disproportionate role of extremely unlikely but high-impact events on public decision making.
Marie Curie discovered radium and handled the element without any protection for many years and radium got the blame for her eventual death from aplastic anaemia.
This was certainly a ”high-impact” event for Marie but unless residents are about to eat large quantities of the foreshore I doubt it is sufficient reason for razing Dalgety Bay.
Anyway the risk from old watch dials is very much less than that to which residents of Aberdeen and Cornwall are exposed from naturally-occurring radon gas in their cellars.
(Dr) John Cameron.10 Howard Place,St Andrews.
Reopen library in the Inglis Hall
Sir, I read with amazement the article in today’s Courier (November 29), Angus Council’s latest bungles with the library service in Edzell.
The council say the mobile library has been withdrawn from service so that it can be prepared for handing back to the leasing company.
Any transport manager in the private sector who took an old vehicle out of service a month before the new one was ready to replace it would very soon be unemployed.
The spokesperson also said that library users have been encouraged to take out extra books and that they can borrow from any library in Angus.
Are they aware that very many of the residents of Edzell are elderly and infirm, do not drive and that books are heavy to carry?
Surely it would be better to reopen the library in the Inglis Hall and staff it on a part-time basis? Then there would be no need for new vans.
I would add that I was brought up in Edzell and was a frequent user of the library.
Eric G. Gray.23 Denburn Court,Brechin.
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.