Today’s correspondents discuss the NHS, smoking at Ninewells Hospital, our reliance on the car, the Middle East, and the Labour Party.
Parking problems don’t invalidate NHS ideal
Sir,-I read with despair Dr John Cameron’s attempt to extrapolate an attack on the NHS as a whole from a local problem over parking at Ninewells Hospital.
He appears to believe that a nationalised health service free at the point of care is a poor substitute for the 19th century ideals of patronage and self-help that underpinned the system it replaced.
However, it was the abject failure of that antiquated system to provide a health service worthy of the name for anyone but the most wealthy that made the NHS a necessity.
It has proved itself a great success with national outcomes in terms of treatment and patient survival in the UK out-stripping the US. This is despite the average Briton paying less than half the sum the average American has to pay.
Far from improving the NHS, private sector ideology is threatening to destroy this cost-effective system. While the wealthy may benefit from this financially in a minor way, the vast majority will truly suffer.
Ironically, the problem with car parking at Ninewells is a result of governments dabbling in private sector ideologies.
The arbitrary imposition of capital charges for all NHS premises to make them behave like private businesses led to the closure of many clinics and local hospitals with the centralisation of services on the Ninewells site.
That process continues to this day and we can expect parking to get much worse despite Ninewells having one of the largest car parks in Scotland. I fail to see how privatisation would help.
Stuart Allan.8 Nelson Street,Dundee.
Poor response from smoker
Sir,-Mrs Irene Thomson says she wishes she’d had the courage to remind smokers at Ninewells Hospital entrance to take heed of the recorded messages to refrain from smoking.
I took the bull by the horns one day and asked a man if he couldn’t read, as he was standing right in front of a no-smoking sign.
I was given an extremely rude answer, asking what it had to do with me. When I replied it was me who had to walk through the smoke I was rewarded with another expletive-ridden answer.
On entering Ninewells I approached the front desk and asked one of the receptionists if security could be called to deal with the smoker at the entrance. I was reliably informed security do not bother any more asking smokers to refrain as they are only given a mouthful.
It is obviously up to the public to tell smokers off who continue to flout the rules and suffer their rudeness. Can the NHS chief executive please explain why security do not have a higher profile at the entrance, as surely this would have an effect on smokers congregating?
I have even seen a lady take one of the wheelchairs and smoke a cigarette at the bottom of the car park steps.
(Mrs) Jill Orchard.Bell Street,Tayport.
We’re slaves to our cars
Sir,-The present whirlwind of unrest in the Middle East can only exacerbate the fuel price crisis. Although we are being told that “we are all in it together”, spiralling fuel costs do impact on some a lot more than others.
In the bad old days, if you lived close to your school, workplace, or shops, you would walk there … no questions asked.
How things have changed. Nowadays, on reaching the age of 17, car ownership is almost obligatory for those who can afford it. And from there on, life revolves around the car.
When you work out what it costs to keep, maintain and fuel a car, the price is frightening. Yet no matter how much it costs, it seems we cannot do without it.
And when you consider the revenue we pay the taxman, it’s no wonder that central government has no wish to cull this sacred cow.
Bob Smart.55 Bellevue Gardens,Arbroath.
More at stake than cheap oil
Sir,-Scottish education should be indebted to Andrew Lawson (letters, February 19) for his revisionist history of Hitler’s rise to power. Rather than study the period 1918-1933 before answering an exam question, pupils now need only use the one-word answer: ‘Democracy’ when expounding on the reasons behind Hitler’s success.
I am unsure whether Mr Lawson’s views are racist or Islamophobic, but the assertion that many of the protesters in Egypt reject democracy as they see it as man-made assumes the implementation of Sharia law and religious motivation behind the protestations, something not borne out by any commentator, including those living in Egypt.
Only about 5.5% of the world’s oil passes through Suez, so Mr Lawson’s supplies are not at risk.
In any case, anyone can see his principle exposed for what it is — a tawdry attempt to raise self-interest to the level of a moral code, whereas the two are opposites. Subjugation of a people is OK with him as long as he can have his cheap oil.
Steve Dron.Muirfield Crescent, Dundee.
Labour has lost moral compass
Sir,-It is interesting to note what Labour in Fife and Scotland stands for, and I thought I would list their priorities to show how Labour stands up for the Scottish working person:
1) Increasing council tax, 2) Cutting health spending in real terms, 3) Restoring university tuition fees in the form of a graduate contribution, 4) Stuffing more people in jail who shouldn’t be there, 5) Protecting supermarkets from proper taxation.
Oh, and jobs of course — theirs!
Matthew Lingard.62 Grampian Road,Rosyth.
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