Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir,-The allegations by Gordon Brown regarding News International would find sympathy with any decent person.
However, one does have to question why, if he felt so strongly about this intrusion into his privacy, did he then accept an invitation to attend the wedding of Rebekah Wade (now Brooks) the head of the organisation that caused him such distress?
The answer is simple. Gordon Brown was content to put up with the indignity being heaped on him and his family by the bullying executive and journalists from News International because he hoped to have them backing him in a future general election.
It was okay when they were on Gordon’s side, but now they cannot help him become Prime Minister we hear him break his purdah and condemn them.
If Gordon Brown had spoken out publicly against News International and the bully Brooks when she threatened to run the story on his son’s medical condition there wouldn’t have been a person in this country who would not have backed him.
If he had done so he would have demonstrated the prime ministerial qualities that the people would have voted for.
He didn’t; we didn’t.
Tom Minogue.94 Victoria Terrace,Dunfermline.
King Canute impressions
Sir,-One of today’s great hypocrisies is that those making a fortune out of the renewables farrago are presented as environmental idealists working selflessly for a greener planet.
Yet anyone daring to ask if the good done by these loathsome wind farms may not be outweighed by the harm done to the countryside is dismissed as an ignorant ‘Nimby’.
Al Gore will soon be the first carbon billionaire and Prince Charles will earn almost as much from off-shore turbines sitting in British (Crown Estate owned) territorial waters.
One fifth of the EU’s monstrous budget is to be spent doing King Canute impressions and “fighting climate change” the greatest European mass delusion since the tulip mania.
It is hardly surprising the emerging economies of Asia refuse to allow their economic growth to be curbed by what they rightly consider a foolish Western affectation.
(Dr) John Cameron.10 Howard Place,St Andrews.
Denial of the facts
Sir,-Maureen Black writes (Letters July 11) of lack of support for our troops. The troops defend us against the Islamists of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. And thereby hangs a tale…
Hamas governs Gaza and is as Islamist as al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Based on biased reports local politicial leaders called for a boycott of Israeli goods and would join a ‘humanitarian’ flotilla to break the legal blockade of weapons materials to Gaza.
Since it is inconceivable that Hamas is not involved in the flotilla planning, have the politicians been conned into supporting the Islamists of Hamas?
It is also inconceivable that local democratic politicians would openly support Islamist terrorism.
But the flag of the Palestinians, constitutionally and religiously dedicated to reject peace and destroy Israel, flies in Dundee. We are twinned with Nablus where there was dancing in the streets when 3000 innocents were murdered as the Twin Towers came down. Nablus, known for its child suicide bombers, has a fan club here. Dundee has ‘democratic’ councillors acting in support of Hamas as it tries to destroy the only genuine democracy in the Middle East.
We make virtual heroes out of ‘flotilliars’ and defend the murder of the Fogel family and the beheading of a months-old child by two teenagers with an Islamist mindset who “did it for ‘Palestine'”. We can display symbolic coffins in the City Square, but none for Jews.
We promote anti-semitism, obfuscate via anti-Zionism, and call it humanitarianism.
Such denial of the facts are set to continue and Maureen Black will again see our troops undervalued for the simple reason that Islamists are in control for the time being.
Andrew Lawson.9 MacLaren Gardens,Dundee.
Please check those mirrors
Sir,-I would like to remind readers to please check their mirrors for bikes when driving.
My husband is now unable to pick up our six-week-old son thanks to a dislocated elbow suffered last Wednesday (July 6) after being run off the road by a car driver.
Coming off a roundabout on to Queensferry Road on his way home from work, a car cut lanes in front of him and my husband came off his motorbike braking to avoid a collision. The car driver didn’t even stop. I would, however, like to thank fellow biker, Davie Hynd, who stopped to assist, loading the badly damaged motorbike into his van and giving my husband a lift home.
This incident, caused by a driver not checking mirrors or taking other road users into account, has left my husband in considerable pain, around £1000 out of pocket in insurance excess and the cost of replacing his helmet and other protective clothing, and unable to attend to our baby, or even pick him up for a cuddle when he cries.
My husband has completed the Fife Constabulary Bike Safe course and this is the first accident he has had in five years of riding (and 10 of car driving) yet a momentary lapse in concentration by another road user has had serious consequences for him and our family. I’m just grateful it wasn’t much worse.
Fay Sinclair.16 Bannerman Street,Dunfermline.
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.