Sir, You reported recently that some of the powers that be are proposing to stop all right turns on the A9 from Keir roundabout to Broxden roundabout. This would bring many problems to those living along this route especially farms which lie on both sides of the road.
Average speed cameras are at present being installed along this stretch of road and should bring down the speed of the traffic and if the road is so dangerous why not enforce a 50mph speed limit along the route? Why does everyone have to be travelling at 70mph or more?
There are several junctions along this route where the sight line is limited and dangerous to use when traffic is travelling at 70mph but during the Ryder Cup when the 50 limit was enforced several regular users did comment on how much safer they felt.
Why even think about this expensive option?
Give the cameras time to prove that they can do the job of making things safer and for goodness’ sake bring the speed limit down.
If not along the entire route then seriously consider 50mph at some of the most dangerous junctions.
Far too often nowadays pressure groups and quangos sitting in a city office come up with ideas without thinking them through properly and the effect they will have.
It is quite evident to those living along the A9 that the planners should have listened to the locals back in 1990 when they urged the planners to take a new route along this stretch of the road as the increase in traffic would demand the need for a motor-way sooner rather than later.
Closing down junctions and creating problems for local residents is not the answer. Average speed cameras have proved effective on other routes so give them a chance and keep the speed down.
William McLaren. Netherallan, Blackford.
What about the other litter?
Sir, The latest save-the-planet gimmick is charging for carrier bags at supermarkets. It is suggested these are the cause of so much litter, but in reality, just how many such bags are discarded? Most are re-used as bin liners, etc.
What about the other litter such as plastic containers, bottles, cans and takeaway packaging, which litter our streets, car parks and country-side? Has no one thought about enforcing the relevant legislation to detect offenders?
John McDonald. 14 Rosebery Court, Kirkcaldy.
Alarmist theory not facts . . .
Sir, Mr Hinnrich’s letter (October 17), is yet another example of climate alarmists substituting theory for fact. It is very difficult to calculate sea levels by tidal gauges as the plate pattern of Earth’s land masses is constantly shifting. Scotland is rising steadily since being relieved of the pressures exerted by glaciers in the last Ice Age. Only since satellite readings became available have we had any accurate figures.
AGW supporters constantly refer to the Maldives, where there is no land more than six feet above sea level, as a disaster area. Records, however, show that since the big scare started 30 years ago sea levels around the Maldives have fallen slightly.
Al Gore stated in his forecasts that there would be a 20-foot rise (600cm), although IPCC forecasts are much lower. The science involved is beyond our current under-standing. At present there are no actual changes that are not attributable to natural variability.
The Earth is a thermo-dynamic system affected by many factors, of which the gas carbon dioxide, which is essential to life on Earth, is a very minor player. Geological history tells us that vast and sudden changes have happened such as the sudden rise in sea levels that separated Britain from Europe. Where you sit now was once under three miles of ice and another time a tropical rain forest. Not, I think, due to the actions of man.
Bill McKenzie. 48 Fintry Place, Broughty Ferry.
Raisin Monday memories
Sir, I was interested to read the Courier article about Raisin Monday’s foam fight in St Andrews. It is described as traditional but I remember being a first year “bejantine” in 1972 and the tradition did not include foam then.
I was given both a genuine receipt written in Latin on parchment and the usual silly one which had to be carried round to lectures on Raisin Monday: I remember students with receipts on giant loaves, toilet seats, fish and even a coffin.
When challenged by older students, first years were supposed to point out the “deliberate” mistake in the Latin normally in the date. If you could not find the mistake you were required to sing the “Gaudy”, though most older students made you sing it anyway.
If you made a mess of the song or refused to sing you were threatened with the fountain in Market Street, which by then was dry, and everyone gathered in St Salvator’s quad at noon to continue the Raisin Sunday party. Perhaps other readers will remember when the foam fight began?
The tradition of academic parents was a great way of meeting students in other years and faculties and many of my academic relatives have remained good friends.
Rev Catherine Collins. 25 Ballinard Gardens, Broughty Ferry.
Outrageous behaviour
Sir, My wife and I have just returned from what would have been a great coach trip to see The Jersey Boys in Edinburgh with an overnight stay in a hotel.
The hotel and concert were great but the conduct of six fellow Dundonians who upset the whole bus by their outrageous behaviour and racist comments, fuelled by drink, towards the female driver who, by the way, was exceptional under the circumstances.
The culprits were far from young, probably in their 50s and 60s, and should be utterly ashamed of themselves.
Frank Murphy. Abernethy Road, Barnhill.
We should offer asylum
Sir, It is reported that Asia Bibi has been unsuccessful in having the death sentence against her for blasphemy overturned, following the rejection of her appeal by the Lahore High Court. Her lawyers now intend to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
It is not clear that they will be able to do so, and the outcome is far from guaranteed.
The judgement against Asia Bibi contradicts all international standards of justice and mutual respect. The case made against her constitutes a parody of justice and is the epitome of religious intolerance and fanaticism. Her family has received death threats and those who have advocated on her behalf have been assassinated.
Forward Together, a group for evangelicals in the Church of Scotland, believing that the accusations of blasphemy against Asia Bibi, a Christian, are baseless and discrimi-natory, call on the Scottish Government to intervene with the Government of Pakistan on her behalf.
We, the Trustees of Forward Together, call upon Nicola Sturgeon, as the First Minister-elect of the Scottish Govern-ment, to offer asylum to Asia Bibi and to the members of her immediate family, as one of the first acts of the new First Minister’s incumbency, offering them the prospect of a home in a tolerant and religiously fair-minded Scotland.
Rev Richard Buckley, Rev Douglas Cranston, Rev Michael Goss, Rev Louis Kinsey, Kenneth Mackenzie, Rev Hector Morrison, Rev Graham Nash, Rev David Searle.
Canadians’ strict rules
Sir, Watching a TV prog-ramme recently about travellers trying to gain entry into Canada, I was impressed to learn that if you had been arrested for anything at all in your home country, even minor offences, or didn’t have a certain amount of money in an account and were planning to get work for longer than three months, perhaps depriving Canadians of these jobs, the chances were you would not be allowed in.
Think how this would affect the population of UK if these stringent rules were applied here!
Fiona McMillan. 6 Ethiebeaton Terrace, Monifieth.