Sir,- It was the Scottish Government who established Police Scotland, the single Scottish police force.
The Scottish Government decided on the severe funding cuts to be inflicted on the new force but, at the same time, required officer levels to be maintained.
We are all well aware of the consequences of these constraints, with the loss of so manycivilian positions.
It now transpires that difficulties are being encountered in maintaining the establishmentfigure of 17,234 officers, due to lack of recruitment applications.
It is proposed to tackle this issue by loweringthe recruitment standards.
This will do little for the morale of current officers, who were recruited under thepresent stringent entry standards.
This is also at a time when the service is under severe scrutiny and the lowering of standards will do little to alleviate public concerns.
The simple answer is to recruit civilian staff and release officers to frontline duties.
Everything is geared to maintaining the extra 1,000 officers promised by this government, but the funding saved by reducing the force by this number could provide employment for approximately 2,000 additional civilian staff.
It is interesting to note the Scottish Government’s position: “that recruitment policies are a matter for Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority”.
Once again, theycreate the problem but are unwilling to offer any solutions.
Jack Harley. 9 Mackie Crescent, Markinch.
SNP squanders taxpayers’ cash
Sir, – Given the horrendous traffic chaos following the closure of the Forth Road Bridge, there is now reported evidence that Transport Scotland was aware of the possible structural dangers as far back as 2010.
Instead of reacting to this, a plan to strengthen supports was allegedly mothballed due tospending cuts.
Now it has been estimated that Scotland is losing £1.3 million each day in terms of business and that this could also impinge upon the jobs of daily commuters.
This must be classed as another example of incompetence by this Scottish Government.
Yet now the government is doubling funding to foreign countries to help them cope with flooding.
Sadly this money, like Britain’s aid to India, will see only a small proportion meeting actual needs, with the bulk creamed off by leaders and despots of these countries.
Witness the misery of our own floods. People’s homes have been devastate and land ruined. We need serious action and planning from our government to deal with such disasters in the future. Charity indeed begins at home.
David L Thomson. 24 Laurence Park, Kinglassie.
Impossibilityof Forth tunnel
Sir, – The fact that there are no tunnels under the Forth lies in the geology.
Imagine the Grand Canyon in the USA being filled up with boulder clay, sand and gravel then flooded.
If you drove a tunnel, say 200 feet below the surface of the water, you would come suddenly to a face made of loose material which would flood your tunnel with mud and sand.
That is what it is like under the Forth at Queensferry. It is a gorge which was filled with clay, sand and gravel after the last Ice Age.
Estimates are that the gorge there is more than 500 feet deep before solid rock is reached.
You can find these facts in The Story of the Forth, written by HM Cadell, an eminent geologist who surveyed the Lothians oil shale field and lived above Bo’ness.
This will be well known to present-day geologists with more refined surveyinginstruments than Cadell had at the turn of the 19th century.
Ian Gilbert. 16 Robertson Crescent, Pitlochry.
Value of dialogue between faiths
Sir, – The evidence suggests that much of the conflict in the Middle East is associated with differences betweenpeople belonging to either Sunni or Shia groups of Muslims.
ISIS claims to be inspired by fundamental Islamist ideals.I do not know enough about Islam to understand the reasons for the differences between groups but can see what motivated Mr Mitchell’s letter (December 7).
Nevertheless, I think that he has made the error of generalising from one case and applying it to all religions.
I anticipate that there are drug dealers in Kirkcaldy but am sure that he would be offended if I suggested that this indicates the people of Kirkcaldy are drug dealers.
I think that MrMitchell is making asimilar unsupportable leap of logic when condemning all religions by reference to the pernicious beliefs of ISIS.
Mr Mitchell seems to confuse his personal prejudices with facts when he asserts that all faiths blackmail and deceive their followers into believing that there is only one religion.
That claim is refuted by the widespreadexistence of interfaith groups in Scotland.
The Dundee group website reported a meeting which was attended by members of six different faith groups including Muslims and Christians. This evidence of attempts at mutual understanding seems to invalidate much of Mr Mitchell’s thinking.
Mr Mitchell’s difficulty in accepting that intelligent beings can believe in what he thinks isreligious “nonsense” suggests he has knowledge which is not available to mere mortals.
Perhaps he can now explain the origin of the universe and of life, the meaning of life and the reason that there is not a dimension beyond the confines of our nature-bounded existence.
He and other atheists are entitled to exercise their faith without being abused. Surely it is time for them to extend the same courtesy to people of a different faith.
John Grinyer. 81 Dundee Road, Broughty Ferry.
Danger of certainty
Sir, – E Mitchell (December 7) is certain about many things.
He “knows” there is no afterlife, he “knows” that we all know this, and he “knows” that our knowledge confirms this.
He “knows” that all religions blackmail their followers and that allreligion is nonsense.
Such certainty and assurance about his own knowledge is as dangerous as that of the ISIS Islamic fundamentalists who just know that the end of the world is nigh and that all unbelievers should be punished.
Fundamentalism, whether of this secular type, or of the religious type, is profoundly disturbing and dangerous and is a million miles away from the truth that is found in Jesus Christ.
However, one thing that I do agree with ishis statement that: “itis a sad reflection thatthe current state of the world is of our ownmaking”.
Indeed. And whowill rescue us fromourselves?
David A. Robertson. St Peter’s Free Church 4 St Peter Street, Dundee.
Secularists defend freedom
Sir, – Spencer Fildes of the Scottish Secular Society pointed out that the sort of views held by some Christian SNP candidates and MSPs were representative of their churches, not the general electorate.
Secularists are keen to have all views given freedom of expression but question if the sort of views held by Sophia Coyle are views that have any place in the SNP.
The Conservative Party or UKIP maybe, but not the SNP.
Where Rev David Robertson gets his brave new world of militant secularists from, I don’t know.
We only have to look at the actions of militant religionists, from Mary Whitehouse’s National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association closingdown free speech they didn’t like, to theshooting of film director Theo van Gogh, fromthe banning of The Life of Brian in Glasgow to the storming of the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris to see who really defends freedom of speech.
Garry Otton. Scottish SecularSociety, 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh.
Put trust in resurrection
Sir, – I refer to the letter by E Mitchell (December 7) in which he stated his belief that there is no afterlife or resurrection.
This may be a popular faith in our day but it is at odds with most cultures in human history.
I would remind him that the resurrection of Christ is one of themost attested facts ofhistory.
This is the cornerstone of the Christian faith which sets it apart.
Not only did Christ prophesy his death and resurrection, it wasforetold by the OldTestament prophets hundreds of years before.
His enemies arranged a watch on his tomb in case his disciples came to steal away his body but they could not prevent the resurrection.
He was seen by many after he rose from the dead.
This was the theme of the early apostles’ preaching for which some became martyrs.
The apostle Paul taught that the resurrection of Christ was the guarantee that believers would rise from the dead and also that Christ will be the judge of the living and the dead in the future (Acts 17).
The world is indeed in a sad state but let us rejoice at this time of the year that a saviour was born in Bethlehem who is Prince of Peace.
Paul Read. Clevitch, Wester Lumbennie, Newburgh.
Get tough on American guns
Sir, – If Donald Trump is seriously concerned about innocent American citizens being shot dead then he should be preaching gun control rather than stopping all Muslims from entering the US.
Tragic as the 14 recent deaths in America were, they are a drop in the ocean compared with the deaths from shooting in the US every year which have no foreign terroristinvolvement.
Derek Byrne. Teach Na Cluana, Flocklones Hamlet, Invergowrie.