Sir, The shortlisting of Dundee’s City of Culture bid is great news and a great opportunity. Whether the bid is ultimately successful or not, the effort put into it is indicative of a willingness to engage with the big wide world beyond the Sidlaw Hills.
Dundee has regenerated more times than Doctor Who and it can do so again. But in order to emerge from the depths of this recession into a brave new social, cultural and economic world we have to play to our strengths. The bid has shown us that we know where those main strengths lie. They are underpinned, not least, by a strong sense of citizenship.
But let’s not overlook our own cosmopolitan nature. We are as international as they come and, for me, the cultural diversity within the city’s boundaries is as intrinsically Dundonian as the globe-trotting RSS Discovery.
There can be few better examples of that than the recent children’s concert held at Victoria Park Primary School during the recent Westfest. It featured Asian dancing, Russian song, a mini pipe band, a string ensemble and a multinational choir. It showed that a strong, healthy and vibrant cultural community embraces things that wander in from the outside world as much as it shows off its own native talents.
It might seem like a long way off, 2017, but it might take that long to show the world everything that Dundee has to offer. It is an opportunity to tap into four years’ worth of free publicity for the city and raise its international profile as Scotland’s flagship in this competition.
These are all good reasons for getting behind the bid by actively supporting culturally diverse events and activities that spring from every section of the community.
Michael S Clark. 49 Foggyley Gardens, Dundee.
Let forces make the decision
Sir, The Supreme Court has ruled that damages claims against the Government can be launched by families of armed forces personnel killed or injured fighting in Iraq (The Courier, June 20).
I don’t often find myself in agreement with people seeking compensation from the Government which I, as a taxpayer, must help to pay, but, in this case, I must agree that the Ministry of Defence owes a duty of care to equip properly service personnel who go to war.
Judging by some of the decisions on equipment armoured vehicles, weapons and body protection made in the past few years, it looks as if the Ministry of Defence is not fit for purpose. Most of our vehicles seem incapable of protecting their occupants from even the most primitive roadside mines and bombs.
Soldiers have also had to go out on patrol far too often without proper body armour.
Tactics, too, seem faulty. Since our opponents in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere lay mines and prepare roadside bombs along tracks routinely used by our patrols, it would seem elementary for the army to use flail tanks or some other kind of device perhaps remotely controlled robots to check out these routes and make them safe before our patrols use them.
And as our forces are being reduced alarmingly in size, I wonder just how many penpushers there are at the Ministry of Defence. I am willing to bet their numbers are not being reduced.
We should leave it to our forces to decide what equipment is best and safest, and sack the desk jockeys.
George K McMillan. 5 Mount Tabor Avenue, Perth.
Faith is a work in progress
Sir, I write to endorse the decision of the General Assembly to allow different views over the sexuality of ministers within the Church of Scotland. It would seem to me that churches provide a location where faith can be discussed and Christianity articulated.
Churches can be open and honest places where doubts are raised, solutions sought and journeys given meaning.
Faith will always be a work in progress as it updates itself through time, in churches where people listen to each other. The sound of slamming doors is not a witness to the future, to the human condition, or to the founder of the Christian faith.
Andrew Greaves. (Minister Dundee West Church). Wards of Keithock, by Brechin.
Campaign is pointless . . .
Sir, I was recently in my local hospital for an appointment and I went to use the toilet, on the way out I noticed a porter who had been using the toilet leave without washing his hands. I was appalled it really beggars belief.
What earthly use is it for hospitals to have notices all over the place and bacterial hand washes outside wards demanding visitors wash their hands when their own staff can’t be bothered to carry out basic hygiene?
It is no wonder hospital infection rates are sky-high. Instead of wasting public money campaigning for members of the public to wash their hands perhaps education needs to startinternally.
Gordon Kennedy. 117 Simpson Square, Perth.