Sir, – I’m getting really sick of all the NHS bashing in today’s media in Scotland.
In our local hospital, Ninewells, there are many people doing marvellous jobs under pressures that you and I can only imagine.
Day in, night out, they look after thousands of people every week.
Recently I had the misfortune to contract biliary sepsis; my transplanted kidney was close to complete failure.
I’m only able to write this because the staff at Ninewells quickly diagnosed what was going on and spent the next 10 days treating and caring for me.
They pulled me back from the brink.
They wouldn’t say that they did anything unusual – faced with a sick patient, they just get on with it – despite all the hurtful nonsense being published around them.
It is high time the toxic relationship between the government and the press ceased. With every single one of the 862 beds in the hospital occupied by a sick person, they need our support, not sniping.
Instead we need to concentrate on continually getting out the message that those with coughs and sneezes are better off at home, rather than putting further pressure on the system.
There are a lot of nasty bugs in any hospital and by going there with trivial issues you run a real chance of getting one.
Publicise the message that the public should stop putting the ambulance service under extra pressure: file down your own broken nails, find your own way home. Resist that last drink.
It will do no good to mourn our health service when it’s gone or privatised. Do you want to wait until some conglomerate decides whether it’s profitable to save you or not?
Alan Morris.
72 Newton Crescent,
Carnoustie.
Politics at odds with logistics
Sir, – I was a bit perplexed by Kirstene Hair’s recent position on a migrant labour scheme for the soft fruit industry as reported in The Courier (“Farm labour plea as soft fruits in trouble”, February 5).
We already have a scheme which allows seasonal migrant labour to come to Scotland, it’s called membership of the single market.
I’m glad Ms Hair recognises the vital contribution European workers make to our soft fruit industry here in Angus.
However, I’m perplexed as to why she voted to haul us out of the single market, a decision that will cause further uncertainty for the soft fruit labour force.
For someone who couldn’t decide what way to vote in the EU referendum, she’s suddenly made up her mind and committed to the most extreme form of Brexit.
If she really wants to stand up for one of our most important sectors, I suggest she starts by standing up to her party on this issue.
Somehow I don’t predict that will happen.
Ben Lawrie.
Councillor for Monifieth and Sidlaw,
7 Craigton Gardens,
Monifieth.
If polar ice were an ice cube
Sir, – The idea that melting polar ice will cause the sea level to rise, surely goes against the laws of physics.
Consider a glass of water containing ice cubes. The ice floats because water is less dense when frozen. Also the ice cubes displace a water volume equal to their weight. When the ice cubes melt, the water level in the glass stays the same.
So a floating ice cap, or icebergs in the sea, could melt with no effect on sea level.
Has this been considered by the rising sea level alarmists?
Malcolm Parkin.
Gamekeepers Road,
Kinnesswood,
Kinross.
Respect is vital for all times
Sir, – Events marking the centenary of securing votes for women remind us of the great strides made since in democracy and equality of opportunity.
Many also noted how much more there is still to achieve, for women as well as others who continue to be treated unfairly (“Corbyn pledges pardons for suffragettes’ crimes”, The Courier, February 7).
Hopefully, the positive momentum will continue.
Yet unfortunately some of our modern advances and freedoms of expression have come with a new cost.
There appears to be a growing tendency for personal attacks over the internet and in general discourse on issues about which people feel strongly.
Perhaps the worst examples of this appear on social media, involving all kinds of unacceptable abuse and intimidation.
Even newspaper letters pages are not immune, as some correspondents choose to primarily focus not so much on the real issues discussed, but instead trying to mock and deride those who do not agree with them.
We all need to remember that respect for others is as important today as it was 100 years ago.
Keith Howell.
White Moss,
West Linton.
Suffragettes pardon plan
Sir, – Is Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s plan to pardon all suffragettes convicted of criminal offences practical or justifiable (The Courier February 7)?
I’m sure no one doubts his sincerity over the question of honouring those trying to get equality for women.
However, he should think about a number of points.
The first is that securing votes for women was not achieved simply because of the actions of Emmeline Pankhurst and her Women’s Social and Political Union’s militancy before the First World War.
The suffragettes’ leader was the first to urge the suspension of campaigning when the war began in 1914.
By 1917 the efforts of nearly all men and women of all social classes and all skills were essential to help thwart the threat from Germany.
It was understandable that, in the course of that year, Prime Minister Lloyd George was anxious to reward the commitment and sacrifice.
He did so by enacting an extension of the franchise for men, and the introduction of votes for some women.
The pre-war sacrifices of the suffragettes is only part of the story.
For that reason I think a blanket pardon of all women convicted of offence in that period would not just be wrong; it would also set a potentially bad precedent.
Those convicted of arson or violence against individuals can hardly be entitled to a pardon in the name of equality.
What message would that send to those today who are hellbent on destruction in pursuit of a case?
The centenary of women’s suffrage should be seen as a cause for celebration, and not an excuse for anti-democratic behaviour.
Bob Taylor.
24 Shiel Court,
Glenrothes.
Where Carillion blame is due
Sir, – What gives MPs the right to call former directors of Carillion “delusional characters” when MPs set the moral legislative framework in which these directors operated?
It doesn’t matter what evidence is heard at the joint inquiry by two select committees into the firm’s liquidation earlier this month.
Unless MPs are prepared to act to prevent such outcomes, it is purely ineffective grandstanding for the joint select committee co-chairman, Frank Field, to reportedly ask “Is there any last thing you would like to say to those who have lost their jobs while you are all right?”
Where the finger should be pointed is at economics (as currently taught in universities), a discipline that takes very little or no account of the ethical dimension, and to which both MPs and the captains of industry unquestioningly bow in ritual observance.
Geoff Naylor.
21 Birch Close,
Winchester.
