Our correspondents begin the week by discussing Scots education, the behaviour of city councillors, the sacrifice of British service personnel and the Afghan war.
Scots education has become laughing-stock Sir, Alan Hinnrichs (September 23) misrepresents my position when he states that I think the way to improve school performance is to have more religious schools in Dundee.
That is not what I said or think. My concern is not with school performance but rather the inequalities and injustices which are so prevalent in our society and which need to be addressed at a far deeper level.
He is also wrong to state that schools in Scotland which are not Catholic are not Christian.
The fact is that the 1872 Education Act combined all the church schools, except the Catholic ones into, one non-denominational Christian system.
Thus, the state education system in Scotland is either Catholic or non-denominational – it is not non- religious.
The fact that there was a requirement to have a Christian act of worship on a weekly basis and that there are still school chaplains is part of that heritage.
As, however, our militant secularists have, cuckoo-like, taken over the system, they are attempting to push Christianity out of the classroom.
This is in my view a detrimental step and will only accelerate the lamentable decline in the Scottish education system – a system which, with its Christian ethos, was once the envy of the world but now is rapidly becoming a laughing-stock, with one in five Scots now being functionally illiterate.
David A. Robertson.St Peter’s Free Church,4 St Peter Street,Dundee.
Decade of dining
Sir, Your article (September 23) stated that Arbroath’s first specialist delicatessen opened seven weeks ago.
In fact, Smithie’s, on Keptie Street, is about to celebrate a decade of selling over 40 cheeses, along with a large selection of wines, coffees, chutneys and other culinary delights to the people of the town.
New products are continually being introduced. The delicatessen and coffee shop is always busy, with large queues often forming at lunchtime.
Joyce Reid.The Towers,Woodside House,Arbroath.
Put people before party
Sir,-I would like to complain about the behaviour of the councillors who have not attended the meeting of Dundee City Council’s budget cuts committee.
The first responsibility of local councillors is to the people who have elected them and it seems odd that Liberal, Labour and Conservative councillors can’t see that they should be helping the officers of our council to try to find a fair way to implement reductions in spending that everyone in the country knows must be made.
Of course, these delicate discussions should be made in private, to allow council officers to speak freely and present every option available and to allow debate to take place.
A reduction in any budget is a problem that everyone who works for local government is trying to solve.
They need help and guidance and local councillors are the people who have that responsibility.
If these councillors who have decided not to take responsibility for playing their part in this process can’t see where their duty lies, then I think it might be better to have new councillors who put their duty to the citizens of Dundee first and who do not need to consider a petty, party-political point of view.
Brian Cram.52 Glamis Road,Dundee.
Forgotten sacrifices
Sir, With reference to the letters from Andrew Lawson and Ian Wheeler, both have made a fair analysis of the situation facing the threat to western religious beliefs and cultures from creeping Islam.
Karl Marx said, “If you wish to conquer a country, don’t go to war with them, destroy their economy from the inside.”
This being so, as Colonel Gaddafi has predicted, mass Muslim immigration may well change the demography of Europe in favour of Islam within 40 years.
In 1940, when I was eight years old, the Battle of Britain was being fought by our gallant RAF and other service personnel. We British were a proud race.
The younger generations have no appreciation of the sacrifices made to preserve the country they have inherited.
Many have accepted without question the seditious brainwashing of political correctness and multiculturalism. To them, patriotism has become unfashionable.
It would appear that the sacrifices of the second world war were in vain.
W. A. Findlay.18 Craig Street,Rosyth.
Scale down Afghan war
Sir, When Barack Obama entered the White House, America was losing the Afghan War with some 30,000 troops and was still losing it a year later with 70,000. Today over 100,000 US troops, thousands of mercenaries and further thousands of troops from the UK and allies are stilled bogged down in this unwinnable conflict.
The only realistic exit strategy from Afghanistan is a return to the original game plan of backing those who hate the Taliban with small teams of special forces and air support.
That was enough to remove the Taliban from government in the first place and will be enough to keep it from forming such a government again. Every escalation makes it harder to get out and small, disrupting forces will contain the problem at vastly less cost in lives and money.
(Dr) John Cameron.10 Howard Place,St Andrews.
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