Sir, Your report on the illegal Travellers’ camp on the outskirts of Dundee makes (The Courier, March 30) depressing reading.
The mess left by these Travellers is what happens every time they set up their illegal sites. The police do nothing, since our SNP MSPs encourage these Travellers by saying that it is their “culture” and we should not interfere.
Those sickened and affected by this mess including those who have to pay through their council taxes, the workmen who have to clean up the human and other waste and property owners who have to take legal action to remove Travellers from their land should realise that the SNP policy is: “It is their culture”.
A solution is for the independent HM Revenue & Customs to pay a visit to the site and ask for self-assessment forms to be filled in.
Similarly, a visit from the DVLA would work wonders. Then, the Department for Work and Pensions could visit to ask for proof of their entitlement to welfare benefits. Problem solved.
Clark Cross. 138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
Of growing concern
Sir, I have noticed, over the last couple of years, the spread of the dreaded weed giant hogweed heracleum mantegazzianum. This plant can grow to four metres in height, with a typical-looking umbellifer flower, and is also classified as dangerous in all the botanical textbooks.
Countryside law states that, as a notifiable weed, it should be removed and disposed of safely.
This plant contains a wicked sap, which, on contact with the skin or eyes, can burn and will react with sunlight, causing irritation and blistering. Some people may have a recurring, itchy rash for years or even life every time the summer sun lands on the affected area.
I have noticed this plant beginning to grow in abundance on the outskirts of Strathmiglo, on the banks of the river Eden, all the way to Dunshalt. Being so close to the villages, there is a danger that this plant will come into contact with people.
I suggest people take heed and leave Mr Hogweed well alone and contact the individuals or authorities charged with the maintenance of that area of riverbank.
Rory Pairman. 25 Westland Park, Auchtermuchty.
In truth, report misses point
Sir, It is a measure of how remote the churches now are from the lives of ordinary people that they could endorse the pejorative welfare report, The Lies We Tell Ourselves: Ending Comfortable Myths About Poverty.
These relentlessly bourgeois institutions fulminate against Iain Duncan Smith but the poor and the working class, many in receipt of benefits, accept the need for welfare reform.
Two thirds think the system doesn’t work, while four out of five believe anyone refusing a job should have their benefits cut and that there should be tougher work-capability tests.
They are the ones who, on their way to work, pass the blinds-drawn windows of welfare careerists and have seen at first hand the toxic effect of “incapacity” benefits.
Those of us brought up in the coalfields know only too well that coaxing people into the all-encompassing bosom of the state inevitably alienates them from their neighbours.
Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
Is the solution to be Radical?
Sir, It was good to see discussion of our Radical Independence launch meeting (Monday’s Courier), though I am sorry Dudley Treffry failed to be stirred.
I would have thought an attendance of 50 people, despite the winter weather, is an indication this issue is already generating interest and passion, even so early in the campaign.
We are a broad-based and inclusive campaign. We have many ex-Labour members and voters but also enjoy support from members and activists within a broad range of parties and those who have no party at all.
The issue of Scottish independence is much bigger than the SNP and it is the role of Radical Independence to hold the SNP to account and to put forward a vision of what an independent Scotland could achieve, at the same time as we support and work alongside SNP members and activists.
Sarah Glynn. 5B Castle Terrace, Broughty Ferry, Dundee.
The PM and Dr Strangelove
Sir, Can someone from the Conservative and Unionist Party inform us Scots as to why David Cameron’s visit to his nuclear submarine base up here was necessary?
His PR guru must have been recruited from the same team in North Korea as was Kim Jong Un’s. He throws rhetorical threats both at the Scots, who wish independence, while showing what he’s got, it seems, to the North Koreans, after their own war of words with America and South Korea.
Seeing and listening to his words of wisdom on board a Trident submarine reminds one of the part of the American colonel who departs from his plane mounted on a nuclear missile in the film, Dr Strangelove.
Bob Harper. 63a Pittenweem Road, Anstruther.