This morning’s letters debate celebrity culture, climate science, the Griffin wind farm plan and public parks.
Youth become victims of celebrity god culture Sir,-Comparing the state of Scotland in 1900 with that of the present day, Professor Callum Brown (Monday Interview, May 10) highlights the many “improvements” we now enjoy over the days when “religion oppressed people’s lives and relationships were complicated by guilt and repression”.
According to him, we now benefit from the decline of the Sabbath, freedom to indulge sexual appetites and, joy of joys, shopping on a Sunday.
Of course, there is no doubt that some aspects of our lives have improved immeasurably but we hardly experience the utopia extolled by Professor Brown.
Because of the waning influence of the church, many young people lack basic moral guidance.
Sex crimes are on the increase and abortion clinics are thronged by teenage girls getting rid of unwanted babies.
There has been a huge increase in the numbers of young unmarried mothers, with children resented by their current partners, leading to child abuse of the worst kind.
Yes, they can shop on Sundays, if they can afford to.
Perhaps they will be buying magazines with intimate details of their new gods — immature “celebrities” from the world of cinema, sport or fashion.
Norman Allan.21 Stratheden Road,Broughty Ferry.
Do not silence voice of science
Sir,-A depressing feature of the debate about climate change is the determination of many sceptics to portray their opponents as not merely wrong but dishonest.
Allegations of scams, cons and frauds are routine, even from your correspondents.
The situation is even worse in the USA where there are many hysterical calls to bring criminal prosecutions against scientists who produce uncomfortable findings.
A total of 255 members of the US National Academy of Sciences have just issued an open letter defending climate research and calling for an end to harassment from politicians and threats of prosecutions of scientists.
It is vital that politicians in all countries take these concerns seriously and back scientists against unreasonable pressure.
The world will face massive problems over the next few decades.
We desperately need politicians with the courage to do what is right, not merely popular.
James Christie.2 Dryburgh Crescent,Perth.
Rethink route to wind farm
Sir,-In response to your article (May 6) ‘Claim wind farm will cause chaos’ I would like to offer further clarifications.
The Craigvinean route (now dropped) to the proposed Griffin wind farm, near Dunkeld, was first mooted by the SSE at a meeting of the liaison group and then in a letter to Inver residents and businesses in February this year.
I cannot understand why the proposal was dropped so quickly when the alternatives — via Inver or Ladywell and the A822 — are so disruptive, despite claims to the contrary by SSE.
SSE claim the Craigvinean route is now the least desirable because it disrupts a number of private water supplies. This is also true of the A822 route but SSE has guaranteed that these can be protected.
It would require considerable upgrade to access tracks. However, SSE are constructing 30 kilometres of new track on the Griffin site.
They claim they would need to lay eight to nine kilometres of track through Craigvinean as access. So what? This is an extremely small amount and will cause little disruption.
It would cause other environmental concern. But SNH, when informally consulted, had no objections.
Craigvinean is an industrial forest which hosts car rallies and mountain bike routes. The damage to the environment of routing the Griffin road through the forest is minimal compared with the huge impact of the proposed Inver or Strathbraan routes.
Residents of Strathbraan have already experienced hundreds of haulage lorries carrying hard core with many near misses and damage to the road edges.
Anne Hamilton.Tigh Fhada,Inver,Dunkeld.
Rebalance accent on youth
Sir,-I am pleased for young Harry Campbell who has secured a position on the steering group for a new multi-use area in Baxter Park, Dundee (May 8).
I am sure it will stand him in good stead in his future career.
However, there is another aspect to this story. When I came to live in Dundee, some 33 years ago, I was delighted to find that there was so much green space available, principally, in my case, to walk my dogs.
Since then, I have noticed a steady erosion of this space, most noticeably in Caird Park and, to some extent, in Baxter Park but these are not the only ones. I mention these as they are the nearest to where I live.
These parks were originally gifted to the people of Dundee, all the people, not just some of them.
Over the years, these parks, and others, have been nibbled away to provide football pitches, rugby pitches, sports stadia, golf courses and so on.
These benefit some of the people but by no means all.
It is generally accepted that walking is an excellent form of exercise but when large parts of the public open spaces are denied to dog walkers, it is not encouraging.
It is okay for me. I can drive my dogs out of town and walk in the hills, woods and beaches but what of those dog owners who do not have transport?
Is it not time that Dundee City Council considered not just the young?
Most schools have sports facilities, very much better than in my day, and older people would benefit more than the young from healthy outdoor exercise.
Please leave us some space to walk, with or without dogs.
Sybil Berrecloth.6 Duff Street,Dundee.