Today: care of the elderly, wildlife crime, legal systems, policing, and plans for Vane Farm.
Security for our elderly the key to happiness
Sir,-I am writing in response to the raft of news reports, features and exposes in recent weeks concerning the care of elderly people in the UK, and in particular Scotland.
Reading this, I understand why people could become even more apprehensive about going into care.
This is at a time when our population is ageing and society is changing. We must accept that making long-term provisions for our elderly population now, and our increasing elderly population in the future, is a massive and inescapable issue.
Undoubtedly, there are bad care homes and sheltered housing complexes. There are bad providers and those on a shaky business footing.
But there are also many, many providers out there who do a fantastic job.
There is also the option to stay at home and receive your care there. All of this should be examined as early as possible.
In the run-up to the election, before this latest furore erupted, the main political parties did not focus on care of our elderly as much as I would have expected.
While Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has said that she is personally taking the issue very seriously, as you would expect, there was little in the way of pre-emptive pledges in the recent party manifestos to support and guide people in their twilight years.
Older people have contributed to society and family life for many decades and it is now their turn to be looked after. They should be able to feel safe, secure and happy. Not worried, alone and scared.
We must do everything we can to ensure our older population has a place to call home, where they are being well taken care of and know all the options that are available to them.
Lianne Lodge.Queen Street,Edinburgh.
Tip of a nasty iceberg
Sir,-Unfair to accuse gamekeepers of wildlife crime, states Mr Hogg of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (June 6). The recent atrocious cases at Moy and Skibo estates illustrate a fraction of the persecution that is prevalent in our countryside.
This is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg. Persecution is extremely difficult to get enough proof for conviction.
Recently, in mid-April, I found many dead mountain hares on a local estate, lamped at night, shot by rifle and left to rot on the hill.
The breeding ravens had mysteriously disappeared as well.
Keith Brockie.Fearnan,Perthshire.
Legal systems are dissimilar
Sir,-Captain T. Willis (June 6) says Scotia was the Roman name for Scotland; wrong, it was their name for Ireland.
Captain Willis says the north east was over-run by Vikings; in fact the north east suffered less than the Hebrides and the west. The first Lord Of The Isles was the Somerled, “Summer Warrior”, meaning he followed the Viking pattern of raiding mainly in the warmer months.
As well as failing history, Captain Willis misunderstands the Supreme Court issue.
In the United States, a jury means 12 people, same as in England. Scotland, in having 15 jurors, is different.
In the USA there have only been two possible verdicts available to a jury: guilty or not guilty, same as in England.
Scotland has had a third possible verdict not proven.
There are many other ways in which American law and English law are similar, while Scottish law is different.
Since their legal systems are so similar, should people found guilty by an English court have a right of appeal to the United States Supreme Court? Of course not.
My dear wife, a US citizen from California, finds nothing “anti-American” about that. So why should anybody find anything anti-English about saying it’s wrong for the recently-introduced United Kingdom Supreme Court in England to seek to extend its control over the very different Scottish legal system?
Dave Coull.7 Inglis Court,Edzell.
Make police accountable
Sir,-John Montgomery is clearly no fan of Reform Scotland’s report on the future of policing (June 7).
The report, however, does have merit in its strong support for police services to be accountable to local communities.
I suspect that any future police reform will include local layers of accountability in the shape of boards or committees and it would be logical to structure these at local authority level in line with established democratic and community planning systems.
I reckon that this could probably be achieved under a single national police force where locally devolved police services could operate with support from specialised regional or national operations.
Think tanks such as Reform Scotland may not always tune in with mainstream opinion but they play an important role in advancing and promoting necessary debate.
Iain Anderson.41 West End,St Monans.
Predators need controlling
Sir,-Your feature on the RSPB’s Vane farm development to make its site “bigger, flatter, wetter and better” (June 1) raised more questions than it answered.
Habitat improvement must go hand in hand with management and the latter requires judicious predator control. Populations of big gulls, carrion crows and foxes have flourished under the lax management of both SNH and RSPB.
This has resulted in a colony of 7000 pairs of little black-headed gulls being destroyed.
Difficult decisions must be made if bird biodiversity is to return.
Michael C. Smith.Cleish,Kinross.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.