This morning’s letters to The Courier editor debate a call for a ban on rugby scrums in schools, the fate of a St Andrews cafe, motorcycle safety and Britain’s presence in Afghanistan.
Rugby scrums ban would emasculate youth Sir,-If anything were to highlight the fact that academics live in ivory towers, and not on the same planet as the rest of us, (and I speak as an honours graduate in psychology) it is the news that Professor Allyson Pollock of Edinburgh University calls for a ban on scrums and high tackles in school rugby.
Injuries are claimed by Professor Pollock to be too severe, yet has it not occurred to the wise professor that young men need an element of danger and risk in their lives, without which they will not mature in a balanced way?
Take all risk out of a young man’s life and you effectually emasculate him.
How on earth did the people of my generation survive our youth?
Were we made of sterner stuff then, or were we just lucky enough not to have politically correct teachers?
Mess about with the game of rugby at school level and where are the future club and international players going to come from?
Young men will lose interest in a safe game. They will then go and play risky games on their computers instead, become obese and die early of a heart attack because they did not get enough exercise when they were at school.
In my opinion, the only thing that needs banning is politically correct academics, out of touch with real life, who try to make a reputation for themselves with crazy social engineering theories.
(Captain) Ian F. McRae.17 Broomwell Gardens,Monikie.
Why was cafe forced to close?
Sir,-I read with alarm (July 2) the item regarding the cafe on the West Sands, St Andrews, and how the previous tenants were kept in limbo during negotiations over a new lease and then told that they would have to close down during major golf championships.
According to your report, closure of their business during golf championships would be required on the grounds of health and safety.
I really wonder if risk assessments were carried out by a qualified person as to the dangers of a cafe opening some distance from the golf courses during The Open?
Perhaps it has more to do with removing competition in favour of caterers who pay to open stalls and on-site cafes during The Open. I cannot recall a business in either St Andrews or Carnoustie being forced to close its doors during previous Open Championships or any other major golf tournament on the grounds of health and safety.
Iain Mitchell.Hawkhill,Dundee.
Bikers can help cut accident toll
Sir,-It is heartening to see a hardening in attitude towards motorcyclists and accidents from Tayside’s Chief Constable (July 5) not least from the point of view of keeping bikers themselves safe on the roads.
Public information films invariably paint motorcyclists as innocent victims who come to grief due to the inattentiveness of car drivers, yet any motorist traversing the roads of Fife and Tayside during summertime in particular will be well aware that the behaviour of bikers themselves plays no small part in the annual glut of accidents they befall as a group.
As a frequent visitor to my native Tayside, I have seen this often.
Sneaking through small gaps between lanes of stationary traffic, overtaking on blind bends, indulging in ill-advised follow-the-leader overtaking manoeuvres when in large groups — these are contributing factors in many motorcycle accidents on our roads.
Since motorcyclists are more vulnerable than motorists, they almost invariably come off worse in any collision with a car or other vehicle.
That, however, does not mean that they were not at least in part to blame.
There is little doubt that there is a large element of thrillseekers within the motorcycling populace, who seem to feel that speed limits and the like are none of their concern.
Perhaps if it were brought home to these less responsible bikers that their antics are under scrutiny it might, in the long run, lead to bikers reining in their behaviour and a corresponding fall in accidents.
William Robertson.Greenford,Middlesex.
Myth of battle against terrorism
Sir,-The estimate by CIA director Leon Pannetta that there are as little as 50 to 100 al Qaida operating within Afghanistan coupled with the findings of the study by the Centre for Social Cohesion that the majority of those convicted of Islamist terrorism in the UK are British-born passport holders, should nail the lie once and for all that UK troop deployment in Afghanistan is keeping the streets here safe from terrorism.
Defending the UK streets from terrorism seems to be the only reason the government still have for this protracted and unnecessary war.
It is an insult to our collective intelligence which a child could see through yet it is parroted out ad nauseam every time a British soldier is killed.
Government shills fed us the Iraq weapons of mass destruction threat as well as the party line that the raft of post-911, ill-thought-out anti-democratic anti-terror legislation was necessary because of the “threat from terrorism”.
The opposite is in fact true. Being in Afghanistan makes Britain more susceptible to terrorism not less.
Alan Hinnrichs.2 Gillespie Terrace,Dundee.
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.