Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – The service we are receiving at the hands of Royal Mail is turning into a farce and it is obvious Perth delivery office is in crisis.
For the last two weeks now the mail to our estate is being delivered as late as 6.30pm.
This is outrageous, but people waiting on DWP giro payments, who don’t have access to bank or post office accounts like myself, are unable to cash the cheque until the next day. Also, people waiting on cheques cannot bank them until the next day.
When you phone customer services to complain you are given a whole lot of platitudes but no explanation and no promise of things ever improving.
The level of service has certainly not matched the excessive rise in prices.
The problem is of course there is no competition to deliver residential mail.
Royal Mail have the monopoly so they can treat their customers any way they want and they do.
Gordon Kennedy.117 Simpson Square,Perth.
Fail to see the point of this attack
Sir, – I fail to see what constructive point Norman Wood (Letters, September 12) is making in his attack on Christians who encourage the celebrating of Christmas.
I would also question his assertion that Charles Dickens ”wasn’t even a Christian”.
In ”Oliver Twist”, for example, prayer and church attendance and bible reading are all part of Oliver’s experience not forced but, as he grows up, through his own choice.
Nancy, after a short life of crime and depravity, is shown God’s love from two sincere Christian believers, and when she is soon after brutally murdered she calls out to Heaven for mercy.
Finally, Oliver visits the cunning and cruel Fagin on the night before he is hanged, the very man who thought nothing of risking Oliver’s life for his own gain.
Oliver’s response is tearful prayer: ”Oh! God forgive this wretched man!”
On other occasions Charles Dickens quotes the Bible, as one who believes it.
Admittedly I have read only three of his novels, but he strikes me as a man with a passion for God, a man who believes the Christian message and a man with a particular desire for social justice for children in Victorian Britain.
Stuart Wishart.12 Walnut Grove,Blairgowrie.
Legal Aid move is not before time
Sir, – The Courier article (September 12) that poor people will have to pay a contribution to the Legal Aid fund is not before time.
Anyone who has watched the Legal Aid industry milking the public purse dry through the systematic abuse of the scheme will welcome some control of firms that claim millions of pounds to defend the indefensible.
The accused that persistently appear in the courts are encouraged to plead not guilty to draw out the proceedings and the only winners are the solicitors and court staff who feed off the merry-go-round of what is ludicrously called the criminal justice system.
It is risible that the spokesperson for the Legal Aid lawyers claims that accused persons may plead guilty because they might have to make a small contribution to their defence.
If you take a look at the amount of legally aided defendants who are found guilty after trial it is apparent that the vast majority should have pled guilty and saved expensive court proceedings.
The claim that guilty people might refuse to pay their share and leave ”a string of unpaid legal firms” is another howler. Anyone who has any dealings with defence solicitors, certainly in my experience, is that they will not represent an accused person and would resign as agent at the door of the court if the fee charged was not paid in full and receipted before representation.
The claim that lawyers would have to pay the client’s contribution out of their own pockets to ensure continuity of business if their client goes on to ”rape and murder” speaks volumes.
The only thing that really matters to them is that they continue to feed at the cost of massive public subsidy.
The system of public defenders works in many countries so why not here?
Robert Alexander.Bothy Starforth,Panmure,Carnoustie.
Would have seen a much different view
Sir, – It is a pity that the judging panel who awarded Glenrothes the Beautiful Scotland top prize did not get shown a wider area of Glenrothes other than the area that they did see.
If they had done so, they would have seen streets that hadn’t been swept in weeks, weeds sprouting everywhere and trees that are blocking CCTV cameras and infant school signs, not having been pruned back.
Allan Murray.44 Napier Road,Glenrothes.
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