Sir, With regard to the Rev Dr John Cameron’s letter in Wednesday’s Courier, I find it hard to believe that a man of the cloth can write such barmy tosh that is totally insulting to all working class people. I have previously criticised the man’s politics in the letters page, but this latest contribution is disgraceful and something of a throwback in terms of attitude.
Sure there are unmarried couples, broken marriages and other forms of fractured relationships, but there have always been and there will always be. To blame the welfare state is just stupid.
As for the “upper classes” being immune to such events, as is inferred in his letter, that is just plain wrong. I remember a certain heir to the throne being unfaithful to the “nation’s princess” just a few years ago. That was about as dysfunctional as it gets and we all know what happened there. That is just one very high-profile example.
I presume the Reverend would like to put the clock back to the good old days before the welfare state? In those days an unmarried mother could be locked away for life in a lunatic asylum and any offspring removed and put up for adoption.
Or, perhaps society could throw the poor people into a workhouse where they can see out their days in a form of slave labour, as was the fate of so many.
How about taking the children away from unmarried mothers and send them off to the colonies . . . oh, of course, we don’t have colonies any more.
Or we could just let nature take its course as used to be the case before the NHS and the Welfare State. Then infant mortality was sky high and many women died during childbirth.
It was a time that life expectancy was extremely low for the working classes. Certainly much lower than for those such as privileged members of the clergy.
No wonder we see so many churches closing down and being put to good use as furniture warehouses, bingo halls and such like. No wonder people have stopped looking to religion for their moral compass, and no wonder church pews are so empty.
One last thought. I am a confirmed atheist who has utter respect for my fellow countrymen. The Reverend is “a believer” who seems to despise society as it is.
Harry Key. Mid Street, Largoward.
It’s a UK-wide problem
Sir, I refer to your correspondent S M Low (letters, November 19), and proffer my sympathies and apologies for their perceived lack of safety while living in Scotland.
My wife and I suffered similar anxieties and endured some intolerable rudeness during a visit to Kent some 18 months ago. Not only was our money refused but we were accused of being subsidy junkies and scroungers living off the back of England.
This was all triggered by our accent, apparently, and was experienced across a range of venues from Rochester Cathedral and Dover Castle, to several hostelries, and even the Battle of Britain Museum!
The last-mentioned, I may add, in front of a group of bemused and somewhat embarrassed Canadian tourists.
No, S M Low, the great pity is that there are minorities of bigoted, racist and xenophobic people right across the whole of the United Kingdom.
James Millar. 221 Stenhouse Street, Cowdenbeath.
I’ve never felt unsafe here
Sir, Like your correspondent S M Low I also moved to Scotland a long time ago in my case 57 years ago and I also married a Scot.
I have never felt unsafe here, nor unwelcome, and I have slept in a “hole in the wall” in a Govan tenement, and been drunk in Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night.
Only twice in all that time have I been subjected to racist remarks (both times in Fife and we know what Fifers are like! (Only kidding, I love it here), and while my wife voted for the status quo, I did not.
Far from being bullied, I have never even been approached by a member of the SNP and David Cameron and Nigel Farage adopt a far more aggressive and hectoring approach than Alex Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon.
Keep the faith, my friends, it will come. Not in my lifetime, and maybe not in Alex’s, but we (and I’m proud to say “we”) will be free.
Laurie Richards. 100 Crail Road, Cellardyke.
Ashamed of the boo boys
Sir, I am struggling to describe my sadness after Tuesday night’s Scotland v England match. It wasn’t the score. It wasn’t the unfailingly disjointed, out of tune, dirge-like caterwauling of Scotland’s adopted anthem and that’s cringeworthy in the extreme.
No, it was the spectacle of tens of thousands of Scots booing the opposition’s anthem. I’m sure the vast majority of those same Scots would never dream of booing any other opposition anthem.
The world must look at this behaviour and think we are ignorant and have no respect or class. Sadly, I suspect they would be correct. I am ashamed.
A Shepherd. Manor Street, Forfar.
Such faith is misplaced
Sir, Jenny Hjul (Courier, November 19), informs us that most of us realise that “a prosperous nation is better than an impoverished one” and in her weekly dose of “nat bashing” suggests that this is a reason for encouraging the rich to get richer.
This is, of course, the error that Margaret Thatcher made. She believed in the trickle down view of wealth which relied on the inherent goodness and generosity of human beings who as they became richer would pass it on to the poor. Such faith in human nature is surely misplaced.
A prosperous nation is not measured according to the number of billionaires it has, otherwise we would be following Russia’s example, but rather by the collective wealth of all the people and the extent to which justice social, legal and economic is administered.
David Robertson. 14 Shamrock Street, Dundee.
Get their own house in order
Sir, Like the changing of the clocks, dreich November days, growing amounts of tinsel and decorations in the shops, the consultation on Fife Council’s budget is once again a feature of the calendar.
I noted Councillor David Dempsey’s view on the cost-effectiveness of this effort (Courier, November 19). Why do the number of council officials at most meetings exceed the members of the public present?
Part of the reason is that at this time of the year ordinary people have enough trouble managing their own household budget. It is difficult to get too excited about detailed discussions on services which spend millions of pounds.
The local authority officials are either paid or get compensating time off for being there and offering professional insight. It is not reasonable to ask the average voter to be quite so turned on.
A more general point can be made about how councils work. It is not unusual for the number of officials at committee meetings to be about the same (and sometimes more) as elected members.
To the outsider it gives the impression either of overstaffing or lack of co-ordination. Surely the time of the staff involved could be put to better use. If local authorities want to gain the sympathy of the public over spending cuts, it should learn a quick lesson. It is to get their own house in order and show that it can streamline decision-making.
Bob Taylor. 24 Shiel Court, Glenrothes.
Gold fittings for Holyrood?
Sir, It has been revealed that £550,000 is to be spent on the installation of new roof fittings at Holyrood, to enable workmen to abseil when carrying out repairs and cleaning. Are the fittings made of gold?
Considering the age of this “toon hoose” and the problems during construction, there appears to be a continual financial requirement for repairs, which must cause serious disruption and inconvenience to our politicians!
John McDonald. 14 Rosebery Court, Kirkcaldy.