Sir, – As Dundee becomes less a City of Discovery and more a city of bins, perhaps the city council should not be surprised that there has been a rise in the number of incidents of bins being set on fire.
Deplorable anddangerous as thispractice is, it is not anew phenomenonbut it may well bethat the phalanxes of bins of every sortappearing on the city’s streets have presented the vandals with farmore targets of opportunity.
Little thought seems to have been given by the authorities to theconsequences of the unsightly rows of bins on the streets outside the ground-floor flatsof many tenementbuildings.
Now, industrial-sized bins are appearing in parking bays outside many of the moremodern flats, to aidrecycling.
Added to this are the recently introduced food caddies that litter the pavements and are ahazard to people who are visually impaired.
And, if there is a high wind, these emptycaddies often blow onto the road and could cause an accident.
Of course, thepavements of Dundee have become increasingly hazardous to allpedestrians as more and more cyclists take toriding on the pavement and many fail to slow down on combinedcycle and pedestrian paths.
And what about the city’s logo which depicts the Law? Perhaps a new one will soon be required or the present one may need to be amended.
As the trees of the Dundee Law Woods grow ever higher, theoutline of the Law is changing and thepanoramic view fromthe top of the Law is slowly becoming obscured.
Malcolm McCrow. 23 Navarre Street, Dundee.
Time to protect our wildcats
Sir, – Your columnist Jim Crumley (May 12) gave us words of sanityas usual.
He is against theintroduction of lynx to Scotland and argues from a position of great authority.
Other correspondents have pointed to the plight of Scotland’s wildcats and Jim weighs in on their behalf.
I agree it would be folly for the Lynx UK Trust to campaign to import European big cats to Scotland.
Although the trust claims 91% of the United Kingdom population supports it proposal, how many respondents have had the chance to think through the consequences of bringing lynx to Scotland?
Or did these people just reply yes to the lynx trust’s poll becauseit seemed like a cuteidea?
These animals would compete for habitat with native wildcats, devour our wildlife and farmed livestock.
The National Sheep Association is firmly against the move and you can be sure that cattle farmers will be of similar mind.
Jim articulates just how dire is the threatfacing wildcats.
There could be anynumber between just 30 and 300 pure wildcats left in Scotland. That means their very existence is threatened.
Before we consider introducing exoticspecies into Scotland,we should take careof our own nativewildlife.
It would be a tragedy if in 10 years’ time, ourhillsides were teeming with lynx but ourwildcats extinct.
It would make sense if those promoting the introduction of lynx to Scotland took time to assess the value of our wildcats and took stepsto assist in theirpreservation.
Robert Anderson. Kirkton, Arbroath.
SNP wildlife climbdown?
Sir, – Throughout the long-running debate on the impact of the T in the Park festival on wildlife, one voice has been very quiet: the ScottishGovernment.
Normally the first to assure us of theircommitment to protect Scotland’s rare and iconic wildlife, one can only assume that they are busy putting measures in place to ensure T in the Park comes under the same intense scrutiny as other rural enterprises whose activities are seen, by some, as harmful to our wildlife.
The ScottishGovernment havebeen unequivocal intheir determination to protect rare species and bring the full weight of the law to bear on those convicted or suspected of wildlife crime.
This could not be watered down for the political expediency of allowing a rock concert to go ahead, could it?
Jim Fraser. 17 Elm Street, Errol.
Separatist vote did decrease
Sir, – I would agree with your correspondent, Jonathan Brown (May 12) regarding thevoting at the General Election last week and the independencereferendum last year.
I would take theanalysis one step further with an interestingstatistic which has been thrown up.
Although the SNP received 50% of thevotes cast in theelection, this equates to only 34% of the Scottish electorate.
In the independence referendum in September, the party’s much-vaunted 45% of the votes cast equated to 37% of the electorate.
It would, therefore, appear to show that, in spite of the reported increase in membership, mostly it is understood from turncoat Labour supporters, to 100,000, the SNP support actually fell by 3%.
Perhaps Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon should take this interestingstatistic into account when they start chuntering on about including another referendum in their manifesto for the Scottish election next year.
John M Page. 8 Panter Crescent, Montrose.
Now speak up for Scotland
Sir, – I must say that I am somewhat intrigued by the figures pertaining to the General Election as they relate to today’s political scene inScotland.
With 1,454,463 (46.3%) votes in its favour, the SNP took 56 seats.
In comparison, the political parties in favour of the union polled collectively 1,687,310 votes but, because of our first-past-the-post political system, were awarded only three seats, what one can only describe as a rather farcical situation.
There is a distinct relationship between the results in the recent Scottish referendum and the General Election in that the Scottish electorate voted in favour of the status quo, in that Scotland should remain part of the UK on a 54:46 basis,irrespective of Nicola Sturgeon’s proclaimed success.
Many folks in Scotland await, with bated breath, the contributions made by the newly-elected SNP Members of Parliament to debates in the House of Commons.
Robert I G Scott. Northfield, Ceres.
Sham of anti-austerity stance
Sir, – Thanks to thegullibility of manyScottish voters, we now have another Torygovernment but, this time, one which has a majority.
Despite the Scottish National Party’s many Westminster seats, the party’s electioneering tactics failed to foolEngland.
Alex Salmond’s joke about Labour’s Queen’s Speech was used by David Cameron to berate the Labour Party and he will now turn “thelion’s roar” into further resentment against Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon poses as the great defender of the public sector while the Scottish Government cuts budgets to schools and hospitals.
Her being “passionate” against privatisation in the NHS is belied by state spending on private healthcare, which has soared under thestewardship of the SNP.
Her party also brought us that wonderful council tax freeze.
It mainly benefits those living in the most expensive houses and while it has been frozen, council rents have risen £18 a week.
Not much fight against austerity there.
Agnes Joyce Smith. 4 Lime Grove, Methil.
Ms Hjul helped nationalists
Sir, – I must congratulate your columnist Jenny Hjul (May 13).
I wonder how many voters were driven into the SNP’s arms byher intemperate and increasingly desperate rants against the party during the electioncampaign?
I, for one, am delighted they did and I hope she uses future columns to reflect on her part in the SNP’s stunning successes throughout Courier Country.
Should Ms Hjulconsider penning a diary of the general election, might I suggest the title, Alex Salmond: My part in his comeback?
Henry Malcolm. 331 Clepington Road, Dundee.
Now is timeto look ahead
Sir, – I read with interest Jonathan Brown’sletter (May 12) and thought his command of mathematics wasexcellent.
However, I have no idea what point he was trying to prove.
The SNP have already said the election was not about a referendum unless there was an overwhelming demand from the Scottish people.
The only peopletalking about another independence referendum are those who were in the no camp.
That is very strange indeed. Perhaps there is some reverse psychology at work here.
The referendum is over. The election is over and the unionist parties were well beaten but it is now time to move on.
It is obvious even to the most unionist of unionists, MichaelForsyth, that the Smith Commission has been overtaken by events and is now totally unfit for purpose.
The constitutional answer is going to have to go further than Lord Smith of Kelvinproposed and it must be joined up and forward looking.
I hope those who were in the no camp will now accept that things have changed and it is now time to engage and work out the future, whether that future is Smith, Smith plus, federal states or devo max.
Simply sticking your head in the sand andsaying no change will not do I am afraid.
Even Alistair Darling has said it is not the answer.
If all these very strong supporters of the union are saying this, then I think we should alllisten and act accordingly.
Bryan Auchterlonie. Bluebell Cotttage, Ardargie, Perth.