Sir,- I would like to reply to Rev Dr Cameron’s letter (September 21) in which he claims an invasion of the British Isles by Germany was a pipe dream, the victory was inconclusive and the Royal Navy would have saved us.
The over-running of France and the Low Countries in a matter of weeks took both sides by surprise.
The Blitzkreig tactics, the fall of the Belgian forts so quickly, the quality of German armour and the reliance by the Allies on static defences such as the Maginot Line contributed to the quick victory.
It is, therefore, nosurprise that whenGerman forces reached the Channel they lacked the means to cross it immediately.
They had to set about making plans for crossing it and gathered suitable vessels, including barges, which had to be converted to carry troops.
Tugs and other suitable ships were also brought to the Channel ports to take them across. They also started on the design and construction of gliders suitable for transporting their tanks and heavy guns .
Unlike Dr Cameron, the German High Command realised they needed air superiorityto make a successful invasion possible.
Without mastery of the air, the Royal Navy would not have been able to attack the German invasion fleet without being annihilated.
As proof of this can I point out that the British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse, travelling without air cover, were sunk by Japanese aircraft and the convoys through the Dover Straits were stopped due to heavy losses by aircraft attacks.
The Japanese battleship Yamato was sunkin 1945 on its way to Okinawa and again ithad no air coverBritish capital ships were moved away from the Channel ports due to the risk of air attack.
Hitler considered the United Kingdom was a spent force and could pose no threat while he invaded the Soviet Union, which he thought would only take a few weeks.
The RAF’s victory also showed the deficiencies in the aircraft of the much-vaunted Luftwaffe, which up until then had been considered almost invincible and all-conquering.
When Louis Bleriot made his crossing of the Channel in 1909, the comment was, Britain is no longer an island.
I consider that I have shown that the RAF saved the day and that the Royal Navy could not have prevented a landing on its own.
Alfred Small. 8 Claypotts Terrace, Dundee.
Time to exploit our coal reserves
Sir,- To the uninitiated, your story about thepossibility of coal gasification jobs in Fife (September 21) strikes a cheery note.
However, if we had grown-up politicians, then hard questions would be asked about schemes to make a quick quid from exploiting our hugely valuable natural resource in the Kincardine-Airth coalfields.
It is not outrageous to suggest that no other democracy has politicians so apathetic as to stand aside and even contemplate any proposal to allow underground coal gasification anywhere near this area.
This technology is applicable in situations where it is not technically or commercially viable to access relatively small tonnages of coal byconventional mining techniques.
But it is never, never used in the case of vast reserve areas.
During the late 1950s, a detailed exploratory drilling programme delineated around one billion tonnes of high-quality coal, with around 50% coking coal quality.
At the time, long-term plans were laid for up to eight major underground mines to exploit this huge gift from God.
Indeed, the first shaft-sinking was started near Airth station.
So if we had forward-thinking politicians we would long ago have made a start to opening up that coalfield.
We shouldn’t be talking about closing Longannet power station:we should be building a second installation with a parallel mining development programme toprovide fuel for bothstations.
And it’s not just the thermal coal. Do you know the world prices for coking coals? It makes commercial sense to assess the viability of exporting fromGrangemouth.
However, if, as I fear, we don’t have those grown-up politicians, then at least, let’s have the responsibility to leave this mammoth source of wealth for our children.
Jim Parker. 9 Banchory Green, Collydean, Glenrothes.
Really no need for StARlink
Sir,- After the reopening of the Borders Railway it hasn’t taken long for StARlink, the campaign for a new rail-link into St Andrews, to jump on the media bandwagon, broadcasting the usual rhetoric in support of their totally unnecessary proposal.
St Andrews already has the benefit of a main-line rail connection at Leuchars station situated within a 10 to 15 minute bus or taxi journey from the town centre.
Is this short journey too much of an inconvenience to justify campaigning for a costly and impracticable rail link into the town?
Commuters and tourists in other towns and cities would surely be satisfied with such a convenient local service to and from a mainline railstation similar to what St Andrews already has.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Allan Chalmers. 7 Links Crescent, St Andrews.
Misrepresenting secularist views
Sir,- In his letter ofSeptember 19, Rev David Robertson seeks to misguide readers regarding the Scottish Secular Society (SSS), secularists in general and the public funding of religion.
Four paragraphs after posing as innocent of “slurs against atheists” he claims that “theatheistic secularistswant to use the state school system toindoctrinate children into their philosophy”.
What the SSS actually wants is for state schools to be neutral on religion, promoting neitherreligion nor atheismand leaving suchinfluence to parents.
He claims Christians do not use state schools to indoctrinate children, yet Christian indoctrination takes place daily in state schools all over the country, as children not known to be from Christian families are enrolled in mandatory religious observance, told to sing praises and offer prayers to a Christian God and presented with Christian supernatural beliefs as if they were fact.
Thus public fundsare used to promotereligious doctrine tothe young, especially in faith schools.
He claims that “the Scottish Secular Society continually campaign against religion in general and Christianity in particular” but offers no examples.
This is not surprising, since our campaigns have been only against intrusions of religion into the lives of non-followers, such as default enrolment in religious observance and the teaching of young Earth creationism in schools.
He suggests that there is reason to regard our secularism as a guise for hatred of religion.
Though it is true that comments expressing dislike of religion can be found in our open Facebook forum, Secular Scotland, these are merely the permitted views of individuals and not of the group.
Robert Canning. Vice-chairman, The Scottish Secular Society, 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh.
Let the people in to Perth City Hall
Sir,- It looks as if Perth and Kinross Council will continue to refuse the pleas that Perth CityHall be opened to allow the public to see inside, even though many of Perth’s citizens have never had an opportunity to do so.
I hope that at the very least, arrangements will be made for councillors to have the opportunity to inspect the hall before their planned debate on October 7.
There will, I think, be at least a few who have never been inside.
Seeing inside the City Hall and gaining that essential informationof the potential of the building could be the first step in believing the building has a viable and sustainable future.
I hope it will give councillors the opportunity for reflection.
Will they consider itas an asset for a newly revived city, an asset potentially for several community uses?
What about the 500,000 artefacts in Perth Museum and Art Gallery, many of which never see the light of day?
These could be exhibited in the spacious City Hall alongside, on arolling basis, iconic national items.
Mark Webster. Clachbeag, Tibbermore.
The problem of school buses
Sir, – This confusion about school buses conveying pupils to school from the Madras catchment areas around St Andrews is causing so much of a problem thatI feel I must try to givean answer as simply as possible.
At present there are 19 double-decker buses supported by two public transport buses thatconvey pupils to school on four occasions every school day.
At this proposed school in the morning, having travelled along Largo Road to Pipeland, the 19 buses would have to travel along Largo Road and return to their depot. They would not wait.
At the end of the day the buses would travel along Largo Road to the school and return along this route once pupils have been boarded.
The buses wouldthen go to their destinations towards Tay Bridgehead.
At this time we would have four trips each day by these 19 school buses, which is 76 double-deckers using Largo Road.
There is another issue to consider, that there may be a decision that double-deckers will be changed to single-deckers for safety reasons.
This will increase the number of buses by about one-third and will increase the number of buses to around 110 daily using Largo Road every school day.
Consideration must also be given to the future development of more than 2,000 houses within this catchment area and how many new pupils that will produce and the need for many more buses.
Bill Sangster. 24 Main Street, Strathkinness.