Sir, I applaud the Riverside cowp site and staff who provide us with so much that, perhaps, goes unnoticed or not commented on. They are among Dundee’s finest.
I’ve had a dustman’s holiday, having needed to visit the cowps in Dundee, Forfar, Kirriemuir and Edinburgh. Of these, the Riverside site was the most pleasant and easiest to use.
All of my questions regarding “what should go where” were politely answered, without expletives, help given when requested, all accompanied by braw, gallus, Dundonian banter.
I overran my schedule, so belted down there to swiftly complete my task and return the rental van on time. Disaster! Heavy overnight rain had inundated the site (for the second time this week, I learned).
What was I going to do with my refuse: take it back home, leave it with my worst enemy or, worst of all, return it to mother and pay three times over? Rescue! By 8.50am, 10 minutes before opening, water was pumping and a temporary skip placed for the “undesirables”.
I was truly impressed with the typically cheerful and stoic response and even more so by the appearance of many unrequested hands to help me.
So, fellow Dundonians, spare a thought for our friends at Riverside, who work so tirelessly behind the scenes, and appreciate that it is not a dump or a tip but a place to enjoy visiting and a huge asset to the fairest city of the future.
Jeremy Martindale. 25 Riverside Road, Wormit.
Royal Mail was a service, not a business
Sir, The Royal Mail is one of our great British institutions, with a proud history going back several centuries. No sound reasons have been given for selling it off.
Minister Michael Fallon talked of getting freedom to raise money it needed to invest in the future but this does not make sense. The Royal Mail was a public service, not a business. When post offices are closed because they are unprofitable in the future and we are too old to go elsewhere, it will be too late to complain. Alex Salmond is to be congratulated and thanked for promising to bring back the Royal Mail in Scotland.
Malby Goodman. 70 High Street, Aberdour.
Of crime and punishment
Sir, A strange contrast was revealed in two sets of sentences reported recently: one list related to drugs offenders at T in the Park and the other to a driving offence (The Courier, 16/10).
A driver who undertook two cars on the Dundee-Perth dual carriageway and failed to turn up in court … was taken off a plane at Heathrow and brought back to Scotland, where he was fined £400 and had six penalty points put on his licence.
In contrast, offenders caught in possession of illegal drugs at T in the Park received fines varying from £60 to £270; none was sentenced to prison or community service.
The offending driver was certainly breaking the law but many drivers, including myself, will identify with his frustration when forced to stay behind two drivers driving under the speed limit in the overtaking lane and refusing to move over.
This driver was fined £400 far more than any of the drug offenders.
The police and stewards did a good job at T in the Park, but what’s the point of it if our courts are so lenient? I am sure there would be a substantial decrease in drug-taking and dealing if there was an automatic jail sentence for anybody found in possession of class A drugs, swingeing prison sentences for drug dealers and, at the very least, community service for anybody found with less dangerous drugs, such as cannabis.
The do-gooders keep telling us prison does not work. If it does not, it is because sentences are too short, they are rendered even shorter by over-lenient legislation and parole boards, while prison regimes are too soft. When criminals dread going to prison, potential offenders, including those tempted to take illegal drugs, will think twice about breaking the law.
George K McMillan. 5 Mount Tabor Avenue, Perth.
Nihilism does nothing for me
Sir, What a refreshing letter from Paul Read on October 17. Although not a follower of any particular religion, I certainly believe in a power or entity that is beyond human understanding. Why? Because it is becoming ever more apparent we humans cannot be anywhere near the final “evolutionary rung”.
As to whether religious instruction should be given in the nation’s schools, we should only be really concerned if/when nihilism is on the curriculum.
Kenneth Miln. 22 Fothringham Drive, Monifieth.
A Sellafield selling point
Sir, In reply to Robert Potter (Monday’s Letters), I would prefer two or three nuclear power stations, that can be visually unobtrusive, to an endless industrial panorama of useless windmills that ruin our beautiful country and wreck tourism as well as people’s lives.
For some years I lived at Calder Bridge, near Sellafield, and was always comforted by the way the lights stayed on when there was no wind. This made me appreciate the superiority of nuclear power over windmills.
Malcolm Parkin. 15 Gamekeepers Road, Kinnesswood, Kinross.