Sir, The state placed Sergeant A in the brutal theatre of a dirty war and then exacted the law’s ultimate punishment when his conduct fell short under extreme duress.
Trial by a military board with its own agenda denied him the human right accorded to most accused to be judged by a jury made up of sensible members of the public.
So instead of a dishonourable discharge a fair and balanced outcome he will now be left to rot for 10 years under special protection measures in a common prison.
His treatment is unjust, his conviction for murder unsafe, his sentence excessive and he is the scapegoat of a society that refuses to place the true culprit of war in the dock.
Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
Too dangerous for a footpath
Sir, Since I was the person who built the security fence along the shore of the Tay south of Dundee Airport, I should comment on Andrew Greaves’ request for a shore path in TheCourier of September 12.
The problem isn’t security, for the airport is of course enclosed by security fencing on all sides. Rather the problem is the narrow and dangerous state of the shore outside the airport fence. It isn’t ordinary beach it’s large, jagged demolition debris of all kinds and shapes and it’s still eroding.
In many places there is an undercut vertical edge to the eroding embankment head, which you’re very likely to fall through and there are many trap holes where the water pressure has blasted up through the surface from below.
In bad weather you would be confined to a very narrow strip sometimes only a metre or two wide, between the security fence and the river, over a long distance and with a south west gale and a high tide the waves sometimes come right through the fence, bringing large debris with them.
Just beyond the end of the stone sea wall, where the ground levels are low, I have seen tree branches driven right through the security fence by storm conditions and have often seen the tidemark well inside the airport. Anyone out there in stormy conditions would be at great risk, and very hard to rescue.
The condition of the shore south of the airport is such that the council has plans to spend a great deal of money there countering erosion and flooding risks, but it doesn’t have that money at the moment. If the shore scheme eventually makes provision for a footpath, it might be possible, but at the moment it would not be wise.
Gordon Fleming. 2 St Nicholas Place, Dundee.
We have other stores to go to
Sir, The Scottish independence referendum becomes more bizarre each day. Now we have the veiled threats once again from the “No” campaign, of a “supermarket uprising” by the “big boys” Asda, Morrisons etc who, they say, may quit Scotland if it becomes independent. Scots have nothing to fear if this does happen, they can just turn to the German Lidl and Aldi stores for their goods and perhaps some enterprising Scots will see a market opening for a Scottish supermarket chain on the same lines.
Lidl and Aldi give better value and quality in many cases to that claimed to be provided by the big supermarkets.
Bob Harper. 63a Pittenweem Road, Anstruther.
Class size nonsense
Sir, I see from The Courier that some politicians are again complaining about the size of primary school class sizes.
Can I just say that 30 pupils in one class with one teacher, used to be normal and we received a good education, in fact it was the envy of the world.
The thing is that then people respected and supported teachers, knowing they were working hard to help the pupils and usually made certain their children attended school.
The other thing is the absence rate statistics. Is it not the responsibility of parents to ensure that a child attends school?
Are there no longer attendance officers to go to the child’s home to investigate why the child is absent?
Are parents still required to appear in court to face a possible fine because of their child’s non-attendance at school, or have the minority of do-gooders put a stop to that as well as so many other things?
June Reid. 12 Findhorn Street, Fintry, Dundee.
What about rest of year?
Sir, Like many others, no doubt, I am very impressed by the tough new prosecution policy in relation to housebreaking crimes, unveiled yesterday by the Solicitor General, but I doubt if it will ever be enforced.
The police will continue to arrest the criminals but when they appear before a court, all the hardship and domestic excuses will be submitted by the defence.
Also, the policy is to last three weeks; what about the other 49?
John McDonald. 14 Rosebery Court, Kirkcaldy.