Sir, In his effort to rewrite history, your correspondent Brian McGarry (Who would believe what he says now?, April 25), clearly hits the wrong target.
It is generally acknowledged now that the swift intervention by President Obama and Prime Minister Brown saved the world’s financial system from collapse during the banking crisis.
The charge that Gordon Brown raided pension funds is an urban myth. He actually stopped tax relief on dividends received by such funds and used the money saved to help to fund the state pension and other benefits.
Your correspondent should have targeted his displeasure instead at the Governor of the Bank Of England at the time responsible for overseeing financial regulations in the UK.
During his tenure he turned a blind eye to casino banking leading up to the crash, did not identify the scandal of Libor Rate manipulation, rate swaps and other dubious financial practices.
His reward on retiring from office instead of ignominy, was a massive pension, a knighthood and a seat in the House of Lords.
Joseph A Peterson. St Andrews.
Man’s efforts no match for Mother Nature
Sir, A study by scientists from the Met Office, British Geological Survey and the universities of Leeds, Edinburgh and others, concluded that Britain’s greatest future threat may not come from flooding, terrorism or economic collapse but from a supervolcano erupting in Iceland.
There was a huge volcanic eruption in 1783 within the Grimsvotn volcanic complex in eastern Iceland and records show that after this eruption there was extreme heat in the summer of 1783, followed by an exceptional, cold winter in the northern hemisphere, unusual thunderstorms, ball lightning and large hailstones.
This study shows just how puny are mankind’s attempts to control the climate.
Computer models predicting the rate at which temperatures would rise from 1998 onwards failed to take into account the considerable impact volcanoes have in lowering temperatures and this is belatedly given as the reason for no warming for 16 years. There are 30 active volcano systems in Iceland and more than 500 active volcanoes in the world.
The West has wasted tens of billions of pounds/Euros to prevent global warming when Mother Nature does it for us.
Clark Cross. 138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
A win-win situation
Sir, Mike Hibberd makes a very valid point about the legacy, or lack of it, for shooting sports in this area if the organisers demolish all the Commonwealth Games venues at Barry Buddon (April 28).
The demolition of these venues will cost almost as much as building them, so it seems to me that the games’ organisers would save money by just donating the facilities to the Ministry of Defence, on whose land they are.
That way the Games Committee will save money, the MoD will gain superb facilities for training service personnel and local shooting clubs would be able to hire the facilities to train up-and-coming young Olympians.
We already have one national shooting champion in Tayside and several rising stars. With some first-class facilities for training perhaps we could better that.
(Captain) Ian F McRae. 17 Broomwell Gardens, Monikie.
Deep Sea still going strong
Sir, We note from a letter in Monday’s correspondence column that the writer, Leslie Milligan, assumes that it is a fruitless exercise to come to Dundee because of all the confusion in the central area of the city and, even worse, the Deep Sea being closed.
How wrong can you be? We at the Deep Sea are about to celebrate our 77th year of trading and, therefore, are still very much alive and kicking.
There have been some speculative stories leaked to the press by a party with no connection to us which gave us cause for concern and it would seem they have passed on to a wider field.
Lawrence and Dorothy are still there giving the public their best attention.
Raymond D Sterpaio. The Deep Sea Restaurant, 81 Nethergate, Dundee.
Gadget blocks cold callers
Sir, Just like your correspondent, Mona Clark, (Monday’s letters), I was plagued by unwanted, nuisance cold calls even when I also was with TPS but this all stopped when I was given a present of a CPR Callblocker.
This is a little gadget which you install between your main telephone socket and your telephone. You must have Caller ID on your phone for the Callblocker to work effectively.
The gadget is programmed to bar more than 200 known cold call numbers but you can also add a number to the list, block all “withheld” callers, “international” callers and all “0” type calls.
If an unwanted call manages to get through then you simply press a button on the Callblocker and that number will not get through again.
Since this Callblocker was installed I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of nuisance calls I have received. It really has been a boon and I would certainly recommend it to those who are pestered by these calls.
John M Page. 8 Panter Crescent, Montrose.
In a powerful position
Sir, It has taken 307 years and a significant amount of external political pressure for the Scottish nation to finally have a democratic say on the idea of political union with England . . . let alone the terms under which that union should proceed.
On September 18 the people of Scotland will have total power over their nation’s political allegiances. Total sovereignty over their national destiny. That is a powerful position . . . and not one to be taken lightly.
Should the people of Scotland choose to forgo continued sovereignty over their nation, they may not have another chance for another 307 years if, indeed, Scotland even exists at all by then.
However, should the Scottish people retain that sovereignty and with it assert their national statehood, they will retain the power to choose whatever political situation they deem suitable to their needs, whether that be total autonomy or indeed, a political union or treaty with any other world state, organisation or collective thereof . . . including England! Only with national sovereignty can we ensure the terms agreed are, and remain, to our satisfaction.
Only with the retention of sovereignty and political independence can any nation assert control over these matters. Only with sovereignty and independence can any nation assert the right to exist.
John F Campbell. (ex-Dundee resident), British Columbia, Canada.
The union if it ain’t broke . . .
Sir, T Tolland of Meigle brought the level of debate on independence down to a new low when he wrote: “It’s really quite easy to decide” which way to vote: just look at a photo of David Cameron and ask: “Would you buy a second-hand car from this man?” (April 23). On appearance alone, most people would be more likely to opt for David Cameron rather than Alex Salmond!
But the debate is not about how trustworthy any politician looks, but what the real issues are. Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish and English have fared better as parts of a whole the United Kingdom than they ever did as separate entities. The UK is still functioning as a very efficient community of nations.
As far as the union is concerned If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! And it ain’t!
George K McMillan. 5 Mount Tabor Avenue, Perth.
Nobody knows for certain
Sir, There’s a regular call for more facts in the run-up to September 18. Here are a few I think are beyond argument.
In the event of a “yes” vote, Scotland will change and keep changing. In the event of a “no” vote, it will change and keep changing, but differently.
In the event of a “yes” vote Scotland will not be independent on September 19. It will not be independent for a while. March 24 2016 is the proposed date. It’s very unlikely to be earlier than that.
In between, there will be negotiations as to what exactly independence will mean. It won’t end up exactly as in the white paper. It may not end up anything like the white paper.
The negotiating teams will be led by the First Minister and the UK Prime Minister. The latter might change after a few months. If the negotiations go past the proposed date then the former might change too.
Throughout, the UK Prime Minister isn’t going to be an MP from a Scottish seat politicians are always mindful of those who can vote them in/out next time. For the UK PM, that won’t be anyone in Scotland.
Anyone who claims to know how it will all end up is either fibbing or deluded.
Dave Dempsey. 7 Carlingnose Park, North Queensferry.
Where does it say that?
Sir, Regular No-supporter John Cameron seems to have been reduced to setting up straw men and knocking them down (Letters, April 25). If he can quote any sections of the Yes campaign which allude to “England’s oppression” then perhaps he should quote it, chapter and verse.
In general, Yes supporters campaign for positive reasons the opportunity to create a fairer society, to play a fuller part in international affairs, and to avoid many of the lunacies which regularly emerge from Westminster nowadays.
As for Mr Cameron’s “ten years of disruption”, the dissolution of Czechoslovakia occurred in a period of only six months, with the Czech and Slovak republics then being admitted to the UN within a month of the dissolution.
Alan Lawson. 1 Albany Road, West Ferry, Dundee.