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Letters - 30 August 2005
Barriers to integration
I AM a taxi driver and recently renewed my licence.
I was rather surprised to receive in the post with my renewed licence from Dundee City Council, a long and detailed letter explaining in a rather child-like manner, the wrongs of racism.

We are basically told we must respect other peoples’ cultures and that we are all the same.

The letter pointed out that we must integrate. Why don’t incomers integrate with us?

For example, asking for separate schools and even having their wish granted for separate swimming times for Muslim women at Lochee is hardly conducive to integration.

I have seen a woman in Dundee dressed in black from head to toe, exposing only the eyes through a narrow slit, and I was filled with despair.

Regardless of religion or colour of skin I object to being told what I should respect.

In the current climate, Muslim women should not be allowed to dress like this.

I find it depressing and offensive as it closes all doors by them to any integration. — G. M.

Serious incidents

The speed camera sign on Broughty Ferry Road near Ellengowan Drive.

THOSE RESPONSIBLE for what they call safety cameras (speed cameras to the rest of us) have stated they are only deployed in places with a history of serious accidents and loss of life.

If this is the case, could those responsible please tell me when and how many incidents there have been in these categories on Broughty Ferry Road at the junction of Ellengowan Drive, Dundee?

A camera is there on a regular basis. — W. Gibson, Callochie Place, Dundee.

[David Farmer, safety camera manager of Tayside Safety Camera Partnership, said, “The Broughty Ferry Road camera site runs from west of Wallace Street for one kilometre to east of Ellengowan Drive.

“The site was approved for operation on October 1, 2002, under safety camera rules which require a history of people killed or seriously injured and evidence of excessive speed.

“This site was approved for operation from July 1, 2003, as during the years 2000 to 2002, there were four collisions resulting in persons being either killed or seriously injured within the site length.

“Records also show that there were eight collisions involving personal injury. Traffic monitoring for the site over five days showed that 54% of traffic exceeded the 30mph speed limit.

“The reason that safety cameras are used is that they are one of many safety initiatives working together to reduce casualties within the partnership area.

“Cameras enforce the legal speed limits, and by their highly-visible presence they should also educate drivers that by reducing their speed they are taking responsibility for their actions.

“Unfortunately there is still a small minority of drivers who slow down for the cameras rather that see the safety unit as a clear message they are in an area where there have been collisions and casualties in the past.

“To find out more, visit the Tayside Safety Camera partnership web site on www. safetayside.co.uk.”]

Lottery assurance
I WAS surprised, and disappointed, to see Camelot recently described in court as “morally reprehensible” by the solicitor advocate acting for a woman, who by her own admission was responsible for defrauding a 74-year-old woman of a £7000 National Lottery prize, absconding with the money and frittering away all but a couple of hundred pounds of it (Evening Telegraph, August 18).

Camelot has every sympathy for the victim of this crime, and has co-operated fully with the police investigation of the matter, supplying information relating to the claim of the £7000 prize by Anderson which helped to lead to a successful conviction.

I reassure our players that in our experience this type of fraudulent behaviour is extremely rare.

Every National Lottery ticket is potentially the key to a significant prize. For that reason we always advise our players to take care of them by keeping them in a safe place and writing their name and address on the back so that they can be clearly identified as the ticket holder. — Tom Scott, Director, Customer Services, Camelot Group plc, Magdalen House, Tolpits Lane, Watford.

Robert Bruce a greater hero
RECENT CELEBRATIONS to mark the 700th anniversary of the death of William Wallace have grated on me, when he is lauded as “Scotland’s Greatest Hero.”

Great hero, yes, but history and the country seem to forget that after Wallace’s death another great warrior arose, destined to be worthy inheritor of Wallace’s mantle — Robert the Bruce.

After Wallace’s execution in 1305, it fell to Bruce to carry on the armed struggle against England and its belligerent King Edward I, Hammer of the Scots.

In the years after Wallace’s death and before Bannockburn, Bruce faced an uphill struggle to keep the flame of rebellion alive. He suffered family loss and faced opposition from the English and own people.

It’s curious that films have been made showing the lives of Wallace (Mel Gibson) and Rob Roy Macgregor (Liam Neeson), but it’s to Bruce and his resolve that the Scots owe their freedom.

Bruce was the true Father of our Nation yet he gets no commemoration from the country and the people he devoted much of his life to free.— Eboracum, Dundee.

Tourist attraction
READING THE letter the other day regarding the single plaque commemorating William Wallace, which is hidden behind a statue of Admiral Duncan, it does seem strange that we have statues of cartoon characters (Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx), but no statue of Wallace.

Does Dundee Council not realise this would be a big tourist attraction?

There should be plans put in place to improve the situation. — Duncan MacDonald, Gourdie Road, Dundee.

What about France?
LETTER WRITER W. W. McCormack has missed the point when he says the US and coalition should have persevered with the UN instead of going into Iraq.

He pillories Messrs Bush and Blair for this decision, but I recall no such criticism of France when it ignored a UN demand not to intervene in Ivory Coast’s affairs.

It is important to note that even when UN mandates have been secured, hundreds of thousands of innocents have died when supposedly under the safe protection of peacekeepers.

Now we find the UN mired in yet another financial scandal.

With this little lot going on it is little wonder countries are now lining up behind the Americans and calling for UN reform. — W. Wilson, Dundee.

THE ADDRESS for readers’ letters is - Readers’ Page, Evening Telegraph, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL. They can also be placed in our post box at our offices in Albert Square, Dundee, emailed to us on letters@eveningtelegraph.co.uk or faxed on 01382 454590. We ask correspondents using a nom-de-plume or sending by e-mail to provide a name and address for reference purposes. The editor reserves the right to reject or edit any letter. Please keep letters as short as possible.*
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