Tesco doesn’t want Dundee staff to move to Livingston, they just want to fill that facility with Eastern Europeans.

Also what a kick in the teeth to read about the new South Road store.

The company builds a new shop in Dundee, but the city is not good enough for a new distribution centre. — Disgusted Worker.

The letter named Dundonians from the past who had what were then thought to be radical ideas and were, in some instances, persecuted. In hindsight the ideas being promoted would not now be considered radical.

I know about most of those named but was intrigued by one — William Lyon McKenzie the first mayor of Toronto.

I can’t remember reading anything about him. Was he forced to flee this country? Can the Tele enlighten me? — History Harry.

[Mackenzie was born in Dundee in 1795, and emigrated to Canada in 1820.

In 1822, his widowed mother and son James (8) also went to Canada. Isabel Baxter, who had grown up near the Mackenzies, accompanied them. William and Isabel married three weeks later.

Together, they had 13 children, but only seven survived childhood and two others died as young adults.

When Mackenzie first arrived in Canada, he owned a store, but quickly became active in politics.

In 1824, Mackenzie started a newspaper called the Colonial Advocate. In 1828, he was elected to the government of Upper Canada (now Ontario), where he served as a member of the Legislative Assembly for almost 20 years.

In 1834 he was elected to the Toronto City Council and was appointed its first mayor.

By December 1837, frustrated with the colonial government, Mackenzie led a rebellion in an attempt to overthrow it. The rebellion failed and Mackenzie fled to the US.

In 1849, an amnesty was granted and in 1850 the family returned to Toronto.

The following year Mackenzie was re-elected to the assembly. He retired from the legislature in 1858, but continued to publish a newspaper until 1860.

He died in 1861.

His family home, now known as Mackenzie House, still exists and is a major tourist attraction in Toronto.]

The wartime coalition government led by Churchill ordered a report into the ways that the UK should be rebuilt after the war. William Beveridge, a prominent Liberal, was asked to take charge because of his previous experience in the field of National Insurance and old age pensions.

His report was published in 1942 and this was used in setting up the welfare state.

The Attlee government announced in 1945 that it would bring in the welfare state, including National Health Service and National Insurance.

The increase in pensions and the insurance benefits did help a lot of people from 1948 but spending on the “free” NHS created a financial problem.

As the world moved on, the cost of living increased and the value of these benefits was eroded. Any increases in benefit rates had to be paid for by increasing taxes and National Insurance contributions.

The Attlee government was voted out in 1951 by which time (macroeconomics or not) the UK was more in debt to the USA than ever and engaged in fighting a war in Korea. — R. F., Broughty Ferry.

I have been a carer for 15 years for my mum and I do all I can.

If carers were not there who would do the job 24 hours a day?

People like Mr Jack Stewart from Perth Pensioners’ Forum knows what carers do. He is a stalwart campaigner for the disabled pensioner and carers.

Could any councillor live on the carers’ allowance of £46.70 per week? — Kenneth Hill, Brownhill Road, Dundee.

Quite apart from the fact that many of them simply throw their refuse, both food and containers, out of their vehicles, the noise they generate is awful.

Every night, especially at weekends, the revving car engines and loud “thump, thump” music makes a peaceful night impossible.

The police are never seen. It’s time this anti-social behaviour was sorted out. — John and Phylis Dench.

At first I was a bit annoyed but then I smiled as I realised that the Muslim community has a sense of humour. — George Aimer, Kinghorne Road, Dundee.

The starting point came from a reference to them giving a paper at the 6th National Women’s Liberation Movement Conference in Edinburgh, in 1974.

Can anyone help me with any details/stories/archive material? — Pauline MacPherson, School of English, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN. (p.macpherson@dundee.ac.uk)

This year’s revenue will only be £11.6 billion, whereas Scotland gets £32 billion from being part of the Union.

Oil is a very price-sensitive resource. For example, over £1.4 billion has been lost over the last few months as the price has fluctuated from $65 a barrel to $70 and then back down to $63. — D. A. B.

When I was a child in the 30s there was an annual fair on the “Green”.

There were events which all could enter, with cash prizes. Times were very hard and the young lads would enter the bare-knuckle boxing contest.

I remember a young Jim Brady carrying off the prize money several times.

These carnivals stopped during the war and were never revived. — Eck French, Perth Road, Dundee.