The blame for the Tesco supermarket pulling out of the Stack area of Lochee must surely lie with Dundee councillors and the planning department.
Many people saw this coming when the council approved Tesco’s plans for South Road.
Dundee City Council allowed the post office to be taken off Lochee High Street and relocated in Tesco (Stack) — that was the death knell for the High Street.
With regards Lochee High Street being a ghost area, surely the public are responsible for this. If shops are not patronised, selling goods and making a profit, they will close.
The council allowed Lidl to build another store on South Road when a supermarket building was standing empty in the Highgate Centre.
I remember when Lochee had an identity of its own and was a bustling, thriving shopping area.
I hope the fall-out from Tesco at Stack closing will make the council sit up and take notice of the plight of Lochee and do something constructive.
I send my heartfelt thanks to the shopkeepers and businesses who are still trading in Lochee. — Em/Cee.
No action over vegetation
The shrubbery at the junction of Scott Street and City Road in Dundee has now reached the dangerous stage.
It is within five feet of the pavement, which means anyone over that height has to duck or step on to City Road.
The drivers of many vehicles also have their vision obscured by the overhang of vegetation.
This has been reported to the city council on several occasions, but with a lack of action. Will it take a serious accident to force their hand? — R. Kennedy, Blyth Place, Dundee.
Disgrace of cash for London games
I was saddened to read that local charity Radio in the Community may have to close due to the refusal of the National Lottery to fund what appears to be a very popular initiative.
It is also sad to see so much money being spent on silly things like £400,000 on a logo advertising the London Olympic Games.
Politicians tend to forget it is the people’s lottery and not their money.
Camelot is the custodian of this money and should be awarding it to good causes such as Radio in the Community.
How many other groups and organisations are to fold before something is done? It is a national disgrace that money is siphoned off to London.
I also find it strange that our local politicians have not taken up this charity’s plight.
I only hope this charity gets the funding it requires to keep going. — Cynical Tam.
Anomaly in alcohol guidelines
Re the news report about bus travel to the Scotland game which said, “Bus drivers and operators would be liable to prosecution if they knowingly allow alcohol to be carried on their vehicles.” There would appear to be an anomaly in official guidelines from the Traffic Commission which states that although the driver and operator can be held liable for “knowingly” allowing alcohol to be carried, the guidelines also state, “Drivers will not be expected to carry out baggage or body searches, nor will they be expected to confiscate alcohol or to remove passengers without police assistance.” This makes it impossible for drivers/operators to enforce the ban.— Informed.
Cost of illegal downloads
Letter writer Sandra Connor complained a shop from which her daughter bought a laptop wouldn’t repair it free-of-charge when it became infected with a virus through using the Limewire peer-to-peer sharing programme.
Peer-to-peer sharing is where one person buys a DVD, CD etc then makes it available through sharing software like Limewire, for anyone else to download to their PC free.
The purchaser shouldn’t have expected a reputable trader to advise her on what is illegal activity.
This practice takes money out of the pockets of the software developers. — Private Ear.
Customer the cause
If Sandra Connor’s daughter had used legitimate sites to download music/movies etc. she wouldn’t have got a virus on her laptop.
Limewire is primarily used for downloading illegal music and movies and is one of the primary causes of viruses and trojans etc, some of which are not picked up by any anti-virus software.
Complaining about a retailer when the customer is the sole cause of the problem seems rather harsh. — C. C.
Avoid file sharing
It is a fact no anti-virus product will detect all viruses. It is a relatively simple procedure to create a new and unique virus using “virus creation kits”. Also, it is almost trivial to take a known virus and transform it thereby hiding it from anti-virus packages.
By the time the anti-virus companies know about the “new” virus, it has probably affected thousands of computers.
Avoiding malware when browsing the Internet is also difficult since any link we click on or any software we install means we are taking a chance. The bottom line is malware is almost impossible to avoid.
Anti-virus software is only one of several protections a user can take to help avoid malware affecting their computer. Some other measures include using pop-up blocker, a firewall, anti-spyware software and running a malware cleaner such as SpyBot Search and Destroy frequently.
File sharing packages such as Limewire, BearShare and Kazaa should be avoided at all costs. Besides the fact that most of the material that is downloaded from these is copyrighted, the vast majority of the files downloaded will contain viruses. — Colin McLean, Lecturer in Ethical Hacking, University of Abertay Dundee.
Doggone!
Martin Clune’s recent TV programme extolling the virtues of dogs reminded me of the many canine-motivated pop chart offerings:
n How Much Is That Doggie In The Window was a 50s Patti Page classic.
n Cat Stevens’ debut 45 rpm was I Love My Dog (1966).
n Norma Tanega’s Walking My Cat Named Dog (1966) was also a 45 rpm covered by Barry McGuire.
n Me And You And A Dog Named Boo (1972) charted for Lobo.
n Puppy Love (composed by Paul Anka) was revived by Donny Osmond in 1972.
n Hey Bulldog (1968) preoccupied The Beatles (and was featured in their cartoon movie Yellow Submarine).
n Elvis took a metaphorical stance when his 1956 78rpm proclaimed You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog.
— J. I. Matthew.
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