SIR – It's hard to know what to make of Professor Richard Dawkins, pictured above. It's not long since he had atheist posters put on London's buses, and now, with a papal visit pending, his legal team is poised to arrest Pope Benedict.
Over the years Dawkins has made a name for himself ranting against Christianity, delivering anti-God lectures all over the world – the champion of all humanists.
I recall another champion once fought against God – Goliath to name. Goliath couldn't prevail and nor will Dawkins, for futility is written large over every attempt he makes to down or discredit God.
The strangest part is this: Dawkins maintains God doesn't exist yet he tours the globe railing against Him. How incomprehensible is that?
Keith Fernie,
Drakies Avenue,
Inverness.
SIR – The £400,000 cost to the taxpayer of parting with Aberdeenshire Council's director of education illustrates how far out of control the Aberdeenshire Council gravy train has gone.
Council management and councillors cost us all a lot of money and all we get in return is blunder after blunder from people elected to act in a responsible way.
In times gone by, the old town council system was run by local people who had commitment to their communities even to the extent of getting little remuneration in return for their work. We maybe did not appreciate it at the time but local administration then was done more effectively at a far lower cost.
Present council cost-saving efficiencies are being done at the point of delivery of service when the real savings are to be made cutting out the tiers of bureaucracy and the chronic inefficiencies that have resulted in the cost of Mr Bruce Robertson's departure.
Ian Murray,
Fyfe Park,
Kemnay.
SIR, – Regarding the future of health services in west Caithness and the concerns of Dr Mackay (Press and Journal, August 6).
The management of the North Highland Community Health Partnership want to improve local services for patients. We want to offer more support to prevent the ill health that leads to hospital admission and we want to give people the choice of having end-of-life care in their own homes.
Our aim is for people to be healthier for longer and having to spend less time away from their homes and families. Being able to make these improvements relies on us being able to take money out of services that are underused.
We felt we had to be honest and say that we had already come up with a way of finding the money needed by closing the in-patient beds at Dunbar and reducing the hours of the casualty unit, but that does not mean we are not open to other ideas.
That’s why we are putting a lot of time into working with the community and the reference group for this redesign project will meet again next week. As Dr Mackay notes we are in a difficult financial climate and as more people live longer we have more people in need of health and social care support.
We can’t let our health service stagnate. We have to come together to change the way it operates so we can improve the care of our patients within our existing budgets.
Pauline Craw,
Locality General Manager,
NHS Highland,
Assynt House,
Inverness.
SIR, – I was pleased to read (Press and Journal, August 4) that NHS Grampian are to delay the implementation of the proposed smoking ban while more research and consultation is carried out.
It is important to remember that nicotine addiction is a very powerful addiction and that many smokers, if not most, would prefer to be non-smokers but are unable to break the habit.
Having worked for many years in the addiction field and being an ex-smoker, I have a good understanding of how addictive nicotine is. I relapsed twice when trying to stop before achieving long-term success, and I will never smoke again but after many years of not smoking, I can still remember how difficult it was to stop.
It is obviously a wonderful concept to aim for a completely smoke-free health service environment but it is important that enthusiasm for the aim is in balance with the realities of what is achievable.
I recall working in a health service in Australia quite some years ago where a new hospital was being commissioned. There were discussions about having a total smoking ban and I argued enthusiastically in favour of this. However, the policy that was eventually implemented was suitably balanced and responsive to the needs of smokers and the protection of non-smokers. I subsequently came to the conclusion that this was the most appropriate and achievable policy.
Alexander Collie,
Kinmundy Drive,
Westhill.
SIR – Scottish ministers have pledged to reduce CO emission levels by 42% on 1990 levels by 2020 and described them as "world leading".
The phrase “posturing on the world stage” springs to mind.
To do this posturing they will spend £8billion over the next 10 years at a time when the economy is in freefall.
Scotland has less than 0.2% of world emissions yet Scottish politicians think they can save the planet.
As China and India surge ahead with their economies and their CO emissions, and as world populations escalate, I would suggest our contribution is meaningless.
Clark Cross,
Springfield Road,
Linlithgow.