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Readers’ Letters: Effective jail sentence vital

Justice Secretary Keith Brown.
Justice Secretary Keith Brown.

Machete crime is gathering momentum in the UK and, with no current effective deterrent in place, the situation must be reviewed.

I’m all for the contentious “stop and search” programme to be used with discretion.

The mere illegal possession of an offensive weapon, or any device designed or capable of being adapted to cause injury, must carry an effective jail sentence.

The SNP administration’s handling of judicial matters in Scotland has been pathetic with one exception – that being the raising of the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years, a view I have held for decades.

Will the new Scottish Justice Secretary, Keith Brown, left, just follow in the footsteps of his predecessors? I suspect he may well do, he himself having been a former Royal Marine Commando whose motto is “Semper Fidelis” – always faithful. Let us hope this is with victims in mind and not the perpetrators of crime.

Anthony Fraser

Aviation experts?

I find it strange that councillors have thrown out plans for a wind farm because of the fear of planes crashing.

Despite no objections from the CAA or Aberdeen Airport, the councillors are all suddenly aviation experts.

Do they not realise that Aberdeen Airport has radar, communications with aircraft and pilots’ equipment with navigational aids? Some small aircraft even have systems for terrain warning.

Perhaps if they look at the statistics of the amount of wind farms or turbines round the north-east, then the facts speak for themselves that there has not been a crash. Some airfields have wind turbines close to the airfields, and they manage OK. Maps for aviation show safe flying heights.

If planes crashing is a worry, perhaps we should stop them flying near cities?

We should also stop cars driving on the roads, as more people are killed on roads than in planes hitting wind farms!

Alison Forsyth

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.