I SEE that Mark Smith has joined those who believe that old battlefields should be no-go zones for development, backing the National Trust for Scotland in its opposition to the construction of a horse harness-racing track on part of the site of the Battle of Bannockburn ("Are you up for the new battle of Bannockburn?", The Herald, August 10). Leaving aside the question of whether Scotland actually needs a horse harness-racing track, the idea that land over which a battle was once fought should be protected from any development is crazy.
By all means protect important battlefield remains such as Culloden’s Graves of the Clans, and set up museums and interpretive centres at the sites of important battles. But preserving all remaining open parts of a battlefield from any development, just because a battle took place there, cannot be justified.
As a former civil engineer who worked on harbour schemes, I have always been sad to see great Victorian docks, such as Glasgow’s Queen’s Dock, filled in. Similarly the redevelopment of the sites of former shipyards, for example the loss of all signs of Leith’s proud shipbuilding history, is regrettable. But where sites are no longer needed for their original purposes and can be put to new uses, this is what should happen.
Our ancient battlefields are, thankfully, no longer needed for fighting battles. And we can learn much more about a battle from books, museums and interpretive centres than we can by looking at what remains of the battlefield. So why block genuinely-needed developments on parts of much-changed sites over which battles were once fought?
Alistair Easton, Edinburgh.
• YOU carry an article about plans to build on the site claimed by the National Trust for Scotland as the site of the Battle of Bannockburn. This is somewhat ironic when the research done some years back by William Scott showed that the battle was much more likely to have been fought on the Carse of Balquidderock underneath Bannockburn High School. While Scott's research over 10 years was painstaking and explained in a number of books, which contain the best maps of what actually happened, the most obvious reason is that the NTS site is on the "dryfield" while the sources make clear that the battle was fought "among the pools": pools which can still be seen in certain weather conditions today.
Dr Jock Stein, Haddington.
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Test the will on death penalty
UNDER attack by David Clark and Dr Kevin C Duff (Letters, August 12 ), whilst respecting their opposition to the reintroduction of the death penalty, I believe there are circumstances which would justify holding a referendum on it. If polling demonstrated a sustained and sufficient majority in favour, in my view normal operation of the democratic process would demand a referendum, or is testing the will of the people to be denied? This is, I believe, accepted generally as what is required for any future referendum on independence.
Replying to David Clark, I say again that belief in the deterrent effect of the death penalty can only be subjective and I believe it is. Does he? My answer to Dr Duff’s rather silly assumption that I would accept and support a member of his own family being executed in error is no. Would he?
Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.
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The problems with Glasgow's parks
WITH reference to Kevin McKenna’s article about Glasgow’s parks ("Parks are ‘being abandoned in the name of biodiversity’", The Herald, August 10), I would agree with most of his article. However, can I make a few suggestions?
1: There is no class element to why some parks are abandoned. Newlands park, where I am a volunteer, is a tip, right in the middle of one of the most affluent areas of the city.
2: The parks that do get preferential attention are those surrounding tourist hotspots, such as the Botanics, Kelvingrove and the Burrell Collection, thus giving visitors a favourable impression of the city.
3: The decrease of gardening personnel is down to gardeners retiring and not being replaced and not by being replaced by “well-meaning middle-class people with lots of time on their hands".
Mr McKenna might also want to investigate the growing incidents of ocular toxocariasis, an eye infection mainly affecting young children, caused by dog faeces, no doubt abandoned in the uncut grass of the council’s rewilding policy.
Alan R Melville, Glasgow.
Stop the men-bashing
HAVE you seen the Channel 5 programme with the egregious title "Mums on Strike"? This belongs to the same genre as another programme on ITV, something about young women telling men what their shortcomings are, and how they can be better boyfriends.
How about a programme called "Dads on Strike"? In a traditional household this would mean no car maintenance done, no grass or hedges cut, no small DIY jobs done around the house; I could go on. The point I am trying to make is society seems to condone this kind of men-bashing and treat it all as a bit of a joke. Is that not how gender stereotypes are perpetuated?
Elizabeth Mueller, Glasgow.
The word that hurts me
THERE seems to be an ever-increasing misuse of the word "hurting" in our nation's vocabulary. I am hurt, I was hurt: acceptable. I am hurting: surely a grammatical mangle. Equally misleading is being "knocked to the floor" when it is a surface external to property that is involved.
Regularly used by news presenters, such errors diminish the credibility of the news item in question.
Allan C Steele, Giffnock.
Keep dogs out of restaurants
AM I alone in noticing the preponderance of "Dogs welcome" or worse, "Dogs very welcome" notices displayed at public houses and restaurants? I suspect many of my fellow readers will have been brought up in a time when restaurants typically displayed notices stating "No dogs, except for guide dogs". This, we understood, was from the point of view that animals in restaurants were considered unhygienic. What has changed I wonder?
I, for one, do not wish to consume my food in the presence of slavering dogs and their fawning owners although, sadly, the genie now seems to be out of that particular bottle.
David Edgar, Biggar.
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