Mark Smith's fine article ("Scotland’s atrocity, America’s future: dark lessons for a better politics", The Herald, October 12) stated succinctly what most civilised folk think about capital punishment.
I enrolled as a law student at Edinburgh University in 1962 and we were encouraged to spectate at both the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. In June 1963 I attended the trial of John Andrew Geddes for the murder of Jane Gorrian. The accused had been disturbed by the unfortunate householder whilst burgling her flat in Potterrow, Edinburgh.
Upon his conviction the then extant Homicide Act of 1957 meant that against the background of murder in the course of theft sentence of death was mandatory. My indelible memory of Lord Grant, black cap placed atop his wig, imposing this punishment still chills me – if anything was needed to make an abolitionist that was it. In the (literally) deathly silence that ensued I felt that everyone in court, even a callow 19-year-old in the public benches, felt complicit in something barbaric.
Mercifully the 1957 Act is long repealed and Geddes’s sentence was commuted but surely it was and remains unthinkable to condone execution of offenders: to propose doing so in public is simply depraved.
Ian D Morrison, Inverness.
Read more letters
- Online execution by firing squad: a new low for Trump’s USA?
- A time for heroes: after Mandela, why not a statue to Zelenskyy?
- Turned a corner, Mr Swinney? What about the car crash you've caused?
The need for manual back-up
Last autumn the cyber attack on JLR cost the company directly £200 million and the wider economy £2 billion, affecting 5,000 businesses. This autumn hackers gained access to the refrigerators in 150 Intermarche and 80 Carrefour supermarkets in France, turning their thermostats overnight to 50C-plus, causing millions of euros' worth of frozen food to be binned. The freezers in the cold aisles are connected to the internet. Some large buildings do not have light switches and are connected to a control centre which may be 50 miles away. Some newer homes are being built with light switches replaced by phone apps.
Cyber attacks are likely to increase and become more severe. We need to have analogue back-ups for systems, and disconnect as much as possible from the internet. Back-up generators can overcome power cuts and there should be manual control systems which can override computer control. This will become more important as AI infiltrates the economy. Manual back-ups could include things like petrol pumps and tills which work without electricity.
William Loneskie, Lauder.
Our globalised universities
Alan Brown ("Scotland, we should be celebrating the global success of St Andrews", The Herald, October 12) misses the point in his critique of critics of St Andrews University, as I can recall similar arguments 50 years ago concerning St Andrews and Edinburgh universities when the concerns were over the high proportion of students from England. Lord McConnell later referred to “the Englishing of Scotland”.
Why are Scotland’s universities different from those of any other country, seemingly populated with such a proportion of non-Scottish professors and students? I can recall a debate on Radio 4 some years ago about the number of American professors teaching in England, so is there a percentage where any foreign component becomes overly parochial?
All educational system should welcome a degree of cross-pollination, but that should not come with the discomfort of a country's home students. There are problems in Scotland with higher educational funding and the long-term problem of the inarticulacy of some otherwise highly qualified students leaving school, but these are separate issues which should be addressed separately.
GR Weir, Ochiltree.
ScotRail not raking it in
Reading today’s Herald front page article “ScotRail rakes in £250k from new fares” (October 13), along with the first paragraph, I do think the word “rakes” implies unfairness on the part of ScotRail. It seems to me that ScotRail has simply found an effective way of catching people who, for whatever reason, are unwilling to pay their train fare.
I do, of course, accept that there will be some, comparatively few, who for whatever reason, have not been able to secure a ticket before getting onto the train. In law, maximum fines for travelling without a valid rail ticket range between £500 and £1,000, with a threat of three months' jail time, so I think £10 is a reasonable alternative.
As for staff having “pocketed thousands in commission”, they are simply on a small commission to incentivise them to catch those who would otherwise have travelled for free and therefore in the long term led to a rise in fares for honest travellers.
Alastair Clark, Stranraer.
What have we come to?
Few of us could fail to be horrified by recent events at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park ("Health and safety investigation opens after man killed by tiger", The Herald, October 13). It appears, however, that some of those present on the enclosure walkway felt it necessary and appropriate not only to film the unfolding events on their phones, but thereafter to upload the footage onto social media platforms. Is that really where we’ve come to?
David Edgar, Biggar.
Vital despatches
It is good to know that Tom Fullerton (Letters, October 10) is allowed to read The Herald before passing it to his wife. The same arrangement applies in this household, but only on condition that yours truly reads the Intimations first and tells the lady of the house "who has died today".
Vita procedit.
David Miller, Milngavie.
Traffic cone is old hat
Seeing the picture of Glasgow’s Nelson Mandela statue with a traffic cone on its head ("Making Mandela at home", The Herald, October 13) took me back to an incident I witnessed a few years ago while sitting in a quiet corner of a golf club bar.
A member came in and began to regale the bar steward with a joke. It was one I had heard before and it hadn’t been particularly funny the first time. By the look on the steward’s face he had heard it several times that day and the effort to look amused was considerable. However the member still seemed very pleased with himself. Sometimes you can overdo things a bit.
Robin Irvine, Helensburgh.
Share