Post Office scandal: follow Scotland's miners example

Perhaps some lessons could be learned from the case of the general pardon granted to miners and their family members convicted of certain offences in Scotland during the 1984-85 miners’ strike. I was privileged to be a member of the panel which conducted a review of the policing of the strike in Scotland. After hearing evidence from various sources, including former miners and retired police officers, the members of the panel, chaired by John Scott QC (now Lord Scott, a High Court Judge), unanimously decided to recommend a general pardon. Our recommendation was unanimously approved by the Scottish Parliament and is now enshrined in the Miners’ Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Act 2022.

Similar legislation should now be introduced at Westminster or Holyrood or both to remedy the injustice suffered by sub-Post Office staff. Of course, as with the miners, there would still be unfinished business, particularly on the matter of compensation. However, some immediate action to overturn the wrongful convictions would be a big step forward in the quest for justice.

Dennis Canavan, former MP and MSP, Bannockburn.

• ANYONE who has suffered, in whatever way, as a consequence of the Post Office scandal should be entitled to be recompensed financially, but by whom and by how much, bearing in mind that the likely overall amount of recompense will run into many millions?

The UK Government has indicated that each victim will be given a payment of £600,000, but it is unclear when and whether that is an interim or a final payment. What is clear though is that the only money the Government has for this at present is our tax pounds. It follows therefore that it will be relying on them to fund whatever it costs unless and until they take steps to pursue those responsible for the scandal. Will the Government use its powers to hold them accountable by demanding they contribute appropriately to funding the recompense?

Fujitsu provided the faulty Horizon system and should be required to fund the majority of the total recompense. Also, particularly the well-remunerated senior members of the Post Office Board in post over the years as this scandal developed should be forced to demonstrate their contrition by contributing substantially, under threat otherwise of the bankruptcy some of their victims suffered.

Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.

Read more: Pavement parking is a problem a ban will not solve

Shame on the pavement parkers

I CAN understand Catriona Stewart’s dilemma over the issue of pavement parking ("Shame on me, but I feel for those pavement parkers", The Herald, January 9), but I’m afraid I can’t agree with her conclusion to have a degree of sympathy for the miscreants.

My daughter is visually impaired but whilst she retains some of her sight her independence for which she fights with unflagging energy) depends on mobility training which basically involves her identifying then with professional assistance walking and memorising familiar or regular routes which enables her to get about town and visit shops, theatre and the like without assistance. It’s like a human satnav and, incidentally, quite amazing to observe.

Cars parked partially or completely on the pavement present obvious difficulties and to quote her she has often found herself "spreadeagled over the boot of some eejit's BMW”. Not amusing after the umpteenth time and more seriously, she often has to step out onto the road to get back on her memorised path. With the increase in the numbers of (silent) EVs you can imagine her rising anxiety.

Ms Stewart rightly points out that better solutions need to be found but, in the meantime, laziness cannot be allowed to trump disability and pavement parking must be clamped down on (couldn’t resist that pun).

Keith Swinley, Ayr.

Scotland has a well-known problem with alcohol (Image: PA)

The wrong message

I AM often frustrated by the focus on alcohol which surrounds so many social occasions in Scotland. Going out for a meal with friends regularly involves meeting up in a pub beforehand and a call to go for a nightcap, or two, afterwards. Attending a football match will frequently have this pattern as an accepted norm, with the focus on drinking notched up a gear.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a few drinks, and have enjoyed many in the past at meals and on football match days. However, I was dismayed when reading Craig Fowler's column in The Herald Sport supplement (January 8), which looked at the potential benefit of Scottish clubs holding on to their best players in the January transfer window to achieve European football the following season, and the greater financial rewards which come with it. He talked about how "magic" it was to follow his own club in Europe, which he elucidated by informing readers: "And once we arrived it was all a blur of drunken, blissful revelry where football hardly mattered."

Is a drunken blur in a new location the ultimate goal for the Scottish football fan? What do younger readers take from a drunken revelry being described as "blissful" and that "the football hardly mattered"?

We have a major problem with our relationship to alcohol in Scotland. Excessive drinking occurs at all sorts of occasions, including sports events. We can well do without drunken revelry being lauded in the sports section of a national newspaper.

Kenneth Gray, Edinburgh.

Read more: Rise in the number of shops selling vapes should worry us all

Subjective interest

THE problem with GR Weir's admirable request for interesting "stuff" (Letters, January 9) is that what interests one may not interest another.

A late golfing friend would regularly appear with the words "Here's a good one; this is interesting".

Others in the group took it in turns to say "We'll be the judge of that".

David Miller, Milngavie.

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A sad loss

I WAS saddened to see the announcement in The Herald (January 8) of the death of Iain AD Mann. Mr Mann graced the Letters Pages of this newspaper for many years; his letters were always beautifully crafted, and he made his point without being nasty or personally abusive. We did not often correspond, but I was very touched to receive a kind email from him after the 2014 independence referendum thanking me for my contribution to that campaign.

Sincere condolences to Mr Mann's family on their sad loss.

Ruth Marr, Stirling.