12 LEADER The Courier and Advertiser, Monday, March 15, 2010

THE COURIER& Advertiser

KINGSWAY EAST, DUNDEE, DD4 8SL

A KINGMAKER

E
MUZZLED
SPOUSAL of a Liberal Democrat role in govern-
ment at Westminster does not seem to be doing
them much good. One recent opinion poll puts them
Biographers regularly go back to
Tracing Darwins roots
best part of a decade therein The decision to send young scientist, the geologist James He assisted Edinburgh University
on 21%, another on 17%.
Darwins Edinburgh years, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Charles Darwin to Scotland set him Hutton, came up with the concept biologist Robert Edmund Grants
The possibility of a hung parliament, with no convinced the seeds of all his later Namibia, Kenya and Tanzania, he on a path that would open an of deep time. Until then everyone investigations into the life cycle of
party having the 326 seats for an overall majority, has thinking lie thereand to a large says. entirely new branch of science and believed in a literal interpretation of marine invertebrates in the Firth of
dominated the Lib Dem conference at Birmingham. In degree they are right. In 2008, he published research refute a literal interpretation of the the Biblethat the Earth was Forth.
theory, the Lib Dems should be riding a wave of that led to suggestions climate Bible. 4000-6000 years oldbut Hutton The two of them would go for
interest, as Jeremy Thorpes party did in 1974. change could spark an explosion of Darwin may not have been in deduced from rock formations at long walks along the shoreline at

T
HESE WORDS were written by
In practice, though, the party has irresolvable Harvard professor Janet
tensions between those activists who are virulently Browne, whose two-volume
anti-Tory and those who are more pragmatic and who biography is considered the
might favour a post-election deal to get Gordon definitive work on Charles Darwin.
Brown out of Downing Street. There was a dry run in Despite this, no one had written
Wales in 2007 when the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and a full account of Darwins time in
the Tories got together: the deal was sunk by Lib Dem Scotland, of the people he met
activists. That outcome might be repeated. there who influenced his thinking
and set him on the course that led
Leader Nick Clegg set out his minimum demands.
These are: extra spending on education for poor him to deliver his theory of
evolution.
children, reform of Westminster, reform of the tax
system, and changing to a greener economy. Edinburgh University scientist
Of the pressing need to reduce the deficit, Mr Clegg Julian Derrywriting as J. F.
Derryhas spent the last seven
would say only that they had a better plan to fill the
years forensically going over every
black hole in the nations accounts at a time when it record of the two years Darwin
is economically sustainable. The belief that, when it spent in Edinburgh as a young man.
comes to repaying debt, governments that have over- Now his book Darwin In Scotland is
borrowed can always choose the when and how of released later this month.
retrenchment, is deeply ingrained and may yet lead
An encompassing look at the
us into a sterling crisis. time spent here by the father of
The Chancellor, too, is in denial. He has now said
evolution, it features interviews with
his Budget next week will not be about spending cuts. God Delusion author Richard
We have already seen the money markets slap a Dawkins, linguist and philosopher
premium on UK debt as the polls indicate a hung Noam Chomsky, Astronomer Royal
parliament is on the cards. Investors know that an Martin Rees and Darwins great-
administration with built-in conflict between its lead- great-grandson Randal Keynes
ing lights will not last long. Hard decisions will be put among others.
off. Even the thought of a double ration of Inspiration for the book came
depressing electioneering is not a joy that consoles. when Julian was enjoying a beer
As it is, all three main parties are shy of telling the with George Schaller, the worlds
electorate what must be done. Their proposals for foremost field biologist, while the
two men were in Ulan Bator
cuts in spending are paltry and go nowhere near tack-
ling a structural deficit estimated at about 100 studying the Mongolian gazelle.
We were talking about Darwin
billion. They are paralysed by fear of the voters.
and all the people who had
In 1974, Labour had to govern without an overall
influenced him, he recalls. Most of
majority. The first thing it did was to settle a miners
them can be traced to his time in
strike by conceding an unaffordable pay rise. It stored
Edinburgh and it suddenly became
up even greater trouble for later. Of Mr Thorpe, little obvious to me that Darwin had
more that mattered was heard. Mr Clegg, beware!
gained so much from his time here,
even though it had been so
fleeting.
CAMERAS IN CLASS Julian (42) was born near London
and grew up in the Midlands. After
Former Dundee teacher Michael Barile, who won studying in Bangor and York he
continued his studies at Edinburgh
an appeal against his sentence after being convicted
of assaulting pupils, has suggested CCTV cameras University, where he remains as
visiting scientist at the Institute of
should be installed so that behaviour can be recorded.
Well-behaved pupils would have nothing to fear, he Evolutionary Biology.
says, and neither would competent teachers. My PhD was in African
evolutionary biology, and I spent the
There are already over 2000 public space CCTV
cameras in Scotland; the UK is said to have more per
head than any other country. Whether they deter
rowdy behaviour, or move it from one place to
another, is still debated. In school, though, pupils are
confined, so monitoring would be simpler, but
cameras recorded the Columbine High School
massacre in the US; they did not prevent it.
Fell through ice on Balgay pond in the Sixties
I
Paying for CCTV on this scale would be a problem, HAVE had a lot of correspondence
new species in Africa.
If you look at previous
periods of climate change,
you might have grazing
animals such as wildebeest
which need to stay close to
water. If they migrate
between three water holes,
for example, and the middle
one dries out, herds of
animals at the other two can
be cut off from each other.
Over time the two groups
will breed among themselves
and their gene pool changes.
They develop into distinctly
different species, so if the
climate changes again and
the water hole came back,
the two herds would no
longer be able to breed with
each other.
This researchalong with
that of thousands of other
scientists across the world
wouldnt be possible were it
not for the work of Charles
Darwin.
Last year marked the
200th anniversary of Darwins
birth, as well as the 150th
anniversary of the
publication of his seminal work
On The Origin Of Species.
Despite the worldwide
resurgence of interest in Darwin
these milestones sparked, Julian
felt not enough was made of the
scientists Scottish connection, and
his work aims to redress that.
Charles Darwin came to
Edinburgh towards the end of
1825 and left in 1827. He was sent
here because he wasnt doing well
at school in Shrewsbury, Julian
explains.
He came up with his brother
Erasmus to do medicine. His father
Robert Darwin was furious with him
for going off shooting and fishing
instead of working to become an
intellectual like the rest of the
family.
BY
Edinburgh for long but the
Julian Derry.
experience influenced his thinking
ever after, Julian continues. You
have to understand that Scotlands
education was world-class when
Darwin came here.
Im not quite sure whats
happened since then, he adds, in a
reference to recent news that
13,000 children in Scotland leave
school every year unable to read or
write properly.
At that time our influence
came from France. It was the age of
Enlightenment in Europe and that
spawned the Scottish
Enlightenment. David Hume was
one of the most prominent figures in
that.
Darwin was also only a few
decades after another Edinburgh
family called Leslie lived not far from
places including Arthurs Seat and
Siccar Point that it was much older.
At first the thinking was
hundreds of thousands of
years, then millions, and of
course we now reckon the
age of the Earth in billions.
Edinburghs medical
school was second to
none. The Burke and Hare
scandal didnt happen for
another 10 years or so,
though people Darwin was
engaging with ended up
caught up in it.
So Darwin arrived in
Scotland during an age of
scientific inquiry, which
was coupled with a
Victorian urge to explain
and investigate
everything.
Although Darwin never
took much part in formal
tuition, through interaction
with his peers, tutors and
extra-curricular groups, he
was exposed to a type of
philosophy rooted in the
Scottish Enlightenment.
If he had gone to
Cambridge his education would
have been theologically based and
unlikely to have given him the
perspective to challenge the
prevailing doctrine, Julian reckons.
He didnt study much though.
He couldnt deal with surgery
performed without anaesthesia.
Theres an account of him
witnessing surgery on a child,
whose awful screams stayed with
him for the rest of his life.
Darwin more or less dropped out
of medicine, but he had become
interested by his course on natural
sciences. He also learned taxidermy
from a freed Guinean slave called
John Edmonstone, who he spent a
lot of time with in Edinburgh, and
that skill was brought to bear during
his voyage on the Beagle.
nium and David, the younger son,
Prestonpans and Portobello talking
about the natural world, Julian
continues. Darwin also delivered
his first scientific paper in
Edinburgh.
As well as documenting the
influence of Scotland on Darwin,
Julian also examines the influence
of Darwin on todays scholars at
Edinburgh University, and on the
many of todays most eminent
thinkerspeople like Dawkins,
Chomsky and Rees.
He also spoke to creationists
who refute evolution, preferring to
think the world was created in six
days around 4000 years ago and
that man walked alongside
dinosaurs.
One of these was Ken Ham, the
Australian-born president of
Answers in Genesis USA
one of the largest young-earth
organisations.
The last three chapters of the
book are about creationism, which
has been dressed up as intelligent
design in a bid to make it sound
more scientific, Julian says.
Darwin never really challenged
God or religion. Rather, he
challenged the natural theology that
God placed everything here, fully
formed.
One of the most obvious,
yet overlooked, contributions which
Edinburgh made to Darwin is in the
naming of his world-changing book.
One of the courses he took
under Robert Jameson at
Edinburgh University was called
Origin of the Species of Animals.
Thirty years later, when he sat down
to think of the title of his book, who
knows what went through his
mind.
Darwin In Scotland: Edinburgh,
Evolution And Enlightenment, by
J. F. Derry, goes on sale at the
end of this month, published by
Whittles Publishing. ISBN
978-1904445-57-9.

and parents would have to be convinced it was
necessary and right. But it is a constructive idea.
Mr Barile also claims swearing in class is common
and often overlooked. He advocates the use of Satur-
day detentions and sympathises with ex-colleagues in
the teaching profession.
I was a pupil at Harris Academy from
Technology may help keep the lid on trouble, but
what about the casual decline in standards of behav-
iour? In poorer parts of the world, like the West
Indies, discipline is usually firm and clean uniforms
proudly worn. We need more of that here.
Judith Hare Emailed to say, Balgay pond
WHAT A JOKE
Conservative shadow chancellor George Osborne
thinks it is a good idea to spend 50 million offering
financial advice to families. What blethers! It is
governments who muck people about with their
impenetrable tax and benefits systems and appalling
waste. Put that right before lecturing the rest of us.
VIEWED IN LEVEN
After 40 years, the renovated Regent Cinema in
Leven has reopened it doors. Their screenings may be
more interesting than the usual bland multiplex fare.
All I can say is my prayers.
QUOTE: Harold Wilson, leading a
minority government in 1974.
from Dundee readers about the
pond in the citys Balgay Park.
Moira Mill says, My brothers and I
stayed close to the pond and used to
skate on it when it was frozen over
when we were teenagers in the 1950s.
1955-1960 and I can remember in win-
ter days when we were supposed to
have outdoor sports at Elliot Road and
the pitches were frozen, we were
John Richmond also remembers seeing
allowed to go skating on Balgay pond.
Perhaps my fellow pupils will remember
this, too.
was still in existence in the early 1960s.
I fell through the ice on the pond on my
way home from Harris Academy and
I am a bit sceptical about that excuse for
George Cockerill of Carnoustie says that
Collecting eggs
BILL GRANT of West Ferry has been in
Craigie
arrived home in a soaking wet school
uniformmuch to the displeasure of
my parents!
people skating on the pond, which was
next to Victoria Hospital. I think it is
actually part of Victoria Park, he adds.
I was young at the time, but since I was
born in 1954 it was a long time after the
war. When it was filled in and turned
into a rose garden I was told that it was
because it had been drained during the
war and the bottom had cracked.
doing away with the feature since it still
contained water within my memory.
the pond was certainly not filled in
during the war as he was playing ice
hockey on it in 1954.
touch about the lost Kingsmuir Sta-
tion. I drive past the station road sev-
eral times a week, he says, and
wonder what happened to the station. A
the railway line to the station and near
Cotton of Lownie farm. I knew Mr and
Mrs Leslie and son Watt Leslie who
was, among other things, the pipe major
of Forfar Pipe Band.
The present station house is a very
attractive modern house. The station-
master in its working time was Alex
Murray who had two sons and two
daughters. Mrs Murray used to collect
milk and eggs most evenings from the
Cotton of Lownie farm. The family who
lived at the farm were the Findlays
Maggie and her two sons John and Dave
worked the farm.
The reason I know this is because I was
evacuated there during the war years
with my mother. I did travel on the train
once or twice, but Alexanders buses
were more convenient. Happy days!
Brass tracks
KINROSS READER Mrs Aileen Greer
writes, I was interested in your item
about the Bowhill Brass Band, particu-
larly as I am interested in the history of
the Kelty and Blairadam Brass Band,
sadly long gone.
My grandfather John Burton Walker
started up Alyth Silver Band, but later
moved to Kelty at the behest of Colin
Terris, who was the bandmaster friend
of my grandfather. My grand-
father and son Campbell both played
cornet, my father Burt played eupho-
played trombone. My father received
his 50-year medal. My late husband Jim
Greer was solo cornet with Kelty Band
until he joined the Royal Corps of
Signals Band as solo trumpet in 1956.
He served for 22 years.
I have a copy of a newspaper cutting
about my grandfather starting the Alyth
band.
Celebrating 90 years
PAST AND present members of the
Guiding movement will be interested to
learn of an exhibition to be held in
Monifieth Library this week to mark 90
years of guiding in the town. Girl-
guiding UK is celebrating its centenary
this year and the Monifieth units have
gathered memorabilia and photographs
going back to the 1920s, covering their
90-year history.
There are photographs going back many
years as well as the Monifieth contribu-
tion to the collection of banners made
by members of the organisation. These
were last viewed in September during
the Lord Provosts parade in Dundee.
Organisers hope that many people will
come and take a look at the exhibition
which covers all stages of the movement
from Rainbows through to the Trefoil
Guild. The exhibition runs during library
opening hours.
Email: craigie@thecourier.co.uk

Anaesthetics as safe as those administering them THE COURIER

Sir,Much of your article
Aiming To Improve
Anaesthetics (March 11) is
the truth, though it falls
short of being nothing but
the truth.
As a retired consultant
anaesthetist, I feel your
readers may be left with
unjustified worries about
the safety of anaesthesia.
The death rate due purely
to anaesthesia in the
developed world is currently
quoted as being as low as
1 in 200,000.
This excellent record is
due not only to modern
drugs but to the knowledge
and skills of anaesthetists
and to the equipment in
routine use for the last
25 years or so to monitor
patients vital functions.
An anaesthetic, sedative
or pain-killing drug is, and
always will be, only as safe
as the person administering
it. This is well illustrated in
the case of the propofol
administered to Michael
Jackson, apparently by a
non-anaesthetist for an
unrecognised indication in
an unsuitable environment.
Almost every general
anaesthetic is induced with
propofol and any suggestion
of tarring it with the Michael
Jackson brush is unjustified.
Of course there is scope
for development of better
drugs, especially for the
treatment of acute and
chronic pain.
The appointment of
Professor Hales and his
team is obviously a prize for
Dundee, particularly at a
time of difficulty with the
funding of academic
medicine. It could also be
pointed out that excellence
in academic anaesthesia is
not new to this centre
Arthur G. Davis.
Kinnaird Steading,
Pitlochry.
Speed limit cuts
not the answer
Sir,Robert Addison
(March 11) calls for speed
limit cuts on dual
carriageways and motor-
ways. This will not reduce
accidents or aggressive
driving.
Anyone who thinks it will
is seriously deluded.
There is currently a speed
limit imposed on the A9,
and every other road in this
country, which was arrived
at in the days of low-
performance brakes and
engines. Todays vehicles
are far more capable than
many of the drivers.
As for following America,
the limit is 65mph in much
of America and if Mr
Addison had ever driven
there, he would realise that
it is largely ignored there,
too.
If you want to reduce
aggressive driving and
accidents then increase the
number of police on the
roads and do not solely
focus on speed.
Duncan Beveridge.
Warwick Close,
Leuchars.
Life in the
slow lane
Sir,In reply to Robert
Addisons letter about speed
limits, this debate comes up
time and again and it is the
same cry all the time
less speed equals fewer
accidents.
Mr Addison does not
seem to have thought his
argument through.
I have said before on this
page, that the argument, this
time put forward by
Mr Addison, would slow
the whole of the country
down.
That would mean the
transport industry would be
brought to its knees as it
would not be able to meet
deadlines.
If the speed limit was
dropped, I dont believe
drivers would slow down
and so the already stretched
police forces up and down
the country would be under
more pressure as there
would be more people
speeding.
If this was a reasonable
vote winner as Mr Addison
seems to think, why have we
not had some major political
partys backing it?
For every person who
wants the speed limit
dropped there are probably
two that do not. Not a big
vote winner.
There has to be an
answer. Better education for
new drivers, emphasising
road safety and road
awareness, restricted
cars for drivers under 25
years old, and compulsory
driving tests for drivers aged
over 65.
All reasonable arguments
but dropping the speed limit
is madness and would
serve absolutely no positive
purpose. Maybe we should
all buy tractors.
Stephen Caldwell.
31 Bankton Park,
Kingskettle.
Beware tsunami
from the east
Sir,Some 10,000 people
will be laid off from the
Romanian railways. As
Romania is in the EU, they
will be allowed to come to
the UK.
Two Romanians are
said to have masterminded
a scam which allowed
172 of their countrymen
to fraudulently claim
2.6 million in UK benefits.
Romanians only get a
National Insurance number
necessary to get benefits
if they can prove they
have paid work lined up.
The pair are accused of
giving jobless Romanians
false documents so they can
get an NI number and then
claim child benefit.
A Romanian tsunami
is about to crash onto our
shores.
Clark Cross.
138 Springfield Road,
Linlithgow.
Social problems
neatly solved
Sir,Many years ago,
before all-purpose social
workers were dreamed of,
social problems were dealt
with by specialists.
One such was the
probation officer. I knew
one who, in the course of his
work, began to suspect in an
interview with a distressed
wife that the other women
were, in fact, her daughters.
It was not difficult for the
officer to convince her the
time had come for
action. He contacted a
police inspector who,
having every confidence
in the probation officers
judgment, responded
immediately
The tyrant was in custody
that very evening and was
subsequently convicted.
No front-page headlines,
no investigating committees,
just caring and competent
professionals doing their
clearly-defined jobs.
David Lowson.
87 High Street,
Carnoustie.
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From The Courier files . . .
100
YEARS AGO
A DISTRESSING mishap occurred at the residence of Mr D.
Smith, East Newport. A maidservant was lighting the kitchen
range when her apron ignited. The girl panicked and ran down
to the river without calling for help and waded into the water
to put out the flames, then returned to the house. A doctor
was called and the girl was quickly removed to the infirmary.
50
YEARS AGO
THE BUTLINS race to Lands End has been won by Jim
Musgrave, Dunscroft, near Doncaster, who arrived at Lands
End Hotel at 7.32am after covering the 891 miles from John
o Groats in 15 days, 14 hours and 32 minutes. He takes the
1000 first prize. A 19-year-old Liverpool hair stylist, Wendy
Lewis, was the first woman to finish. She, too, receives 1000.
25 THE COURIER
YEARS AGO AND ADVERTISER
AN ANGRY Mrs Thatcher is demanding tough action from
football chiefs to deal with violence at matchesand among
her list of options is a seasons ban on clubs whose fans riot.
Aides say she was outraged when she learned the extent of
the violence at Luton this week and wants to hear from the
English FA on the best way of preventing similar outrages.