Tarnished gold

Richard Lucas, in spite of his claim to the contrary (Letters, 29 July) is clearly a Golden Ager – a group who believe that in the 1950s utopia there was no sex before or outside marriage, gays were quite rightly discriminated against and their behaviour criminalised, no child was born out of wedlock, and there was little need for prisons because there was little or no crime. 
Everybody went to church, never sinned (or sought absolution if they did), and always left their doors wide open. The start of the demise of this Golden Age can be pinpointed to the exact moment when Elvis Presley wiggled his hips for the first time.

Except it was never like that. The modern age means we know much more about the world, warts and all, and people are no longer unnecessarily stigmatised by organised religion acting to suppress dissent and straitjacket behaviour.

All the sins and problems that appear to some not to have existed in the 1950s have always existed and always will. Thanks to the internet, we have uncovered for example the appalling historic sexual and physical abuse of children in institutions all over the world run by society’s most ostensibly pious.

Others in Scotland are thankfully focused on looking forward, not backwards. I encourage Mr Lucas to join us.

Alistair McBay

Methven

Perthshire