The naked truth

I love living in the Highlands, but on the whole the weather and the midgies don’t make it an ideal naturist retreat.

However, one of the many other things I love is the gentle courtesy and respect for others. So it is with deep depression that I read of the latest incarceration of Steven Gough for 657 days by Perth Sheriff Court. Mr Gough, remarkably, wishes to stay naked despite weather, midges and lawyers, and has, shockingly, spent much of the past 10 years incarcerated at a cost of more than £300 a week to the taxpayer.

It is for him a matter of principle, and it would appear that sheriffs takes a similarly obdurate, but in my view disgraceful, opposite approach.

I well remember Mr Gough on his first expedition northwards. We enjoyed a jolly pint with him and he gave as much as he got of jocular teasing. The postmistress averted her eyes, an exercise that seems to have been lost to Perth officaldom.

It is a deep shame that such a man, no sort of criminal, should be treated in such a way in this fine country. What in heaven’s name are we thinking of? We release Megrahi (rightly), and we bang up a naked hiker. For shame, Scotland!

Joss Wynne Evans

Loch Ness Clay Works

Loch Ness