Scotsman.com - Letters Feed

Green zealots

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:46 GMT

Today EU leaders will meet to discuss how to lower energy prices and allow European  industry to be more competitive in the world.

Fit for work

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:45 GMT

This week is Scottish Apprenticeship Week, an opportunity to raise awareness of the opportunities of a modern apprenticeship for employers and young people. During an economic recession it is the most vulnerable who suffer the most.

Tide must turn

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:41 GMT

Brian Wilson (Perspective, 21 May) is right about the potential impacts, both local and national, of closing the University Marine Biological Station Millport (UMBSM).

Canadian claims

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:40 GMT

This proud Canuck asks for a little more fact checking, please. Commander Chris Hadfield is not Canada’s first professional astronaut (your report, 21 May).

Lack of leadership offers a test of faith

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:38 GMT

This year’s General Assembly of the Church of Scotland promised to be one of the most momentous since the Scottish Parliament accepted The Scots Confession in 1560.

Sharing the road

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:31 GMT

I totally agree with David Roche’s comments on the visibility of cyclists (Letters, 21 May). He leaves out the fact that they need to be heard as well.

The price of oil

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:30 GMT

At last the former chancellor, Denis Healey (your report,  20 May), has admitted that successive Labour and Tory governments lied to the Scottish electorate about the value of the oil wealth in Scottish waters in order to undermine support for independence.

Bank in solitude

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:27 GMT

The remarks attributed to a deputy governor of the Bank of England contending that an independent Scotland would find it difficult to bail out its banks (your report, 21 May) are as helpful as pointing out that Scotland could not have won the Second World War on its own. Banking crises are not inevitable – some nations were much less damaged by the recent one than the UK.

Changing times

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:24 GMT

So, the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) has dropped the W from its name in order to attract more male volunteers (your report, 20 May).

Letters: Much to celebrate in city of inspiration and talent

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:08:17 GMT

I WAS delighted to see the late Helen Crummy MBE at number 72 in the Evening News’ Edinburgh’s 100 Greatest list.

Blowing smoke

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:45 GMT

After reading the letter (13 May) from Niall Stuart of Scottish Renewables, whose membership includes wind farm developers, I thought he was protesting far too much. Mr Stuart, along with the rest of the wind industry, is painfully aware that excessively subsidised wind energy is losing public and political support. He tries, unsuccessfully, to defend the indefensible.

The all-seeing eye

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:41 GMT

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill, which has been going through public digestion via your columns, has very little to commend it but much to make those who cherish individual freedom shudder with fear. This bill gives the state the key to every door in Scotland and the right for its agents to manipulate the lives of our children up to the age of 18.

Rough ride

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:36 GMT

In 2011, I drove almost 2,000 miles on many types of road in France, after the severe winter that affected France similarly to the UK, but encountered virtually no pot holes such as we suffer throughout the UK (not just in Scotland). I understand the standard of Norwegian roads is also superior to ours.

Don’t squander it

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:33 GMT

Now that Denis Healey has become the first senior politician from a unionist party emphatically to concede that an independent Scotland would derive huge financial benefits from North Sea oil (your report 20 May), may I issue a plea to all politicians of all the parties that might make up a future independent Scottish Parliament?

On your bike

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:32 GMT

Graeme Obree’s demand for cycle routes to “everywhere we want to go” (your report, 20 May) is, alas, a fantasy.

Quality of debate

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:32 GMT

The real casualty of the recent incident involving Ukip leader Nigel Farage in Edinburgh is the quality of political discourse in Scotland.

Diametrically opposed on gay marriage

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:20 GMT

Why is there all this fuss about gay marriage (your report, 20 May)? New civil partnerships constitute less than 3 per cent of the number of those getting married.

Screen test

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:20 GMT

I am glad your report (20 May) highlighted the problems of explicit pre-watershed television content affecting children’s innocence.

Ancient bigotry

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:18 GMT

Initially I thought Donald Morrison’s letter (18 May) was a spoof. As I read on, I realised with sadness that it wasn’t and could have been written from a village in Afghanistan given its view of women.

Letters: Not bowled over by city leisure chief’s boasts

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:54:01 GMT

IN an “I love EH” feature, John Comiskey, the chief executive of Edinburgh Leisure, stated about Edinburgh: “There is so much on your doorstep to enjoy” (News, May 15).