Readers' letters: A prickly response to the Order of the Thistle

King Charles, at the same time as appointing Prince Edward, also appointed Professor Sue Black, Baroness Helena Kennedy and Sir Geoff Palmer to the order, all esteemed figures in Scottish life, whom I’m sure would be generally considered worthy of this esteemed honour.

But I would wonder what percentage of the Scottish population would consider all of these members of the Royal Family to be worthy of the “highest honour in Scotland”, and, if they were to be considered worthy, on what grounds, other than being born, getting married, or living to a reasonable age, all of which I have actually achieved myself, without any royal recognition whatsoever.

Les Mackay, Dundee

Saddle sore

May I congratulate our city fathers on the completion, apart from the George Street. section, of Edinburgh's latest cyclepath, the City Centre West to East Link (CCWEL) (Scotsman, 20 March).

It has been ten years since its inception, shades of tye ferries’ timescale, but it has taken only 18 months to construct the two-mile path, apart from the George Sree section.

The £19.4 million cost equates to just over £5,500 per yard or nearly £6,000 per metre, not counting George Street.

The next time you are in the vicinity, take a look at a yard of cyclepath and imagine what else you could buy for £5,500.

I know that dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness is a much greater engineering undertaking but if Transport Scotland matched the rate of construction of CCWEL on the remaining 83 undualled miles it would be completed in 2086.

John Wann, Edinburgh

Road to ruin

Colin Howden, director of Transform Scotland since 1998 when it was set up, says that all new road-building projects in Scotland should be halted because nearly £1 billion of taxpayers’ money is being plunged into high-carbon transport projects, thus driving further climate breakdown (Scotsman 19 March).

He wants a Scottish Parliament inquiry, road building to be stopped and funding redirected to active travel and public transport. Does he also want a return to the horse and cart

Motorists, who pay huge amounts in taxes, need safe roads and fewer potholes. Transform Scotland’s charitable status should be revoked for its blatant discrimination against motorists. Colin Howden should pack his bags and go to China, India and the host of other countries burning increasing amounts of fossil fuels, building roads and driving petrol and diesel vehicles.

Mr Howden, there are 3.04 million vehicles in Scotland and 1.475 billion in the world. I suggest you set up Transform Global and broaden your horizons.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Wedded miss

It’s good to hear that the Edinburgh Seven will be acknowledged in the new Futures Building (Scotsman 19 March).

However, you missed a trick by not mentioning that one of the Seven, Helen Evans, went on to marry Alexander Russel, the Scotsman editor at the time.

Fiona Garwood, Edinburgh

Doctor in disguise

Hamish Johnston (Letters, 20 March) is not strictly correct in naming Elizabeth Garrett Anderson the first female medical graduate.

That honour goes to Margaret Anne Bulkley, born in 1789 in Cork. She enrolled in the Medical Faculty of Edinburgh University as James Barry and spent the rest of her life as a surgeon in the British Army, reaching the rank of Inspector General (equivalent to Brigadier) of Military Hospitals. It was only on her death aged 76 in 1865 that her true sex was revealed!

Dr Roger G Smith, Edinburgh

Freedom of speech

It is presumptuous for Scottish Government apologists Stan Grodynski and Marjorie Ellis Thompson, to condemn fellow Scotsman correspondent, Alexander McKay, for claiming, after the enforcement next month of the Hate Crime and Public Order Act 2021, Scotland will resemble Hitler’s Germany (Letters 18 and 19 March). In fact, never a truer analogy is likely to be made.

By enabling all complaints about feeling offended to be investigated by Police Scotland with a view to prosecution, freedom of speech and the written word will be severely threatened. Subsequently, the democratic holding to account of government politicians is likely to be impaired; Press freedom will be limited and comics and actors as well as authors and playwrights will be at risk of arrest. Members of the public will think twice about writing letters to newspapers or participating in radio phone-ins.

On the other hand, the Hate Crime Act will present a field day for a group such as the trans movement to get even with their opponents.

Possibility because of reduced staff, Police Scotland announced recently that they will no longer be investigating every crime reported to them. However, as they have also said they will report every hate crime offence, their workload will quickly become overwhelming.

The implementation of Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Bill is unlikely to make Scotland a more tolerant country. On the contrary, unless the Act is repealed, our country is likely to become more hate-filled and, dare I suggest, more like a totalitarian state.

Sally Gordon-Walker, Edinburgh

Thinking caps

I think that I must have slipped into a strange wormhole in the space-time continuum. There is an administration at Holyrood which will prevent me expressing my belief (based on scientific fact) that men are men from 1 April, even when they put on dresses and call themselves Emily. If I say that these men are men, thereafter, they will attempt to throw the legal book at me. Mind you, the Catholic Church did that with Galileo, didn’t they, when he pointed out that the Earth goes round the Sun, not the other way round and look where that got them.

Now, both the SNP and the Government are going to make it illegal for anyone born after 2009 to buy tobacco products. This amazing blue-sky thinking is clearly a direct offshoot of banning the sale of cannabis. Hasn’t that been a success?

If people want to find schoolchildren of the age covered by this daft bill smoking cigarettes, they should visit Morningside Cemetery in Edinburgh or any other similar place. The same, I suspect, for cannabis smokers.

Do people lose the ability to think clearly when elected to public office?

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

Steaming trains

I was most interested to read that the results of a passenger survey showed a rough 50-50 split on whether to retain the ban on alcohol consumption (Scotsman, 20 March). This information was apparently gleaned from passengers using the ScotRail wifi on board trains or at railway stations.

During the consultation period I used the ScotRail wifi on several occasions during train journeys. At no time was I offered the option to participate in this consultation, which I would very much have liked to do.

It sounds, therefore, that this consultation was only available to some wifi-using passengers, perhaps only on certain routes or on particular devices.

Of course, as any passenger can tell you, there are still people consuming alcohol on ScotRail trains, usually surreptitiously and without causing bother to others. It’s only those of us who obey the rules who are currently denied the choice.

Jane Ann Liston, St Andrews, Fife

Inflation misery

You can’t pull the wool over our eyes. That’s my reaction to the revelation that inflation has fallen to 3.4 per cent, the lowest figure since October 2022, when it hit the dizzy heights of 11.1 per cent, the highest for 40 years.

This revelation of inflation running at 3.4 per cent is certainly not dropping the cost of essentials for the average household, it is merely slowing down the increases, as witnessed on my last visit to the supermarket.

For those on benefits, many through no fault of their own with long-term health conditions, this drop in the inflation rate will just be yet another headline, because their daily financial struggle to keep warm and eat healthy will continue to be a struggle.

As the Conservatives will be no doubt shouting this fall in inflation from the rooftops as the country awaits the Westminster election, I am sure those who have suffered the consequences of the Conservatives crashing the economy or those assisting in their local food banks will view the picture somewhat differently.

Catriona C Clark, Falkirk

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