Tuesday’s correspondents discuss the beautiful game’s ugly side, renewables, cycling on the A92, evolution and the learning of Gaelic.
Sir, There was once a game called football, where 22 players went on to an area of grass accompanied by a ball and kicked it for 90 minutes.
Whichever side scored more goals was deemed the winner.
Just lately I have been wondering what happened to that game where once the headlines were about great goals and outstanding players.
We have moved away from newspaper back pages to headlines at the front player swearing into cameras; coaches clashing physically; a club mascot firing a pretend gun at opposition supporters; two players kissing in Fife; sectarianism chanting on the terraces; referees going on strike; bomb threats to prominent figures I could go on.
I love the game of football but I have never been so glad to see a season nearly ended as this one, although I admit there is time for more incidents and, at the same time, hope there will not be.
In the brief summer break let us all hope that sanity will prevail among those involved in the game and the game itself returned to centre stage.
Ian Wheeler.Springfield,Cupar.We will need wind danceSir, With Scotland becoming more dependent on wind farms, now would seem an opportune moment to consider developing a national wind dance for the all-too-frequent times when the wind blows too much or too little.
We already have the outlandish tartan garb, the wild skirl of the pipes and the nifty footwork of the Highland fling.
I am also at a complete loss as to how the WWF can support bird-chopping, environment-wrecking wind turbines.
Stephen Grieve.60 Nethergate,Crail.Renewable pipe dreamSir, In response to the criticism by some businesses of his policy of achieving 100% of Scotland’s electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020, Alex Salmond cited an open letter from seven companies in support of this objective.
These supporting companies included Scottish Power Renewables, Burntisland Fabrications, Aquamarine Power and Pelamis Wave Power.
Could it be that these companies have a vested interest?
Hardly a ringing endorsement of Mr Salmond’s wishful thinking and subsidy-driven policy.
G. M. Lindsay.Whinfield Gardens,Kinross.Scotland must be outward lookingSir, Steven Ritchie’s response to my letter regarding funding for the promotion of Gaelic was predictable.
He accuses me of not understanding the word curriculum. I would suggest captains of industry and people involved in overseas trade would understand perfectly my reasoning for broadening our curriculum and would query how a knowledge of Gaelic could further Scotland’s interests in trading with India and China.
By all means learn Gaelic if that is your want in life but in your own time and funded out of your own pocket.
R. H. L. Mulheron.28 Cowgate,Tayport.Urgent housing action requiredSir, News that the Scottish population is now at its highest level since 1977 after seeing a rise of 28,100 last year is a welcome boost for the Scottish economy and the nation as a whole.
While population growth in itself should not be a cause for concern, the growing number of new households, which predates the recent population increase, should be concerning Scotland’s politicians.
As people get married later, live longer and move jobs more often, there needs to be a ready stock of homes to match.
Surely the answer is to build more affordable homes for rent, protect the ones we already have and refurbish and bring back into use existing stock such as empty homes.
Graeme Brown.Shelter Scotland,6 South Charlotte Street,Edinburgh.Problems with evolutionSir, I refer to recent correspondence on the origin of the universe and evolution.
I understand that there are a number of scientific problems with the Big Bang theory.
A number of hominids have been suggested as candidates for our ancestors over the years only to be rejected when something else has been discovered.
Recent discoveries of the complexity of DNA and protein synthesis only confirm the impossibility of matter organising itself into an organism. Evolution is a theory to explain what may have taken place in the past. As such, it is not observable, repeatable science.
Those scientists who believe in evolution generally disagree on how it happened. To me it seems more reasonable to believe in a designer and creator than in blind chance.
Paul Read.Clevitch,Wester Lumbennie,Newburgh.Obstacles for cyclistsSir, I cannot accept the criticism in your column of cyclists using the A92 and not the cycle path.
May I remind motorists that pedestrians come first, then cyclists and finally motorists. Many non cyclists do not understand that cycle paths are not compulsory.
When I have used them, large parts have been strewn with rubbish and overgrown hedges.
Neil G. Sinclair.New Fleurs,St Martins,Balbeggie.