Noting that there are "considerable reservations about the modern Turkish state", Harry Reid (Comment, May 15) sees such "legitimate worries" as an argument for, and not against, early EU membership.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad deserves condemnation, not least for Holocaust denial and being part of a government that often tortures dissidents and even executes them without fair trial.
Neil Ascherson suggests presciently a "velvet divorce" between Scotland and the rest of this increasingly dis-United Kingdom (May 15). Is there really much difference between an increasing sense of "national" (or any other type) phobia and opposing awareness? The answer is no, as is obvious in all societies. Since the Act of Union in 1707, it has never really been an indispensable pillar of parliamentary democracy, for in any major topic benefiting the electorate south of the border to its advantage it has been carried because of the gross imbalance in the number of Scottish MPs, whether in government or in opposition, in relation to the remaining majority: the picture is further clouded by the fact that the voter turnout is becoming increasingly small and thus even less representative of national voting patterns. As for "Britishness", that is well past its sell-by date.
A hybrid arises from the fusion of chromosomal DNA from two different species of organism. An embryo arises from the fusion of a male and female gamete.
Callum Brown (Letters, May 12) relates the sad story of the loss of Kilmadock Parish Church. The resistance and efforts of the congregation and local community to save the kirk aroused feelings of deja vu in my own community, where an almost identical battle was fought and lost.
Allow me to reassure Dr Ian Johnston (Letters, May 13) that there is no tide of philistinism at National Museums Scotland. This is an exciting time as we embark upon a £46.4m redevelopment of the Royal Museum building, part of our flagship site, the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street in Edinburgh.
James MacMillan's assertion
(Letters, May 15) that the abortion of female foetuses in India and China is western feminism's gift to the Third World is astounding.
Bishop Tartaglia (Letters, May 14) argues that religious faith is well-equipped to shed light on scientific and moral matters surrounding the use of embryos. But which faith?
It's as if the authors of the two previous letters about BT had been in my house this week. My broadband problem met with similar response to that already outlined yesterday, but with a quirky little twist. During the (third) hour-long call to India, I left my adviser to work remotely while I had my dinner. Twenty minutes later I returned to the phone and followed instructions for a further five. Then the computer crashed and India cut me off. I spent the rest of the evening with my head wrapped in a cold compress.
YOUR article (Death by finance, May 13) comes as no surprise to those of us unfortunate enough to live in the Lomond and Helensburgh area who have had their A & E services at the local Vale of Leven Hospital axed and moved across the Erskine Bridge to Paisley. Those requiring urgent attention now face a 20+ mile journey at the mercy of traffic congestion and a bridge subject to closure owing to bad weather, perhaps better described as "Death by distance", although it is really "by finance" as it is all part of an attempt to save money by Greater Glasgow Health Board at the expense of the taxpayer who pays for their salaries. Sadly, the same edition contains a report of how a consultant had to be flown from Paisley to Glen Fruin to attend an accident victim in the Vale of Leven area. How much quicker and cheaper might it have been had emergency services been available locally?
Chris Gardner may have been out watching live performances rather than catching up on what was on TV if he believes BBC Scotland should "some day" show a performance by its cultural flagship, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Arts, May 14). In case he was out, or has simply missed it, BBC Scotland, through the BBC SSO, has a committed programme of classical music performance on television.
If Alistair Darling wants to balance his books, then perhaps he should have a word with the Defence Secretary. On October 30, Des Browne announced plans to spend £2bn a year on nuclear weapons. Annual expenditure on Britain's weapons of mass destruction has increased by £500m and will rise further if the government goes ahead with its plan to build a new nuclear weapon system to replace Trident.
The approval by Edinburgh councillors of the bid by Heriot Watt University to buy the former home of the "father of economics", Adam Smith, is to be applauded. The decision over Panmure House in Edinburgh's Old Town, where he lived from 1788 to 1790, will now be scrutinised by the Scottish Government and one hopes it, too, sees sense and approves this bid.
Ruth Wishart comments on the practice of aborting female children in India and China (May 14). For years, she and other favoured members of the Scottish commentariat have been trying to convince us that abortion represents a huge step forward for women's rights. Now, however, the penny seems to be dropping, and she is rightly using the words "carnage" and "slaughter" to describe the reality of abortion.
"This is the time of year when it is easiest to spot them (adders) as they emerge from hibernation" (The Herald, May 13). Here, adders first emerged in early March and continued to appear throughout the month, though fairly infrequently, as the weather was poor. In April they could be seen in greater numbers and more regularly. Despite the good weather, they have disappeared over the past week. This is not the best time to observe them.
Thank you for an editorial piece on the human embryology debate that tries to balance science and ethics. There still needs to be a greater focus on the moral status of the human embryo, not just its usefulness for science and for other human beings. There must be a moral issue to using human life as a means to an end. If not, we are the most abject of people.
I can assure your correspondent Peter Broughan (Letters, May 13) that he is not alone in having raised blood pressure after dealing with BT call centres. Last night I tried to contact BT Broadband technical help. The phone number I had been given with my broadband kit transferred me to several other numbers before I ended up at a call centre in India.
Half a century ago it was decided to proceed with the demolition of most of Glasgow's tenement housing on the grounds that tenement was synonymous with slum. Many tenements were, indeed, unfit for habitation, but many more which were capable of restoration were pulled down in the reckless drive for comprehensive redevelopment. Even in the 1980s, Glasgow councillors were attacking those campaigning to save tenement buildings by Alexander "Greek" Thomson as wanting to condemn people to slum housing. Most now agree that a more measured approach to the housing problems of the time would have yielded better results.
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