Hume was an ‘enlightened’ elitist in his thinking

12:50am Monday 6th July 2009

ANENT Brian Morton's reflections on the continuing relevance of the 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment for the modern world (The Herald, July 2) may I enter a note of qualified dissent with respect to his claim that but for the Enlightenment "there would be no such thing as parliamentary democracy in either British or American form"? In fact David Hume - like Voltaire - was more of an "enlightened" elitist than a democrat in his political thinking. This provides the underlying explanation for the philosopher's deathbed embarrassment at his lifelong use of "Scotticisms", the language of his ordinary fellow Scots.

Move not certain yet

12:49am Monday 6th July 2009

May I correct the inaccuracies in Michael Tumelty's column (The Herald, July 4) about the RSNO and the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

Time for change on unfair ticket charges

12:49am Monday 6th July 2009

Forgive me if I open by launching into some facts and figures pertaining to rail travel. It costs £6.70 for a cheap day return from Glasgow to Stirling. It costs £5.90 for a cheap day return from Glasgow to Larbert. It costs £8.60 for a cheap day return from Glasgow to Falkirk. Why?

Nationalise Diageo

12:48am Monday 6th July 2009

It would seem reasonable to suppose that an industry should contribute to the wellbeing of the society in which it is situated.

Driving parents away

12:48am Monday 6th July 2009

As the person who has been replaced on the SQA's board to make way for Willie Gallagher, the former chair of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh, the body responsible for the trams and resulting chaos, I wish to register my utter dismay at his appointment.

Just excuse to raise taxes and for politicians to be re-elected

12:47am Monday 6th July 2009

Messrs Wood, Spinney and McInnes (Letters, July 1) are spot on. Governments, politicians and civil servants of all flavours are clearly not interested in facts, they are interested in self preservation and re-election.

It’s long past time to set the record straight on the history of Scotland’s battles

12:46am Monday 6th July 2009

Now Her Majesty has graced the battlefield with her presence, is it not time we graced the battle with the debunking of a few of the myths with which it is surrounded? Being descended from Jacobite combatants, I find it irritating in the extreme that their longevity has not been tempered by the fact that some can be seen to be utterly irreconcileable with others.

We are caught in a fiscal pincer and there’s no end in sight

12:45am Monday 6th July 2009

Two recent independent analyses - one by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and the other by the OECD - warn us of the calamitous condition of the public finances. The annual budget deficit is heading for 14% of GDP, and the National Debt, including off-balance-sheet items such as public sector pension liabilities, amounts to 200% of GDP - both way beyond the projections of April's Budget. No other advanced country is in such a state, nor as likely to face a gilts strike by foreign investors.

Weans show behaving well is child’s play

Saturday 4th July 2009

Their excuses for not turning up to see the Queen ranged from umpiring a cricket match to attending a conference in Cardiff. No-one blamed alien abduction, but that's only because our MSPs don't stretch to anything so fanciful as an imagination.

Diageo should hear public’s outrage expressed at the highest level

Saturday 4th July 2009

The Scottish and UK governments should make their displeasure known to Diageo over its threatened closure of Kilmarnock and Port Dundas facilities in Scotland.

There is no logic in nationalising banks but then having no say in their operation

Saturday 4th July 2009

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has warned that bankers who return to excessive risk- taking will be "brought back to earth" (The Herald, July 3).

Future chances

Saturday 4th July 2009

Keith Brown, the Scottish schools and skills minister, claims the SNP government is committed to providing more choice and opportunity for early school-leavers. Yet, according to reports, latest official figures show the number of Scots youngsters who find themselves jobless after leaving school has soared. So-called Neets - teenagers not in employment, education or training - rose from 10.6% in 2007 to 13.4% in 2008, swelling the ranks of a "wasted generation" and costing taxpayers an estimated £3.5bn in benefits and lost tax.

Decision denies terminally-ill patients the right to assisted euthanasia

Saturday 4th July 2009

The motion supporting "the right of an assisted death for patients who are terminally ill and who have mental capacity" was defeated overwhelmingly by medical practitioners attending the annual conference of the British Medical Association (" Doctors stand firm on assisted suicide", The Herald, July 2).

Ensuring a greener future for Scotland means investment should not be spent on developing airports

Saturday 4th July 2009

Joe Curry (Letters, June 29) will know the transience of public statistics, and how they may be selected to present slanted views for publicity purposes. For example, to describe our small capital (population, with suburbs, just 12% of the nation) as the new economic powerhouse implies a highly creative specialised meaning of the word "economic".

Precision in language adds to clarity of meaning

Friday 3rd July 2009

Chris Parton's letter (July 1) appears to contain the following argument: since those who try to write clearly sometimes fail to achieve clarity, and since perfect clarity may not be achievable anyway, then we should give up on attempting to instil precision in the use of language. That's like arguing that, since perfect and permanent health isn't achievable, we needn't trouble about smoking 80 cigarettes a day.

Getting to the point

12:13am Friday 3rd July 2009

PAUL Browning emphasises the importance of precision in language (Letters, July 2). However, I would suggest that the degree of precision depends on the type of literature.

Michael Jackson not on a par with Mozart

12:11am Friday 3rd July 2009

Thank you, Ruth Wishart, for being the voice of perspective and proportion. ("A sad death, yes but not a global tragedy", The Herald, July 1.) I thought I was the only one who looked on the Michael Jackson hype as beyond belief. How refreshing to know I was not the only person out of step with the world. There are at least two of us.

Listening to the crofters

12:11am Friday 3rd July 2009

On March 19, 1883, Sir William Harcourt, Liberal Home Secretary, announced the setting up of a Royal Commission on crofting. Its remit? "Go listen to the crofters." It duly did, and the result was the Fixture of Tenure Act, which put an end to the crofter and his family being thrown out of home and livelihood at the landlord's whim.

We salute you

12:11am Friday 3rd July 2009

I have to commend you for putting Angus Young on the front page ("AC/DC are just rockin'", The Herald, July 1).

My right to retire at 60

12:10am Friday 3rd July 2009

It was only a matter of time before public-sector workers faced scrutiny over their pension arrangements ("UK public sector debt could quadruple", The Herald, June 29). I say only a matter of time, but that time would only come when the private sector proved unable to honour the promises of wealth everlasting it had been making for the past 20 years or so. So here we are.

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