IT is wonderful to see that the athletes from the home countries are doing so well.

However, am I alone in thinking that there is an almost total lack of inclusion of other Commonwealth athletes in the BBC interviewing process? Their focus, in this context, seems to be entirely on the UK countries, both in the post-event interviews and their evening chat programme hosted by Clare Balding. From that perspective, one could be forgiven for thinking that this is the UK Games, not the Commonwealth Games.

This unsportsmanlike approach is not in keeping with the spirit of The Friendly Games, and is certainly not the way in which the Scottish people would naturally do things. A classic example was the way in which a presenter and three commentators at the Wales-Samoa rugby game made no attempt to congratulate, or even talk to, the winning Samoan team as they walked past a few metres away.

Can anyone explain why the BBC applies such an unbalanced amount of time to UK athletes in this world-wide international event? Could it be that Ken Nicholson has the answer in his letter (July 30) when he says that the BBC's coverage is a "classic example of a job which is clearly done better together'?

Dennis White,

4 Vere Road,

Blackwood,

Kirkmuirhill,

Lanark.

I WAS very interested to read Mrs Constance Simpson's tribute to her late mother, Bailie Constance Methven (Letters, July 31), who proposed that Glasgow should bid for the Olympics.

Glasgow has indeed come a long way since the decline and upheaval of the 1960s and 70s, and the Commonwealth Games have proved to be a wonderful opportunity for the city to show its new face to the world.

The late Bailie Methven's foresight has truly borne fruit - and Glasgow can take pride in a well-earned achievement.

Brian D Henderson,

44 Dundrennan Road,

Battlefield, Glasgow.

STEVE Williamson writes that "we" have a world-class athletics stadium in Glasgow, Hampden Park (Letters, July 31).

Has he never heard of Queen's Park Football Club, who happen to own the stadium?

David Miller,

80 Prestonfield,

Milngavie.

IT was good that John Hodgart (Letters, July 30) was moved by the soprano Pumeza's rendition of Hamish Henderson's great anthem Freedom Come All Ye.

I am sure many others were also rightly moved.

Admittedly I was not at the opening ceremony, but for television viewers unfamiliar with the lyrics or an ear for Scottish dialect the meaning must have been largely lost, as even myself and friends from the west of Scotland struggled at times.

It's perhaps the Holy Willie mentioned by Mr Hodgart in me that suggests that Karen Dunbar's address was likewise probably lost to the rest of the world; and without the beautiful tonal quality of Pumeza Matshikiza.

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road,

Kilbirnie.