IAN Bell is correct in characterising the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) as being in Scotland, year upon year, but not of Scotland ("Why embrace the world but ignore your own doorstep?", The Herald, August 21).

He might have added that it most certainly is not of Edinburgh. Certainly, every August much of the artistic establishment of the UK and elsewhere decamps to Edinburgh, but at the end of the festival it departs as quickly as it arrived. However, this temporary cultural invasion has allowed Edinburgh to establish itself throughout the UK and internationally as Scotland's artistic epicentre, which it most certainly is not.

That accolade rightfully belongs to the fair city of Glasgow, where culture flourishes all the year round, without having to be imported from anywhere else.

I could list the various orchestras, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, the BBC and STV, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, various theatres and theatre companies, and so on; but others have made the point more effectively.

Even Tripadvisor recently rated Glasgow as third in its top 10 places to visit in the UK (Edinburgh did not even make the list). Glasgow was described as "a friendly, bustling town" with "imposing 19th-century buildings" and a "vibrant theatre life", as well as having "the most talked-about independent music scene outside the USA".

Edinburgh's festival has also had the effect, however inadvertently, of perpetuating Glasgow's "no mean city" reputation. Edinburgh's month in the cultural sun has all but eclipsed Glasgow's all-year-round cultural pre-eminence within Scotland, which would have done for that reputation long ago, if it were more generally recognised.

I sometimes imagine that generations of English undergraduates have flocked to Edinburgh University on the strength of coverage of the festival - or their parents' stories of the great times they had experienced as students at the Fringe - only to find that the main cultural highlight of the Edinburgh year is the Playhouse Christmas panto. Perhaps I exaggerate.

At any rate, persistent complaints about the cost of putting on productions at the Fringe and Festival proper are now beginning to emerge.

Perhaps Glasgow could lend a hand, and consider organising a "Fringe" for the Fringe at some future date, accommodating those performers who are being priced out of Edinburgh. After all, it's only a train ride away.

Tom Logue,

Villa Marina,

Shore Road,

Kilcreggan.

WHILE I welcomed Ian Bell's column on the Edinburgh Festival, the Edinburgh People's Festival which he referred to is in fact still going strong.

Whilst the original People's Festival did indeed run from 1951-1954, it was re-inaugurated in 2002 by a group of artists and activists. It was our initial intention back then to present a one-off tribute to Hamish Henderson, who had died that year. However, such was the tremendous success of that "one-off" gala evening that we have presented a diverse programme of events throughout the city and throughout the year ever since.

The August programme has just ended. And amongst the various attractions this year was our annual Hamish Henderson Memorial Lecture.

The People's Festival has embarked on a major research project entitled Edinburgh: A People Divided, looking at the socio-economic and cultural divisions in Britain's second-richest city.

Colin Fox,

Director,

Edinburgh People's Festival,

Out of the Blue Arts Centre,

36 Dalmeny Street,

Edinburgh.