WITH his inimitable if somewhat offbeat humour Robert McNeil (“Going out on a limb to defend our trees”, The Herald, February 5) occasions a smile on his reflections on steak pie and tree controversy recently ventilated in your Letters Pages.
For many, such incidences of dispute are dismissed as trivial but for these involved it is no laughing matter. It appears comment or dispute only surfaces when an individual raises the issue be it steak pie (trades description) or offending trees (planning regulations). Considering all 32 local authority councils are well endowed with planning and trading standards departments the onus of investigation is their remit.
Prompt proactive service by our local councils could defuse deteriorating relationships and be welcomed by all concerned.
Allan C Steele,
22 Forres Avenue, Giffnock.
I WAs pleased to read Robert McNeil's engaging round-up recent letters. I am glad that one of my pet topics has been given an airing in the past few. Lest my opening letter (February 3) gave the impression that I am some mad axeman let me say that I too have trees. They provide an excellent flexible windbreak against the salt-laden blasts from the open waters of the Clyde.
The main focus of the original assertion was the purpose of the Government tree planting scheme. This is primarily carbon capture. Without going into the minutiae of crop yields, suffice to say that many crops outperform conifers by factors of four or five. Even the humble turnip makes the efficiency of the spruce look somewhat "wooden".
Sadly "greenish" people plough their furrows with almost religious zeal. I would commend them to heed the words of Oliver Cromwell when addressing the Church of Scotland. He wrote: "I beseech you in the Bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken "
Dr G W Cross,
17 Dykesfield Place, Saltcoats.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel