I FEEL like signing this letter "Enraged of Kilmacolm", but what's the point? Humanity is determined in raping, violating and eventually destroying the planet I've inhabited for 70 years. What has provoked this? Ive just read your report on the proposed spaceport in Sutherland ("Lift-off at last as UK’S pioneering vertical spaceport gets go-ahead", The Herald, June 24).

This will be constructed on peatland. We need the peatland to combat climate change. Your article states that five tonnes of carbon fibre reinforced plastic and seven tonnes of metal alloy will drop into the sea each year according to the planners' report.

The sea is already full of mankind's garbage. Only yesterday I read that pollution has been found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. It is in the bodies of the marine life at the bottom of the Trench, the deepest part of the sea anywhere on Earth. When humans eat the marine life it gets into the food chain. That is one reason I am vegetarian, because I want to reduce as much as I can the amount of toxins I ingest.

What is the point of exploring space, trying to reach other planets, when we are already on the way to destroying this one? Margaret Forbes, Kilmacolm.

Song for our times

AS lockdown is run down gradually and the restrictions on socialising are eased, what are the odds on George Clooney’s late auntie Rosemary Clooney climbing the charts once again with her cheery hit song from the 1950s, Come on-a my house, my house a-come on?

Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.

Sorry, midges

I AM happy to feel mildly chastised by Thelma Edwards (Letters, June 24 ), over my recent reference to bêtes noires (Letters, June 20).

Her reflective letters are always a pleasure and offer balance and relief from politics, the current pandemic, and other divisive issues.

If I have offended any midges or cleggs, I offer my apologies; but no takeaways.

R Russell Smith, Kilbirnie.

Ticket of pride

IT was so good to read your Those were the days feature regarding The Beatles concert in Edinburgh, October, 1964 (The Herald, June 22). I was actually at that concert, along with my lady friend of the time, and frankly, the whole experience provided me with memories that I'll never forget. In fact, I still have the programme.

However, my memory is certainly not what it used to be and I wonder if any other reader can actually remember how tickets were obtained in those far-off, unsophisticated days? I distinctly remember the tickets coming through the post, but am totally in the dark as to the methods used to book them, but am sure that there would be no booking, administration fees in those days. Any other readers enlighten me?

Chris Warbrick, Dumbarton.