IAIN Gulland's report Agenda article ("Fight the litter menace and help keep Scotland stunning", The Herald, August 18) would be laughable if it were not so serious. He says that with more and more people out and about enjoying the good Scottish weather this increases the risk of more litter. Which planet is he living on? We do not need good weather to increase litter. These idiots don't leave their litter behind because they forgot to pick it up, it's because they do not care.

News reporters keep reminding us to take our litter away with us as if these people accidentally forgot it; get real, they have no intention of disposing of it properly. We need to stop making excuses for these people. There would not be any plastic and the like in our oceans and rivers if everyone threw their litter away.

Until we start to punish these ignorant people more severely nothing will change. No wonder we are the lepers of Europe in other countries. You only have to look at our public transport where tickets, fast food wrappings and more are either thrown on the floor or left on the seats with the attitude that someone else can pick it up, it's not my problem. If you require any convincing just look at all the programmes on TV about rail travel abroad, every coach is immaculate from top to bottom. That's because these people have respect for their environment, unlike Britain.

Mauro Benedetti, Kilmarnock.

FOOTBALLERS’ ARROGANCE

I HAVE to ask. Just what is it that makes footballers think they are above the law and that normal rules don’t apply to them ("Sturgeon threatens to show football the red card", The Herald, August 12)? They are highly overpaid “sportsmen” who kick a ball around a large piece of grass. Somebody needs to tell them that they are nothing special.

They are no better than anyone else on this planet and that means you don’t get on a plane and fly off on holiday, come back and put thousands of people (other players, fans etc) at risk of Covid when the rules say don't.

Where does this mentality come from?

Susan Miller, Kilmaurs.

LANGUAGE MATTERS

FOR the first time I find myself in agreement with Stuart Walton’s column ("Real outrage over BBC’S n-word row has been forgotten", The Herald, August 11).

To not use the actual word that the racist driver and passenger used gives a false impression of the type of abuse that black people are confronted with on a daily basis. As Mr Waiton says, it was used in a completely anti-racist report and context. It was what actually happened.

Willie Towers, Alford.

ELDER: THE PITS

WHILST in agreement with Douglas Cowe's observations on the grammatical mangling of language (Letters, August 11), I would suggest this is not peculiar to Glasgow-based presenters. Equally annoying are the comments of national TV presenters: "He/she was stood (or sat) there" and the regular misuse of "eldest (youngest) " when elder (younger) is appropriate. Such gaffes are not only jarring to the ear but totally misleading in the content of the news line being delivered.

Allan C Steele, Giffnock.

ANTI-SOCIAL?

"SOCIAL distancing"; there's an oxymoron if ever I heard one.

David Miller, Milngavie.