IT was with mixed feelings that I read the recent article by Uzma Mir on virtue signalling ("Virtue signalling is great – we should do more of it", The Herald, October 30). I still cannot make my mind up about it. In all probability there are many genuine, sincere people who haven’t given serious consideration to the fact that their charity is being made public and surely just as many others who do publicise their charitable acts for less altruistic reasons.
The people who freely give up their precious time to help others, whether it is simply helping a neighbour with their shopping or a bit of gardening or whether it is working at a food bank or with another organisation tend to do this without shouting about it. My late mother-in-law, someone whom I considered to be a true Christian (for the avoidance of doubt I am an atheist) was never heard speaking ill of anyone and regularly gave money to various charities without talking about it.
The only reason I know this is because when my wife and I were clearing out her house we found her cheque book. She had routinely filled in the stubs to record her transactions. This was evidence that she made regular payments to various different charities of her choice. The payments were usually the sum of £50. Her main source of income was the state pension. She never told anyone she just did it.
David Clark, Tarbolton.
SCOOTERS SCOURGE
I CAN only assume that Douglas Martyn (Letters, November 4) is wealthy and the proud green owner of an electric vehicle and that he or his family intend to acquire an e-scooter. Electric vehicle (EV) drivers having to pay for their parking and electricity was long overdue. Many EV drivers leave their vehicles on charge at free parking points and travel by train, so the space is tied up all day.
If local authorities install EV charging points it is the council taxpayer who funds it even though many cannot afford a second-hand car, far less an expensive EV. Owners receive grants of up to £3,500 towards the cost of their car. They also get up to £1,000 for a home charging point.
E-scooter riders will soon be as unpopular as cyclists when they ride on the pavement and ignore the Highway Code. This happened during a trial of e-scooters in England.
Clark Cross, Linlithgow.
NATURE LOST
I NOTE that Nature Scot has recently allowed 20 per cent of the beavers in Scotland to be culled and is exporting more than 100 of those remaining to England ("One quarter of nation’s beavers could be on the move to England", The Herald, November 3). In the past few years, it has allowed culling of hundreds of ravens and other species.
It recently changed its name from Scottish Natural Heritage to Nature Scot. Maybe it should have changed it to Denature Scot.
Rob Evans, Dundee DD2.
SOBER TRUTHS
THE news seems to be full of politicians making pronouncements about when alcohol can or cannot be consumed. They remind me of Rebecca West's writings around 1938. She talked about the politicians "for whom the reward for total abstinence from alcohol seems, illogically enough, to be the capacity for becoming intoxicated without it". They are "perpetually drunk on what comes out of their mouths, not what goes into it."
Robin Davidson, Newton Stewart.
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