AS one of the many viewers who have to turn on the subtitles in order to follow the dialogue in the otherwise superb TV drama that is Vigil, I couldn’t agree more with Maggie Ritchie’s complaint ("I love Vigil – I just wish I could hear what the actors are saying", The Herald, September 8) about the inaudibility of so much of current television (and the BBC is not the only culprit in this communications crisis).
However, this is not the only recent development that makes so much broadcast dialogue in drama inaudible, for another – and much more pervasive problem than merely mumbling actors and poor-quality speakers in slimline tellies – is the pervasive fashion to accompany every kind of dialogue with background music. Surely we don’t need constant musical prompts to heighten the drama, especially when it makes much of what the actors are actually saying incomprehensible or inaudible? ]
We are increasingly surrounded by musical wallpaper; wrapping TV drama in it debases both the drama and the music.
Mike Bath, Balfron.
A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN
IN July, National Grid warned that the scheduled closure this year of the two old nuclear power stations Hunterston B and Dungeness B will make winter electricity supply difficult. In the world's fifth-largest economy this is unacceptable. The Government is obsessed with an impossible zero carbon agenda which will make electricity outages a reality.
As I am writing to you now the thousands of onshore and offshore wind machines (they are not turbines in the engineering sense) are producing 5.13 per cent of Britain's electricity. One of our three remaining coal power stations, West Burton A, is producing 5.43%. These three weather-independent power stations will be closed in 2024.
It does not matter how many wind farms we have, if the wind doesn't blow they are just so much scrap. Yet here in Scotland the Greens, who have linked up with the nationalists, have now committed to doubling the number of towers from 10,000 to 20,000, turning Scotland's wild landscapes into industrial wastelands. Yes, they work well when the wind blows strongly (but not too strongly) but sometimes the wind does not blow at all.
Furthermore, making battery-powered cars the future of motoring, with all their attendant problems, will place an enormous burden on generators. Truly the UK's energy policy is a disaster waiting to happen.
William Loneskie, Lauder.
EXTRA PAIN AT THE DENTISTS
I FOUND Doug Marr's piece about blaming Covid for a host of lame excuses and ineffiencies in our daily interactions most interesting ("Excuses and poor service are the symptoms of commercial long Covid", The Herald, September 4)
My latest example was when I visited my dentist in Hamilton. On previous visits over the past two months I've been asked to wait outside until the dentist is ready for me (this despite the fact that I had an appointment and was only one or two minutes early). On one occasion it was raining and I was told just to sit in my car. I told the receptionist that I didn't have a car to wait in. I was left to wait in the rain.
On my most recent visit last week, I was again told to wait outside in my car (not raining, fortunately). When I was eventually led in I noticed that the waiting area was full of cardboard boxes, as was part of the corridor.
I complained to the dentist and was informed by her that Covid regulations were responsible for the situation. When I said that when I visited my doctor I was told to wait in the waiting area and Covid didn't seem to be a problem there, the dental assistant then made a snide remark to the effect of "lucky you, able to get a doctor's appointment".
With winter coming on and the likelihood of severe weather, it seems that future dental visits could result in me succumbing to a bad bout of flu or even pneumonia. Would my illness then be put down to Covid?
I complained to NHS Lanarkshire via its website. I'm not holding my breath waiting for a response.
I have another dental appointment next week. Any bets on another long wait outside (in the rain)?
Jim McHugh, Hamilton.
GET READY FOR THE INVASION
WITH the generally great weather we've had in Scotland this year, you can bet your bottom poond that down south, word will have got round: maybe Jockland ain't so bad after all. So, get ready for a (basically) welcome mega-invasion next year.
However, our tourist infrastructure has to be improved, and fast; we need more parking facilities, far more toilets, physical barriers to stop over-wide vehicles entering unsuitable roads, and much more.
George Morton, Rosyth.
ACTIVELY AGGRIEVED
CAN someone please explain what “active travel” means? Is it possible to travel inactively? And more importantly what are we going to do when the policy gonks run out of clichés with which to pepper the most banal of things? A bridge does not “help active travel”. It’s a bridge.
John Dunlop, Ayr.
SUNK BY THE WASHING DICTATORS
CATRIONA Stewart finds it’s a hassle with her dress code on return to office working after months of Covid lockdown home-working ("Dress code? How about ministerial code?", The Herald, September 7 ).
Bras have never been my problem, but try living with domestic Gestapo who will appropriate one’s favourite troosers and even socks for the wash on a mere whim.
R Russell Smith, Largs.
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