COMMENTS on the fate of Church of Scotland buildings and their historical artefacts ("Dwindling congregations leave Church of Scotland with a different mission", The Herald, December 10 and Letters, December 13) are well made, but overlook what is likely to be the main outcome of the Church's radical action plan – the further shrinkage in membership.

As presbyteries unfold their mission plans it is becoming clear that the reduction in churches is going to have a massive and rapid impact on congregations. As buildings close members will face considerable travel difficulties to attend services; many will be unhappy at the closure of places of worship that they have attended all their lives; community organisations attached to a particular church will be lost; many may be uncomfortable with the traditions and outlook of the congregations with which they are united; and even more will be put off by the possible reduction in pastoral care from over-stretched ministers.

When the Church's policies of "union and readjustment" began some decades ago, it was estimated that about one-third of a closing congregation was lost, and did not go to any other church. I suspect that this will be repeated several-fold with the current strategy.
Professor KB Scott, Stirling

Midwives are to the fore

CELIA Welch's account of her own and of the next generation of women in her family's experiencea of NHS labour ward management in early labour (Letters, December 13) is distressing. As we know, outstanding legal claims in obstetrics in Scotland to end 2021 amount to £300 million, almost double all other clinical negligence claims. We also know that caesarian section rates have increased from 10% when I was an Senior House Officer in obstetrics in 1978, now to a rate of 38% (equal numbers of planned and emergency operations).

All of this is on the back of the deeply troubling institutional problems described in Morecambe, Shrewsbury, East Kent and Nottingham.

I am troubled by the assertion that "male-led obstetricians" carry responsibility for how mothers are advised on the phone when in early labour. First, it is almost certain that midwives are providing first-line advice. They are independent clinicians who will follow agreed unit guidelines. As three-quarters of obstetricians in training are women, the men are now already in the minority in consultant teams.

As is their remit, the educational body which is the Royal College of Obstetricians (RCOG) has reported on workforce issues as recently as February this year – all 168 pages. They echo Mrs Welch's plea: "Co-production with women entails working with them as equal partners through every part of service design, development and improvement rather than just asking them for feedback. It is key to hearing a diversity of opinions and ensuring that care is person-centred."

It's a reassuring aspiration but with midwife shortages throughout the UK, there is a way to go in quality, consistency and safety of care for both sets of women – expectant mothers and female midwives and consultants.
Dr Philip Gaskell, Drymen

A turner for the big yin?

I WAS strolling down Glasgow's Queen Street (putting one foot in front of the other as suggested by Chic Murray as the best means of forward locomotion) when I was stopped in my tracks by some strange-looking pictures in a shop window.

It was an art shop which was displaying these pictures – all of which appeared to be of figures trussed up with rope or string. Curiosity made me enter the establishment, where I discovered they were the work of Billy Connolly, Glasgow's favourite son.

As someone who initiated the Calton Fauvist (we were pretty wild) Artist's Colony in Ross Street – just across from our favourite howff, the Saracen Head – with Billy, and having achieved some limited success as an artist myself (my moonscape "Lanliq Reveries" won the 1974 Matt McGinn Award for Most Promising Chancer), I feel sufficiently knowledgeable to pass judgment on the Big Yin's artistic endeavours.

His use of light and shade are truly astonishing, and his muted chiaroscuro tones are breathtaking, but the meaning and significance of the works eluded me and I was forced to conclude that they were the products of his "extrayent la pisse" period so beloved of the earlier Fauvists down in the Calton all those years ago.

Billy's efforts in the field of modern art can surely rank on – at least – the same level as an unmade bed, a pile of bricks or a dead shark, so it's with a "gaun yersel" that we wish him all the best among the aesthetes of the arts world.
John McInnes, Glasgow

Taking some cold comfort

MOST news programmes on television these days feature someone who can heat only one room in the house because of the price of fuel.

Watching one such item the other night my wife and I recalled that when we were growing up, that was the situation in our houses. There was a coal fire in the living room, and that had to be lit from scratch each morning. As a result, by the time it was putting out any heat we were on our way to school.

Central heating was many years away, so a hot water bottle was taken to bed. In the morning, vests were pulled into bed to warm up before being put on, and ice was scraped off the inside of the window. Somehow we survived.
Gordon Berry, Ayr

• LIKE Douglas Jardine (Letters, December 13) I recently travelled, not for the first time, on a freezing cold First Bus. Unfortunately trains can be equally bad.

We’ve just taken the first steps to sending people back to the Moon but we seem incapable of providing this most basic of features. Perhaps a reader with a knowledge of these things could explain the problem, or better still someone from ScotRail and First Bus.
Stuart Neville, Clydebank

Dad knew best

I COULDN'T help but smile at your headline "Travel alerts as ice and snow spark yellow warning from Met Office" (The Herald, December 12). It brought back my dad's advice. "Son," he said, "never eat yellow snow."
Brendan Keenan, Glasgow

The Herald:

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