YOUR former columnist Jack Webster wrote: "This twentieth century itself may be running into old age, but at the first melodious call of an April evening the heart still stirs with the eternal hope of youth – and the sheer privilege and joy of being alive to partake of this mystifying and glorious adventure..
Some 20 years on, I do wish that some of your current columnists and correspondents would take these words to heart and stop whingeing and predicting doom, gloom, chaos and disaster in so many facets of our lives.
Perhaps I should just accept that ‘twas ever thus.
David Miller, Milngavie.
When the tooth hurts
IT appears that Ian Blackford has been “subjected to howls of abuse when he speaks in the House of Commons” (Letters, July 3). If Mark Smith’s "love bomb" ("How a pamphlet of love could win a Scottish referendum", The Herald, July 1) doesn’t do the trick to improve life for Mr Blackford then perhaps Robert Burns’ suggestion might be the answer. Burns wrote in his Address To The Toothache: “Gie a’ the faes o’ Scotland’s weal / A towmond’s toothache”. Surely those unfriendly people howling at Mr Blackford, when he stands to speak in The Commons, also qualify for a dose of the “wracking engines”? It would really give them something to howl about.
Thelma Edwards, Kelso.
Sharing the pain
AS we superior males line up to scoff at Steph Haughton’s badly missed penalty for the so-called Lionesses against the US ("Heartbreak as England pay penalty for missed chances", Herald Sport, July 3), I remind myself of Don Masson’s abysmal effort in Argentina, not to mention such English greats as Tom Finney, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan, Garry Lineker and of course Stuart Pearce, to name but a few, who all achieved the same goof many years ago. Perhaps the girls are just catching up?
Ian Cooper, Bearsden.
No smarter
THE letter today (July 4) from Jack Irvine complements my own letter of June 27 whereby I made comment on the alleged rise of intellectual development in comparison with years gone by and the veritable flood of degree-bearing students descending on the open market seeking appropriate posts vide their qualifications, as they see it, in industry and commerce.
Perusal of the graduation lists of recent days has only strengthened my views being further baffled by the motley assortment of subject matter that is beyond my comprehension.
In all this, the answer to the two questions posed in Mr Irvine's letter is a resounding no.
John Macnab, Falkirk.
No fizz
IF Scotland is to be carbon-neutral by 2050, everyone must make an effort.
Many popular canned and bottled Scottish beverages are fizzy, because CO2 is injected under pressure. Here is a sacrifice we could make, and others will surely follow. No more carbonated fizzy drink: something that will surely lead the way for the rest of the world.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinnesswood.
No shooting
I'M dismayed that the beautiful red grouse singing its heart out in the Picture of the Day (July 3) was "shot from the car window on a visit to the Cairngorm National Park". Shouldn't they have waited until the Glorious Twelfth?
Dr Hamish Maclaren, Stirling.
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