STRUAN Stevenson ("So, who says that America is no country for old men?", The Herald, March 14) expresses some reservation about the fact that electors in the United States in November are likely to have a choice between "two of the oldest candidates" ever to stand for the Presidency with President Trump, now 73, for the Republicans and either Joe Biden, now 77, or Bernie Saunders, now 78, for the Democrats.
It is by no means unique for countries to elect candidates who may be considered by many as being of a "good age". Consider in this country William Gladstone, who in his final term as Prime Minister (1892-94), was over 80; Benjamin Disraeli was in his seventies when in his second term (1874-80) as Prime Minister; and Winston Churchill was still serving as Prime Minister (1951-55) when over 80. The UK has not been alone in appointing the time-worn to top political posts. Charles De Gaulle was acting as President of France (1958-69) in his seventies; Dwight D Eisenhower served in that capacity (1953-61) in the USA when of a similar age; and in Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King was in the same age bracket when serving as Prime Minister (1935-48).
Clearly life has shown that being over the biblical age of three score years and ten does not necessarily mean that one is over the hill and past it.
Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.
Give football a break
OF course solving football’s problems has low priority at the moment and rightly so. But for those interested could I suggest a possible solution to the discussion on what happens if the season is not completed? Presuming the Euro 20s are cancelled, which seems almost certain, the SPFL should propose that no games will be played until June 1. The players could then go on a four-to-five-week break till May 1, which would in effect be their summer break. When they hopefully return on June 1 they complete the 2019/2020 season and then go straight to the 2020/2021 season. On current coronavirus predictions it seems highly unlikely that games will be played before June 1 at the earliest.
Stewart Jamieson, Dumfries.
The sums total
DOUG Clark's letter (March 13) on "the joy of maths" struck a chord with me. When my late son, Richard, was studying for his PhD in Maths in Medicine he would show me a page of calculations with the comment “isn’t that beautiful?”
I’m afraid I was unable to agree as it looked like hieroglyphics. I studied maths in the early 1960s and obtained a Higher. However, separately I studied arithmetic. The maths included algebra, calculus, etc, whereas the Arithmetic was about counting, working out percentages, ratios and so on.
The sooner the educational experts agree that there are two categories the better. By the end of the third year (at the latest) it must be obvious which individuals love maths whilst the rest of us are content just to be able to count.
Elizabeth McDermott, Bothwell.
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