DENIS Bruce (Letters, March 31) believes that now we have all had a taste of having to stay at home or even self-isolate we should have more sympathy for prisoners for whom that is the default situation. Most of the population manage to go through life as decent law-abiding citizens and therefore manage to stay out of jail. Perhaps, unlike me he has never been a victim of crime.

Please do not blame poverty, because many people go through their entire lives in dire poverty and never commit crimes. Perhaps he has never had to stand in a witness box and be accused of lying by a defence lawyer whilst the accused (who was subsequently found guilty and found to have a long list of previous convictions for violence) stood smirking in the dock. I know it’s a cliché but “if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime”.

David Clark, Tarbolton.

Our glorious beach

YOU report highly exaggerated comments by the John Muir Trust on the state of our local beach ("Even one of our most remote beauty spots can't escape plastic pollution", The Herald, March 30). While the small band of clean-up volunteers deserves thanks, the presence of rubbish among washed-up seaweed is not unprecedented after prolonged storm-force winds such as we have experienced recently. As for the steps having been "destroyed", most of these wooden steps (which were only constructed a couple of decades ago) remain in place, and the reasonably agile have no difficulty in negotiating the sandy slope at the bottom.

This remains a glorious beach. However, the area immediately behind it, and much of the rest of our township, is a scene of devastation, thanks to a succession of planning approvals over the past five years on which almost nothing but excavation and groundwork has been carried out. The John Muir Trust, which owns much of the remaining land and the surrounding area, has acquiesced in this and, in one instance, actively facilitated the development.

Michael Otter, Lairg.

Tiny on his travels

I ENJOYED The Those Were the Days feature on Tiny Wharton (The Herald, March 28).

The article lists a number of high-profile matches that Mr Wharton officiated, but I’m guessing most of your readers will not be aware that he also officiated at the annual titanic tussle between Orkney and Shetland. I wish I could remember the exact year but 1967 wouldn’t be far away. And to my shame as an Orcadian, I can’t even remember who won the match.

He spoke very eloquently after the game, thanked both associations for inviting him to officiate, commented that the standard of play was perhaps not quite what he was used to (Celtic may well have been European champions at the time) but was in absolutely no doubt that the post-match festivities would be second to none.

He had obviously done his homework on the Northern Isles.

Willie Towers, Alford.

Pecking order

MARK Boyle's letter (March 31) on pigeons apparently switching to British Summer Time occasions my comment. In response to our household's feeding of the birds a pecking order applies.

First to swoop is a large gull, followed by various members of the crow family including magpies and jackdaws. On their retreat blackbirds, thrushes and sparrows forage for the scraps. Finally a solitary robin, expressing indignation that his space has been encroached, flits on the scene. However the exception are four pigeons who waddle about apparently oblivious of any eating protocol. Those pigeons, whilst fearless of other birds, regularly peck one another and not necessarily in an affectionate way. Perhaps this trait has been noted, whereby they are duly respected by other denizens of the dining green.

Allan C Steele, Giffnock.

Granny or Nana?

WHILE out taking my allowable exercise in Glasgow yesterday, I came across two police officers apparently trying to persuade two men who were standing in the doorway of a (closed) pub, drinking – alcohol – and smoking and not keeping the regulation social distance from each other, to get on their way and go home. During the course of the conversation that I overheard, one of the men said to the officers: “I swear on my nana’s ashes.”

This was, as it happens, the first time I’d heard “ashes” replace the usual “grave” but, more strikingly, this was the first time I’d heard a Scottish person use the word “nana” for the more usual “gran” or “granny”. Until that point, I would have said “nana” was the familiar word that people in England used for grandmother. Do Herald readers have any opinions on this matter? And can they cast any light on it?

Deedee Cuddihy, Glasgow G12.