Name the new Clyde crossing after Jimmy Reid

He found international fame as one of the leaders of the UCS “work-in” and latterly as a print and film journalist of considerable renown.

His rectorial address to the students of Glasgow University is as relevant today as it was when he delivered it on 28th April 1972. I do often wonder what he would make of the current political situation, locally and nationally and indeed internationally.

A bridge in his memory would be far more practical than a statue. I know he would have been both humbled and thrilled at this suggestion. So how about it Glasgow?

Dan Edgar, Rothesay

Why didn’t Scotland build the bridge?

Living in Gourock , I see a variety of craft going up and down the river, and I wondered what was going up the river the other day.

Five minutes of research and I discovered it was the Patrick Bridge, and I thought, by coming on a barge it had to be from abroad , and your article in Saturday’s edition confirmed it.

Is Scottish engineering at such a low level that we couldn’t build it ourselves?

Cameron Mclellan, Gourock

My duty to give dying people a choice

Scotland is on the cusp of assisted dying reform, as was my home state of Victoria in Australia six years ago. There is overwhelming support from the Scottish public, as there was among Victorians. There is evidence of unbearable and avoidable suffering under the current law, as we had, and of the tragic lengths some dying people must resort to without a safe option available to them.

To me, a life-long campaigner on issues of personal choice and autonomy and, at the time, an Upper House MP representing the diverse communities of Melbourne and surrounding areas, the case for change was clear. I felt it my duty to bring forward a bill to give our dying citizens the choices they were so sorely lacking.

While many colleagues jumped to support it, others, including fellow liberals, were at first understandably cautious. We were the first Australian state to propose this change; it can be daunting to be a trailblazer, to shake up a long-established status quo.

Concerns, such as those expressed by Dr Griffiths (Letters, October 11) are to be expected and must be listened to. We engaged prominent members of the disability community as well as groups that support disabled and older people, and they were ultimately reassured by our limited eligibility criteria and robust safeguards. Concerns are not reasons to abandon much-needed reform; they should further motivate us to get this right, to develop the safest legislation possible.

This motivation also took me to Oregon, to ask the drafters of their 25-year-old Death with Dignity Act what they would improve if rewriting their legislation now. “Nothing” was their reply – this is how safe and robust this model is, so much so that it has been adopted not just in my state, but now in all states in Australia and right across New Zealand.

I have recently returned from our inaugural Trans-Tasman Voluntary Assisted Dying conference, attended primarily by healthcare professionals who provide or will soon provide these services. The tone of conversations was invariably about everything that’s gone right, and how we can make these services even better. Improving access for eligible patients, within strict safeguards, is not expansion – it’s good healthcare.

The sense from states who were last to the table – including New South Wales, whose law will come into effect next month – was that they wished they hadn’t waited so long, to the detriment of their dying people. Caution has an important role in momentous reforms like this, but ultimately courage must win out.

Fiona Patten, Victoria, Australia

Who really benefits from the pylons?

Hoorah for Norman McNab’s assertion that we already have too many wind pylons, and more particularly that “sadly many foreign venture capitalists and wealthy landowners are on a win-win ticket while trivial financial benefit and damage is Scotland’s reward” (Letters, October 13).

I would liken the proliferation of wind farms across rural Scotland, and particularly the Highlands, to the clearances. With Orkney, for instance, expecting to propose an array to generate enough electricity to power two million homes, most of the power must be destined for the Central Belt or more probably England, and it is indeed the land owners and energy companies who will reap the main rewards.

Meanwhile, those living in the path of the huge strings of pylons needed to take the power south may get little if any compensation for having their outlooks blighted, their health endangered, their internet connections and tourism businesses disrupted. and the value of their properties sharply reduced.

As England’s shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves has suggested property owners could be compensated for the proximity of pylons with reduced energy bills. Has she ever lived close to a huge pylon? In a previous house I lived beside a comparatively modest one and it is to be strenuously avoided.

Fiona Robertson, Stirling

Playing the numbers game

As an antidote to the many weighty letters on wars and politics, I thought I would write about prime numbers. This year, 2023, when expressed as a product of prime factors, is equal to 7 x 17 x 17. How good is that?

Next year, 2024, is no slouch either, being equal to 2 x 2 x 2 x 11 x 23.

It gets even better as 2025 is equal to 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 5 x 5. Note that it is also a square number as it is 45 squared.

The next prime year is 2027.

Give yourself a treat and work out 2028. You won’t be disappointed.

Brian J Logan, Glasgow

What shrinkflation’s done to my breakfast

I have a penchant for a cheese and ham quesadilla for breakfast; I know, I know, “Weirdo, what’s wrong with porridge?” Of late shrinkflation seems to have struck the tortilla industry; either that or some joker is gradually increasing the size of my favourite frying pan.

David J Crawford , Glasgow