HOW refreshing to see Helen McArdle giving voice to ex-Government adviser Dr Sally Witcher talking sense about the lack of decent guidance and precautions from government regarding the continuing risks from Covid ("Why ex-government adviser believes masks should still be worn in healthcare settings", The Herald, July 22).

The so-called guidance about masks has been abysmal from the beginning with the euphemistic term "face covering" when it was well known that any face covering including the blue surgical masks were much inferior to FFP3 or N95. That was illustrated dramatically in the Christmas lectures early in the pandemic without reference to the fact that the audience were all wearing blue masks. Obviously, the better masks are more expensive and were in short supply but at least we could have been advised. Other nations did much better in that respect. At one point Germany would not let anyone on public transport without an FFP3 mask.

It was similar case with ventilation, which was initially largely ignored despite clear evidence of its importance published from Japan and Europe very early on in the pandemic. Little has improved. I have spoken to many café and hotel restaurant managers about the lack of ventilation in their premises; the reaction has been almost entirely negative. Either they had no idea what I was talking about or they knew but said their clients would not like it to be colder. One was proud of his ceiling fans despite the suggestion that they would increase the risk of transmission.

I have only seen one Hepa filter in use, in a small cafe in the west Highlands. Why are they not in all schools, not to mention doctors' waiting rooms? Other aspects were equally poor. For example, the guidance about "going out for a walk for one hour" when fresh air is about the best safeguard short of vaccination; and the closure of local parks which would have been the safest places to be. We have been, and still are, poorly served by both the UK and the Scottish governments.

John Spence, Airdrie.

China will be heat pump winners

IF the Scottish Government is banning new gas boilers (“Gas boilers set to be penalised under energy efficiency overhaul”, heraldscotland, July 23, and Letters, July 25), where will councils and householders buy heat pumps from? Will they be made in Scotland? I presume it will be the same fiasco as the fire alarms which had to be brought in from China and shipped over.

In other words, in order that the Greens can pat themselves on the back on helping the climate emergency, China will make the heat pumps in their factories, employing their people and ship or fly them over to Scotland. And with the number needed how does the energy used and CO2 emissions created help the climate emergency?

Typically, this policy has not been thought through and the Scots will again suffer for the madness of the SNP and Greens.

Elizabeth Hands, Armadale.

Don't punish the families

I WAS disappointed to read the result of your recent poll regarding whether people held in prison should have telephones in their cells ("Herald Poll: Should prisoners have phones in their cells?", heraldscotland.com, July 20).

Research in prisons from the 1970s through to Lord Farmer's reviews in 2017 and 2019 show that family contact reduces the risk of reoffending up to six times. Lord Woolf recommended the introduction of telephones in prison halls after the series of prison riots starting at HMP Strangeways identified poor family contact as one of two major reasons for the unrest.

Prisons in Scotland introduced mobile phones during the pandemic to help maintain family contact and reduce mental ill health and suicides amongst people held in prison. The transition to landlines prevents people in prison from using illegal SIM cards and saves money lost through missing and damaged mobiles. Response to a Parliamentary Question in June suggests that fees charged for the installation and use of in-cell landlines will be cost-neutral to the taxpayer, while creating significant social benefits.

Most importantly, children and families of people held in prison have done nothing wrong and have the right to maintain contact with loved ones. In-cell telephony prevents the disruption from noise, competition for hall phones, and the lack of the time and privacy needed to repair and maintain family relationships.

Families Outside supports the Scottish Prison Service and Cabinet Secretary for Justice with this decision. We hope, in understanding the importance of such contact, that others will do the same.

Charlotte Riley, Support & Communications Manager, Families Outside, Edinburgh.

Read more: We must get behind the climate activists

An ignorant mistake

I SHARE Otto Inglis’s anger at the Taliban’s decree against educating girls (Letters, July 22). Females are the mothers of the future generation, so the offspring of members of the Taliban are going to be raised by uneducated mothers.

Educate a girl and you educate a family.

Alice Laing, Bearsden.

Venturing forth

IF Largs were indeed located on the Firth of Forth as Kevin McKenna states ("A day trip down the Clyde coast has certain appeal", The Herald, July 24), then he may have experienced drier weather. Sadly Largs is located on the Firth of Clyde and it always rains at the Glasgow Fair. He should try the East Neuk; better weather for one thing.

Bill Eadie, Giffnock.

With great respect

AFTER reading Gordon Fisher's letter (July 21) I feel I must reply to his criticism of the way people treat their elders. He should not tar everyone with the same brush.

As an 87-year-old gentleman going about my business in Lenzie, Kirkintilloch and Glasgow I have always found people kind, considerate and respectful.

I am auld myself and much prefer it to the alternative.

William Dorman, Lenzie.

Curb this enthusiasm

AFTER reading Brian Chrystal's account of a thermal incident (Letters, July 25), I reached the back page of today's Herald and found that law firm Pinsent Masons has leased a building with great kerb appeal ("Law firm in major Glasgow office move", The Herald, July 25). Eh?

I trust that the decision to lease was evidence-based, proportionate and necessary, free of obfuscation, prudent, not a difficult decision, in the interests of both internal and external stakeholders, and that it will be exponentially successful going forward.

We are not told whether or not a think tank found this window of opportunity.

David Miller, Milngavie.