YOUR short report, Parliament threat to Scots tourism (May 19), reminded me of an observation I made while holidaying in the Loch Ness area a couple of years ago.
I noticed that just about all of the many gift-shops that we entered offered for sale small badges which coupled the Saltire with the flag of numerous other countries - Japan, the US, etc.
Being of mixed blood (!) and having married a Scot, I thought it would be nice to buy a badge with the cross of St George on it. Some hope. Despite the fact that two-thirds of tourists to Scotland are English not one of the shops had one, and none of the assistants that I spoke to seemed particularly worried by the fact.
John Gardiner
The Coppings, Auchenblae,
Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire.
May 19.
AS a non-SNP voter I was still shocked to see the chairman of the Scottish Tourist Board, Lord Gordon, late of Radio Clyde, warning Scots not to vote for an independent Parliament in case English tourists don't like it (May 19). They wouldn't know the difference anyway between a real Parliament and a devolved Assembly.
Lord Gordon is supposed to be a neutral appointee. Though this may be a difficult concept for a former West Renfrewshire Parliamentary Labour Party candidate from the 1960s.
Andrew Baird,
110 Hill Street, Glasgow.
May 19.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article