Letters: Glasgow should keep the Buchanan Galleries and invest in Sauchiehall Street wasteland

Meanwhile the tragic wasteland that is Sauchiehall Street will remain just that. Would it not be a better idea to keep the Buchanan Galleries and invest in “endlessly adaptable” streets in and around Sauchiehall Street?

John Gilligan, Ayr.

AIR TRAFFIC CHANGE OF HEART WELCOME

I WAS very pleased to read Martin Williams’ report revealing that Highlands and Islands Airport Ltd (HIAL), the state-owned company that runs the airports in the north and west of Scotland, has modified its plans for air traffic services ("Cuts to Highlands and Islands air services shelved after safety fears", The Herald, January 29).

I don’t know the detail, but it appears its proposal was to remove air traffic controllers from the likes of Stornoway, Kirkwall and Sumburgh in Shetland, and relocate them all to Inverness.

Some of my most enjoyable, and challenging, days of flying aeroplanes were when I was based at Glasgow Airport, operating to the western and northern isles. Beautiful on a nice day, but occasionally savage when the wind, scudding cloud and rain came in. On the latter days, there was satisfaction in using the skills acquired over the years to maintain a vital lifeline service.

Removing all air traffic personnel from these airfields wouldn’t make them unsafe, but it would certainly make them less safe. In this day and age, that isn’t a direction we should be heading in, and I congratulate the union Prospect for its campaign to prevent it, and HIAL for having the courage and sense to modify their plans.

Dough Maughan, Dunblane.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO MENTAL HEALTH

WHEN I was in General Practice, a GP was a mix of clinician and social worker. It wasn’t satisfactory for doctors, but patients seemed content.

A district nurse and health visitor attached to the practice was a huge improvement. They liked having the immediate support of a doctor and we benefited from their care of our patients and their reports at regular meetings. A nurse-run “Well Man" clinic brought in patients who had not seen a doctor for many years and uncovered many problems, from hypertension to alcoholism, at an early and treatable stage.

Now many practices employ part-time doctors. “I never see the same doctor twice” is the complaint I hear from patients. I started as a part-timer and found not being able to follow up the same patient totally unsatisfactory for me too. Telephone diagnoses with or without photos must be equally unsatisfactory in many cases. Getting it right first time matters.

To satisfy patients’ needs, General Practice changed from a doctor with few treatments and little help to the specialised unit it is now. However, Covid’s lockdown has spawned an epidemic of mental problems, especially in the young. Some require medication. Many require what I would call community support.

I remember a teenager with severe anorexia. She was continually in and out of psychiatric wards. Her single mother was distraught. However, her grandmother visited the girl in hospital, sat by her side and said how very sorry she was to see her like this because she and her husband had planned the trip of a lifetime to Australia and had been relying on their granddaughter to accompany them. The girl gained weight and was out of hospital in three weeks. They went to Australia; when she came back the girl went straight to university, where she found supportive friends and work she enjoyed. Granny cured her, not me, not the psychiatrists.

Is it time to discuss different ways of offering psychological care? Should we demand for our patients that psychiatrists set up and oversee groups who get together to work and talk and support each other? I have seen these used with benefit for early dementia where woodwork, knitting and crochet and chat reactivated failing brains. For depressed teenagers it could be extended to joining community choirs, walking groups, work in food banks, meals on wheels, anything that engenders self-worth. A cure without mind-bending medication is worth trying.

Elizabeth Scott, Edinburgh.

ISLANDS DESERVE TO BE SUBSIDISED

I NOTE an interesting article by Alan Simpson where he suggests that bridges rather than ferries should be employed to allow access to and from the Scottish islands ("Calmac is not a taxi service and bridges are the answer", The Herald, January 28).

I would contend that bridges are simply not an option to the Western Isles, Shetland or Orkney (tunnel a possibility?) where around 75 per cent of Scottish islanders permanently live. Think Boris Bridge to Northern Ireland; that is the distance we are talking about. We are also not talking about connecting Denmark to Sweden and the traffic volumes that generates.

Of the remainder, Bute, Raasay, Kerrera and Lismore might be feasible. Mull is already on the agenda.

Scotland’s islands are amongst our greatest landscape and cultural assets and given their produce such as oil, renewables and whisky, they are also huge economic assets. They deserve taxpayer subsidy.

More smaller ferries with more frequent sailings have been requested by a number of island groups; let’s provide them.

Willie Towers, Alford.

A STORM IN A TEACUP

HOLY mackerel, the ba’s on the slate, my gas at a peep, and my conversation up the creek without a paddle, on taking Friday's “Issue of the Day” on board ("Britain’s endangered sayings", The Herald, January 28).

Hand on heart, I have aired some of those cited in recent weeks, and in the last dew days alone, “pearls before swine” on ceding access to a good friend on my way to “seeing a man about a dog”, aka “signing the visitors’ book”.

Too long in the tooth, what to do?

Sweet Fanny Adams, I guess.

R Russell Smith, Largs.

CODE RED

REGARDLESS of recent amendments to the Highway Code, all experienced car drivers will continue to observe the old unwritten rule about cyclists. Avoid them at all costs.

Malcolm Parkin, Kinross.