Letters: What is behind the sad demise of Glasgow Airport from aviation leader to also-ran?

As one deputy manager of "airside", who became a friend, said, "if an airport doesn't keep developing, it's dead".

I wonder what can be said of the shell of Scotland's link to the world.

All US carriers gone, Virgin Atlantic gone, but just from Glasgow – yet Glasgow was their first move from England. They are now in Edinburgh, serving a much smaller local population, yet all are extending their route network from there.

Look back at Glasgow's former daily and some seasonal routes – Chicago, Newark, JFK, and Orlando – and some earlier ones. All have or are returning to EDI and some new ones. Is that just the start?

Maybe it was greed. After all, Ryanair's boss pulled most routes because he felt landing fees were excessive. Did that encourage the departure? Other features, parking charges and the appalling herding of car drivers makes the whole experience a chore when once it was an excitement.

It surprises me that people have not yet looked into the demise of this once-significant international airport and asked its owners why.

John Taylor, Dunlop.

LEARN MORE ABOUT UKRAINE

I HAVE been reflecting on how we, the UK citizenry, can get involved in the fight on the side of democracy, for all its shortcomings, against totalitarianism. Obviously many can donate generously to charities relieving some of the suffering of the Ukrainians and some are in a position to take in refugees from that benighted country.

However. Andrey Kurkov, once described as being “Ukraine’s most famous and successful living writer” who currently has a weekly slot on BBC Radio 4, Letter From Ukraine, when asked what we can do to help Ukraine recommends we “find out more about Ukraine. If you really want to know why this is happening read about our history”.

I myself have just finished reading The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution by Marci Shore of Yale University. I did not find it the easiest of reads due to the plethora of Slavic names but it is well worth the effort based as it is on the personal reflections of participants in the Maidan Revolution of February 2014. A more straightforward historical account is The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs To Know by Professor Serhy Yekelchyk, a Ukrainian-Canadian historian of Ukrainian and Russian History.

Anything else we can do? Yes indeed, write to The Herald Letters Pages with our thoughts on Ukraine.

John Milne, Uddingston.

WHEN WILL RUSSIANS LEARN THE TRUTH?

THOSE of us living in countries within Nato membership and their allies, and in fact many observers throughout the world, are looking on with horror and despair at the human misery, destruction and carnage which have occurred since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. One has to appreciate that most of what is going on there is subjected to a process of disinformation at the hands of the Russian state through its various media outlets.

One asks the question, how long can the Russian people remain unaware of the following facts: the vast numbers of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, having to leave their homes and to seek safety from attack in other countries; the killing by Russian military of many civilians, including children; the wanton destruction through air strikes, artillery bombardment and tank assaults of many residential areas; the obstruction of humanitarian access in many areas; the eradication of potential witnesses to atrocities; attacks on hospitals?

We learn that President Putin wishes to have some kind of success to announce at the military celebrations on May 9. On that date Russia marks the surrender of Nazi Germany. One is left to wonder how disinformed about the despicable conduct of the Russian military forces in Ukraine the thousands attending that celebration in Moscow will be. It may not be likely to happen before May 9, but surely the day will come when the Russian people will be faced with the truth.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

LET THE UN OBSERVERS IN

AFTER reading about, and seeing television reports, on apparently-substantiated Russian war crimes in Ukraine in the areas now retaken beyond Kyiv, I dread to think what other horrors will surely follow. I have also noted that International Criminal Court prosecutors' representatives are monitoring the atrocities found, so that the crimes may be verified and hopefully prosecuted at a later date. My heart, however, goes out to the residents of Mariupol in particular, who must be going through a living hell.

Surely there must be some way that Russia can be made to allow UN observers in to see just what is going on in the town, especially since Russia insists that no war crimes/atrocities are taking place in the whole conflict by their troops. and more help be given with safe passage to the elderly, mothers and children, out of the town to safe areas in Ukraine?

George Dale, Beith.

NUCLEAR IS NOT THE ANSWER

DAVID Bone (Letters, April 9) might be too young to remember when the South of Scotland Electricity Board planned to construct a nuclear power station at Chapledonan just two miles north of Girvan in the early 1970s. At the time there was a huge local campaign against this proposal, which thankfully was successful.

Would Mr Bone like to start a local campaign to have a nuclear power station in the Girvan area? I doubt it. In his letter he infers it is the SNP alone which is telling him there is a worldwide climate emergency. I have to ask: was Mr Bone hiding under his duvet during COP26?

With regard to nuclear power, of which Mr Bone admits he has limited "technical knowledge", anyone just has to google "Windscale" to see why it is a really bad solution to the energy crisis the world faces.

Alec Oattes, Ayr.