ONE thing is clear from the current mess: strikes are no substitute for voting.

You'd have to be a rabid authoritarian to deny the right of a worker to withdraw their labour. However, we need to ask ourselves: in a service-led economy and in a country where anything and everything that worked for the people has been privatised, put into the hands of the wealthy and the profit-driven (while being heavily subsidised by the public purse), what do strikes achieve?

Customers on the hard end of rail strikes will say (and have said) they support the strikes and are sympathetic to the workers. They will also say they cause personal and daily misery. There is support for striking NHS workers while at the same time patients worry about the effects on their health.

Workers lose money. Patients and commuters lose already-stretched services. In England waterways run by the privatised companies are a sewage disaster. And yet the profits keep rolling in – and then out – to offshore hidey-holes in many cases.

People need to be educated to vote and more importantly to start voting in their best interests and not for the posh idiots who spout the shiniest lies.

Amanda Baker, Edinburgh.

Spend on health, not Trident

THE economic ignorance of UK Health Secretary Steve Barclay is breathtaking. He claims the Government can’t "afford" to pay junior doctors enough to live on – their pay has fallen by more than a quarter over a decade – and is offering a lousy 2% when inflation is running at 10%. Moreover, the Tories insist that if they give in to demands, inflation will worsen.

Nonsense. The NHS doesn’t charge for its services so how could paying junior doctors more cause inflation? Can we afford it, though? Spending £1 on a nation’s health results in up to £4 of additional economic growth – it’s called the multiplier effect. Health care spending more than pays for itself. A healthy population is a productive population.

Spending on defence, however, results in a negative multiplier of nearly 10, a net loss from the money spent. All those nuclear warheads don’t enter the economy – at least we hope they won’t – but are buried away in the hopes they will never be used. A great use of resources, eh?

Sadly, New Labour subscribes to the same Tory neoliberal ideology. The question we all must ask is why it does so and who benefits? It’s certainly not the people.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.

When ferries ran without problems

BETWEEN 1967 and 1975 my work allowed me to travel on every vessel and over every route covered by the government-supported west coast shipping company David MacBrayne Ltd. Amongst these vessels were the standardised vehicle ferries Columba, Hebrides and Clansman, all constructed at the Aberdeen shipyard of Hall Russell.

Inevitably, variable weather caused some operational problems but I never experienced severe service interruption, indeed regularity was almost uncanny.

I had the privilege of meeting all senior management and every local agent at both mainland and island ports. The over-riding impression was that all were completely devoted towards serving island communities. If there was any criticism it might be that the operator was too conservative.

Those at the sharp end of what is now Calmac are, I am sure, still committed towards service, but influence from persons with no direct experience of either shipping or island life is making their efforts well nigh impossible.

Ken Cameron, Cupar.

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Focus on the real supporters

MARTIN Hannan’s column ("Warriors back on top in Scottish rugby, and it is down to one man", Herald Sport, April 12) makes interesting reading, particular the observation of Rangers and Celtic's apparent inability to control their fans. At the same time, however, while these fans seem to merit two pages of reporting on their clubs (who weren’t playing), Dunfermline’s title-chasing match merited a mere seven lines at the foot of a report on Falkirk’s win (probably irrelevant in settling the title).

There is seldom trouble at East End Park (even with local derbies) and little hype each year on how they are gong to sweep the boards here and in Europe, only to fall flat. Perhaps it might be time to focus reporting on the game itself rather on pandering to "supporters" who only appear to be interested in winning – no matter the cost at the home ground or afterwards in the streets and homes across the country.

I am, primarily, a rugby fan and a Warriors supporter but enjoy watching Edinburgh, who have my support when not engaged with Glasgow. As for football, I am a lifelong Partick Thistle fan, so no need for excitement and anticipation; simply hope, springing eternal.

James Watson, Dunbar.

Coronation posy poser

WITH the Coronation of King Charles III fast approaching, some of your more elderly readers may be thinking back to the last such event, all of 70 years ago. Memories might be jogged by souvenirs still kept safely in the china cabinet. The main producer of commemorative ceramics was the Govancroft Pottery at Auchenshuggle, in the Tollcross area of Glasgow. Posy bowls were a favourite item.

I recently came across an example of one with the Queen's Coronation logo on the front, and an interesting label stuck underneath. It was from the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society, and indicated that this particular posy bowl had once contained the "Clydevale Assortment". It had come from the SCWS Confection Department at Shieldhall, its industrial estate on the Renfrew Road (now the site of a council recycling centre).

It would seem that these posy bowls were sold at Co-Op stores filled with sweets as a Coronation treat, costing all of five shillings (25p). It is very unlikely that one has remained intact, but I wonder if anyone can remember what a Clydevale Assortment consisted of, perhaps even a packer at the Shieldhall factory?

Graeme Cruickshank, Edinburgh.

Dear me

I ASSUME the author and sundry approvers of the ridiculous management speak spouted by Highland Council when they described a replacement service for the Corran Ferry as "outwith the affordability envelope" ("Ministers say they ‘won’t intervene’ over £60m cost to resolve fiasco", The Herald, April 11) actually meant "too dear".

What a shame they didn't say so.

Steve Brennan, Coatbridge.