THE late Queen, throughout much of her reign, had the support of her husband, her four children, her mother and sister, and her Kent and Gloucester cousins. Looking at the official photo from Buckingham Palace of the new King and Queen with the "working" Royals, it is clear that at least two of them are in their eighties, some are in their seventies and only William and Catherine are under 50.

Few people would recognise the offspring of the elderly cousins if they saw them on a balcony, and with the King's enfant terrible relegated to the cheap seats beside his generous uncle, who paid millions of pounds to a lady he'd never met, fast forward a decade and the "slimmed-down" monarchy looks positively skeletal.

It would seem that the Windsor family will be looking to Prince George and his cute siblings to keep the show on the road, but will that be enough, will these 21st century children really want to spend their time shaking hands and trundling around in fancy coaches, and is it fair for us to expect them to live their lives in the royal goldfish bowl? We will see how things evolve, but Republic may well find that their time in police custody was far more valuable to their cause than simply hanging around the streets waving posters in the air.

Ruth Marr, Stirling.

The wisdom of youth

MY 11-year-old granddaughter, who lives in England, had been primed all week about how great the Coronation would be. She was excited to watch the TV and sat down. Twenty minutes later my son said he was off to do some shopping. She said: "I'm coming with you. This is really boring."

How many people thought this but did not have the freedom of youth to say it?

Alexander Johnston, Renfrew.

The reality of intense fatigue

I NOTE your report of a study into long Covid ("'Inactivity' linked to long Covid", The Herald, May 8).

Hamilton Roschel, a co-ordinator of the University of Sao Paulo's Applied Physiology and Nutrition Research Group, got one thing right: "The more symptoms, the higher the likelihood of physical inactivity". Correct. The title of the article suggests that it is inactivity which is the precursor of long Covid symptoms, that is, if those afflicted were to partake of more physical activity, their symptoms would be alleviated. Incorrect.

Those afflicted by the mid 1980s "post-viral fatigue', "ME"and "yuppie flu" outbreaks were told the same story. Intense fatigue was often interpreted as deep depression; it's "all in the mind". Patients' explanations that they were depressed because they were ill and not ill because they were depressed, were ignored.

It seems the same misunderstanding persists, "'the cart before the horse" in all its glory. For those afflicted, I would refer you to research conducted in Australia where a greater understanding of the condition has been developed. Anything which suggests that somehow it's your fault, I would totally ignore.

Maureen McGarry-O'Hanlon, Balloch.

Read more: What a pity the King did not step aside in favour of William

Just stop talking nonsense

ONE wonders if the activists chanting "Just stop oil" have an O-Grade in chemistry between them. The lad I found in Sauchiehall Street spraying the slogan on a wall with a paint aerosol was disbelieving when I told him his paint was in part produced with petro-chemicals.

No doubt he was also unaware that this was true of the trainers he wore, or the rucksacks, cagoules and other sports equipment that is similarly derived. Or the casings for mobile phones, laptops and other items like CDs whose plastic is based on oil derivatives. Or about 6,000 other products in daily use from animal foodstuffs and fertilisers to cleaning agents and textiles – which are in whole or part derived from oil, and which account for about 35% of the usage of global oil extraction worldwide.

Stopping oil is an aspect of the general anti-scientific irrationality sweeping the world today, and not just in chemistry, and which would have us reduced eventually to eating insects ... raw. Unless of course, we have insect liberation as politically correct by then?

Ian R Mitchell, Glasgow.

If Fergie had stayed on...

I REFER to your feature ("Remember when... Fergie got his feet under the table", The Herald May 8) with regard to the managerial career of Sir Alex Ferguson. He left St Mirren in May 1978 and pursued what proved to be a truly outstanding time in management.

Before he left the management of St Mirren he had raised their levels of achievement and lifted the expectations associated with the club. One of those highlights with St Mirren was the Centenary Celebration Match held at St Mirren Park on December 12, 1977 with Liverpool providing the opposition. Liverpool were, of course, football royalty and at that time were holders of the European Cup. In their ranks playing on that night were players of the quality of Clemence, Hansen and Dalglish. St Mirren were no slouches in the quality stakes, with players of the calibre of Stark, later of Aberdeen and Celtic , and McGarvey, later of Liverpool and Celtic. The match was hard-fought and resulted in a draw at 1-1 with Liverpool winning 5-4 on penalties.

One is left to ponder how far Sir Alex might have taken St Mirren if he had not left the Paisley club in 1978.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

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My posited return scheme

JOHN F Crawford (Letters, May 9) writes: "Identifying the person responsible when litter is thrown from a vehicle has so far proved to be virtually impossible for the legislators".

Many years ago, as I left my place of work on Skye, I waited for an approaching car to come down the hill and after it had passed I noticed a drink can on the grass verge opposite where none had been before. I followed the car to a nearby restaurant, got out and knocked on the driver's window and when it was opened I threw in the can, said: "I think this belongs to you so please take it with you as the people of Skye don't want it." The men in the car looked rather astonished. I drove off and was pleased to see the following morning that there was no offending can along the roadside.

How we can cope with the problem now is not easy to answer, but maybe some of those AI geeks could be stationed along our roads and the offending rubbish be hurled back at the offending cars?

Thelma Edwards, Kelso.