It's not men against women: it's horrible people versus the rest of us

I have always enjoyed the TV drama Lewis and in my innocence assumed the actors to be at least a bit in sympathy with the roles they played. This is, of course, ignorance on my part. However, I did not expect good old Hathaway to be in real life someone who seems so vindictively nasty.

Why should he hit back against feminism in such a spiteful way? Feminism irritates many of us - including myself, a 68-year-old female left-wing council tenant who pays her own bills. But we accept that there is cause for grumbling against it. It is the same as those of us who would rather die than insult anyone with a different skin colour but who recognise grievances (to put it mildly) against them caused by our forebears. We wish to be part of putting that right if it is possible to do so.

But Fox is surely a spiritual brother of Nigel Farage, Jeremy Clarkson, Donald Trump and all those other angry and nasty people. Did he really have to throw against Ms Evans the "insult" of not wishing to make love to her (or "shag" as he puts it, in his well-brought-up way)? Nobody except for Fox and his chums could see this as a disappointment for Ms Evans.

If Fox thinks that only those who sing from the same hymn-sheet as him are worthy recipients of his sexual overtures, then the rest of us will have to bear this deprivation as best as we can. It's no longer men versus women. Nor white versus black. It's down to horrible people versus the rest of us. And there are more of us, remember that.

Rhona Godfrey, Luncarty.

Council should apologise

IN a letter to the Editor (September 30) Cammy Day, leader of Edinburgh City Council, wrongly refers to me as “Alison” McCarthy. This inaccuracy is further evidence of the council’s sloppy handling of the Dundas plaque issue.

Councillor Day refers in his letter to the council “providing context, such as that included on the plaque”. But that is precisely the problem with the plaque. It provides no historical context whatsoever and is replete with factual error. That is not only the conclusion of my own research, now published in three peer-reviewed articles in an academic journal, but of other leading historians both in Scotland and beyond.

The truth is that from the first to last in this affair the council acted with undue haste and a crass disregard for historical accuracy. The committee that decided on the plaque’s wording failed to include historians with expertise in the field. Members of the council should give up defending the indefensible and publicly apologise for their series of disreputable errors.

Professor Angela McCarthy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Read more: Sunak should be in the dock for crimes against us all

Give churches autonomy

I AM much in agreement with Rev Dr Robert Anderson’s letter (September 30) on the Church of Scotland. While his comments are apt in many respects, it would have been good to learn of a constructive solution.

Those who are grieved by the present situation face the three-fold dilemma of remaining to support the local congregation, of realigning with a spiritually-active congregation or attempting to become a church independent of hierarchical control. This is not an easy choice, especially in rural locations.

At the recent Guild National Gathering the theme of “New Wine in New Wineskins” was discussed. Have we realised what the “Old Wineskins” might be, and how the system of the 16th century might be hampering progress? How good it would be if the heavy controlling of the Higher Courts could be removed, and churches allowed to look after their own affairs, while any higher authority would exist to help, support, advise and educate.

Our desperately-struggling society needs to experience a love that is Christ-centred as well as neighbour-reaching.

Alistair Macleod, Elie.

• I READ with surprise Dr Robert Anderson's letter about the Church of Scotland. I could critique the church on theological grounds but to say that its troubles emanate from an interest in God, I would have thought that a fundamental, but then to bring in Rabbie Burns, freemasonry and football seems to me rubbish.

Robert Ferguson Gibson, Blanefield.

Pricing policy is unfair

PROHIBITION for the poor, otherwise known as the minimum unit pricing of alcohol (MUP), should be scrapped because it is unfair and ineffective. It may well be argued that this policy has prevented some deaths because the mortality rate from alcohol use in the poorest quintile (20%) has reduced slightly. Meanwhile it increased in all other quintiles and the number of women who died in 2022 was an all-time high.

MUP forces poor people to drink (or eat) less by making them poorer. The latest proposals are, bluntly, intended to increase the number of people who can’t afford to buy a drink.

Whatever the minimum price, politicians can’t get the results they really want while public health scientists are unwilling to address any other cause of alcohol use disorder in the population, like divorce.

Dr Michael Colvin, Stirling.

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Making tourists feel welcome

I'VE been struck by the number of different parts of the world tourists I've recently spoken to have been from. They include Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada and the United States, and still they're visiting into October.

I'm intrigued and interested in their stories of where they're from and more importantly if they're enjoying their stay.

I've recommended places like Kelvingrove Art Galleries and its daily organ recital as well as the Burrell Collection, Cathedral and Necropolis.

Sharing local knowledge, and making an effort to speak their language (if able to) is an important way to show respect, and that we Glasgow people care about our visitors - and reminding tourists that Glasgow is also known as "The Friendly City".

I hope others will follow this lead.

Jill Ferguson, Glasgow.

Stooping to conker

THE World Conker Championships take place in Northamptonshire on October 8. Two players use conkers threaded on to a string and take turns to strike the other's nut until it shatters.

Shades of the Glasgow kiss, or malky.

David Miller, Milngavie.