WHILE I do not consider myself to be a conspiracy theorist, I do tend to rail against injustices carried out by the Establishment to protect their own. These are many and varied but some come readily to mind and include such as the death of Harry Stanley, gunned down by the Metropolitan Police while carrying a chair leg wrapped up in brown paper. Also, Jean de Menezes killed by a hit squad from the same force while going about his lawful daily business.

In both cases, the representatives of law and order were found to have lied about events leading up to these tragic outcomes. Circumstantial evidence showed that Mr Stanley had not turned and pointed his parcel at the armed officers in the manner described by them given the angle that the deadly bullets entered his body. Mr de Menezes was described by the pursuing officers as having vaulted over a barrier at the Tube station when this turned out not to be the case. His demise was subsequently described by an onlooker as resembling a summary execution. In both cases, the guilty parties went unpunished. Indeed, the senior officer in charge of this fiasco, Cressida Dick, was later elevated to Commander of the Metropolitan Police and we all know how well that worked out.

All this has been brought to my mind today by your article with regard to a forthcoming six-part drama depicting the events surrounding the Lockerbie bombing in a joint production from the BBC and Netflix ("New drama will tell Lockerbie bombing story", The Herald, August 1). Again, we have a far from satisfactory situation, this time involving the Scottish justice system. Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was a victim of the atrocity, followed the trial in The Hague assiduously and gradually developed serious doubts with regard to the prosecution case. Subsequently, he examined the evidence led in great detail and found a number of flaws therein. I won't cover these in this communication but they included the fact that a key witness, a Maltese shop owner, had been paid handsomely to identify Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi as being one of the perpetrators.

I have heard Dr Swire discuss the various flaws in the prosecution case at great length both in person and on the broadcast media and I have great faith in the man. When Dr Swire started to raise these matters, the Scottish Establishment including the SNP Government, in particular Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, closed ranks and it has proved impossible to obtain independent scrutiny of the evidence brought forward by Dr Swire and the likes of Anas Anwar, the well-known campaigning solicitor.

My concern with your article on the subject was that there was no mention of any possible doubt regarding the verdict by the three Scottish judges therein. Hopefully, my belief that we are about to witness another whitewash in relation to Lockerbie proves to be unjustified when the series is broadcast, although I have my doubts.

Gordon Evans, Glasgow.

Read more: BBC and Netflix commission Lockerbie bombing drama series

The last bus – at 6.30

THERE has been concern that a commercial night-time bus service in Glasgow has been discontinued to the disadvantage of night workers. We may look at the other end of the bus spectrum.

Since local rail stations were closed in the 1960s a rural bus service has connected Leadhills with Lanark, some 30 miles away, giving access to the public transport network for employment. Never really busy, there were fewer passengers after Covid. It was supported by SPT (Strathclyde Partnership for Transport) who decided to cut the last bus home from work at 18.30.

It's difficult to blame SPT, who had just spent a lot of effort and considerable funds to save the Dumfries-Biggar-Edinburgh bus service which was being dumped by Dumfriesshire as unviable. Nevertheless, that a bus service that has run for more than 40 years to get people from the Upper Clyde villages home from employment is ended in 2023 is most depressing.

Ralph Barker, Crawford.

Disruption goes further afield

MANY seem to think the cycling event is happening only in Glasgow. In Stirling there are many roads closed for events and in the build-up, there have been major roadworks on the A811.

On Saturday (January 29), these works were not signposted despite suspension-breaking ramps and exposed ironworks. Only after many incidents and complaints was this rectified. There are "Road Closed" signs all the way on the A811 from Kippen to Stirling when this is not the case, as there is access to Stirling via Cambusbarron.

Steve Barnet, Gargunnock.

A bottle of whine

IAN W Thomson observes (Letters, August 2) that the Government’s substantial tax increase on wine will now show how generous lovers of good wine will be when it comes to sharing with friends, citing the upbeat remark by an American author and TV personality that “a bottle of wine begs to be shared. I have never met a miserly wine lover”.

An exception to this was a close friend and self-professed oenophile when served with the bottle which he had brought to our small dinner party: “If I’d known I would have to drink this I would have brought a better one.”

R Russell Smith, Largs.

Our bash with the Rolling Stones

I WAS particularly interested in Russell Leadbetter's article regarding the appearance of the Rolling Stones in the Chantinghall Hotel in 1964 ("‘This was my first and last beat concert. From now on I will stick to organising jazz dances’", The Herald, January 31). I was the bass guitarist in the local Hamilton/Burnbank band Beat Unlimited and we opened the show that night.

The mayhem which Mr Leadbetter described did take place but the overall performance of the Rolling Stones that night was fantastic. The group were very friendly and they signed their tambourine (which they had used in their recent recordings) and presented it to us.

The following week we were playing at the Bathgate Palais where we decided to raffle the tambourine. The money we got for it was just about enough to buy our carry-out for the journey back to Hamilton.

I wonder if that tambourine is lying in a loft in the Bathgate area?

Hugh Phillips, Bothwell.