It is not only a risk of forcing those such as the elderly, those with prams and those in wheelchairs into danger that is caused by pavement parking. Every time a wheel goes onto the kerb it is the equivalent to the impact of a sledgehammer upon it and its foundations and metalled surface. Pavements are not designed to take such loads and any ducting, pipework and drainage that may be under the vehicle's wheels is put at risk of damage which councils have to repair using their beleaguered budgets.

The Scottish Government is well intentioned in enacting this legislation but, as usual, it puts enforcement at arm’s length less it gets tarred with a potentially unpleasant brush. This is achieved by devolving responsibility down to local council level which results in a non-uniform approach. Councils are already hard pressed and face reducing manpower as will be evidenced in the forthcoming reality budget and will therefore lack the resources to undertake enforcement.

One would have thought this would be within the remit of Police Scotland but they too are experiencing reductions of staff and budgetary constraints.

Consider too the fact that the perpetrator has to be identified and proven to have been in charge. In areas of high camera density, this might be possible but in the majority of cases it will be difficult to prove.

So what will be the effect of this legislation? I doubt it will curb anything. One thing does irritate me and that is the abuse of disabled parking spaces which I feel should have been part of this legislation and is long overdue.

Peter Wright, West Kilbride

Read more: Letters: Only a few diehards are opposed to new nuclear power stations in Scotland

Nuclear energy is not the answer

I have to completely disagree with Jamie Black (Letters, December 12). Nuclear power is not the panacea for the energy crisis for some basic reasons.

First, the lead time of perhaps 20 years to get a nuclear power station operational is not a time span that is available, the world is burning up now. Secondly, the cost of nuclear power seems always to ignore the cost of decommissioning, management and storage of radioactive waste, so nuclear power is neither cheap nor clean.

Remember when Chernobyl devastated the beef and lamb sector in Scotland? Remember 3-Mile Island, Fukushima? Remember when Windscale in Cumbria had to be renamed Sellafield to reinvent itself from its terrible reputation for radioactive leaks into the Irish Sea, a major fire, incompetent management and storage of waste? And remember when it was proposed that radioactive waste should be buried in Ayrshire, under Mullwharchar?

Sellafield is exactly why nuclear energy is not the answer. It sits just South of the Scottish border and is recognised throughout Europe as an accident waiting to happen because of continuing mis-management of radioactive waste.

Sandy Slater, Stirling

Lockdown effect on Covid mortality

Mary Thomas and Stan Grodynski should read medical literature that doesn't have a conflict of interest before believing the Covid death figures that were highlighted on TV (Letters, December 12).

An international study led by Jonas Herby and published in January 2022 conducted a meta-analysis and review on 34 previous papers on the effects of lockdown on Covid-19 mortality. Herby concludes that “lockdowns have had little to no effect on Covid-19 mortality” and in Europe and the US “only reduced Covid-19 mortality by 0.2% on average”.

Those who think that this 0.2% was worth it should read the 2022 study by Casey Mulligan which found that Sweden, which had little or no lockdown, suffered only 33 per 100,000 non-Covid excess deaths compared to 64 per 100,000 in the EU as a whole.

And the Office for National Statistics has admitted in several FOI responses that the vast majority of people who died with Covid written on the death certificates had at least one co-morbidity. How many actually died due to a co-morbidity?

Geoff Moore, Alness

Look to Singapore for healthy future

A recent report estimates that obesity-driven diabetes, hypertension and mental illness causes an annual hit of almost £100bn (4%) on UK GDP due to long-term illness, absence from work, ballooning benefits and reduced productivity. This is more than the 2-3% estimated impact of Brexit. £20bn of this is cost to NHS England, equating to £2.5bn of NHS Scotland's £15bn budget.

Something must be done and I'm pleased to see that Labour Shadow Health spokesman Wes Streeting, after visiting the Singapore health service, wants to emulate their schemes which reward exercise and dieting with points that can be spent in supermarkets and coffee shops. Mind you, Singapore has the same population as Scotland. Can you imagine 700,000 Scots participating in a 10,000 steps per day challenge, as the Singaporeans did?

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven

Sign up for the Letter of the Day email.


Wrong priorities on children’s welfare

Isn't it disgusting that a wonder drug designed to combat cystic fibrosis, which can extend a sufferer's life by up to 40 years, won't be available to many infants because the cost has been judged to be too high for our NHS to afford?

Meanwhile, this year we've spent £240million on a discredited immigration scheme which is unfit for purpose, while cutting back on life-saving health care funding for under-sevens.

This contrast between wasteful bureaucratic expenditure on the one hand and lack of investment in children's long-term health on the other is indicative of this heartless and incompetent government's priorities.

Stephen McCarthy, Glasgow

Read more: Letters: Do we only legislate by the grace and favour of Westminster?

Who really won it in the East?

John Birkett (Letters, December 12) disputes my assertion that “Stalin defeated Hitler in the east” by listing the massive amounts of aid that the USSR received from the US and UK.

It should be noted that the eight million Soviet soldiers and 20million Soviet civilians who were killed during the Second World War also contributed to defeating Hitler.

Perhaps Mr Birkett could turn his attention to refuting my statements that Trump builds great golf courses and Mussolini made Italian trains run on time.

James Quinn, Lanark