Letters: It's absurd that the royal photo is all we can talk about

It is totally ridiculous and beggars belief that a snap of a mum with her offspring has commanded so much airspace and pushed other, more vital, matters off the front pages. It is much ado about nothing but it also shows that for a goodly percentage of the population, little things mean a lot.

A veritable mountain has been made out of this molehill over a snap more suited to a family album than to the controversy created round about it.

Why don’t we see it as little more than a storm in a teacup, even if that teacup is a royal one?

It should have been treated as the tale of a tittle-tattler, signifying nothing, and pushed aside, giving Kate the privacy in which to recover from her operation and the opportunity to enjoy her family life with her children.
Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.

OVER the years I’ve seen Photoshop editing disasters much worse than those of the Princess of Wales.
What I do find interesting, and maybe a wee bit worrying, is that the combined expertise of the world’s great picture agencies failed to spot the manipulations before they distributed the picture.
Stuart Neville, Clydebank.

SO a photo of the Princess of Wales is the very top news on the UK’s BBC. Is that the most important world news for us? Maybe it’s time to go for Scottish independence, and stop this English royal cult nonsense!
Joe Moir,  Aberdeen.

Banking delays
RECENTLY, a gentleman wrote a letter to describe his trials and tribulations of dealing with, I believe, a ‘not-so-royal bank of Scotland’. I write to reassure him, he is not alone.

I am but a mere secretary, chief cook and bottle-washer of a residents’ association. In October of 2023, on the departure of our previous treasurer, we began the process of removing one signatory, adding a replacement signatory and acquiring access to our online treasurer’s account for both signatories.

We provided all requested details, proof of identity and personally delivered the appropriate form, completed as per instructions, to the local branch. March 2024 and sanity is stretched to breaking point. Mark these words. On entering such an establishment, if the word “post” is uttered, turn around, run and keep running. On no account, return.
Maureen McGarry-O’Hanlon, Jamestown.

Abuse of power
WE have just received the council tax bill for our second home from Argyll and Bute Council. For having the cheek to keep the house left to us by our parents we have been charged twice the normal charge for this year.

The purpose of this action, it seems, is to force us to sell our home to someone else. I do understand that in many places there is a shortage of affordable homes but this move will not solve the problem.

The reality for many areas including our own is that the planners do not appear to consider the re-saleability of houses when they are given permission to be built resulting in housing stock that very few ‘young local’ people could ever afford to buy should they come up for sale.

Our tiny cottage, however (which no young family would consider) would more than likely be bought by someone rich enough to not care about the exorbitant council charge and who will more than likely have no connection to, or understanding of, the culture or history of the area and use it far less than we do.

Clearing people connected to an area out of their homes in favour of richer people from elsewhere is not the answer to the problem, it is simply a naive abuse of power.

We urge the council to reconsider this attack on people who have in many cases been a part of their communities for generations and to seek a fairer solution. 
Graham and Kenna McGirk, Sorisdale, Isle of Coll.

Gallus Glasgow does it again
I NOTE Keith Swinley’s comment about the all-female BBC team who presented the Saturday evening coverage of the recent World Athletics Indoor Championships (‘Has Diversity gone off track?’, letters, The Herald, March  7).

I was in the crowd on the Sunday morning when Thea LaFond, an athlete from the small Caribbean island of Dominica, won the Women’s Triple Jump. 
“Well Done, hen!” shouted a nearby spectator. Hen, a female of the chicken family (scientific name Gallus gallus domesticus), birds who can also perform short flights.  

Twenty years ago ‘pigs might fly’ may have been the response had we dared hope such an event be staged in Glasgow.

To everyone who has had the vision and drive to bring this and other major sporting spectacles to the city - ‘Gallus’.

It didn’t matter whether the television presenters were male or female, what mattered was excellent coverage throughout the entire weekend.

To Saturday evening’s brood – Well Done, hens!
Alison Ram, Helensburgh.

No decency or shame
IT’S a sad indictment of the state of UK politics that letters in recent days, deliberately or otherwise, have distracted from the horrific slaughter in Palestine and from questioning why in such dreadful circumstances the UK continues to support Israel with offensive weaponry.

Rather than questioning the motives of a First Minister clearly keen to speedily effect a relatively small amount of aid to those enduring unbearable suffering, it would seem more constructive to contribute positive suggestions aimed at ameliorating the dire torment of the Palestinian people, rather than follow the lead of Tory politicians who appear to have lost any semblance of human decency and shame.

Stephen Kerr, the loud-mouthed desk-thumping buffoon who masquerades as a serious politician, should, like his pal Lee Anderson, radically ‘reform’ his character before journalists afford him the time of day. Before writing more letters, others should question the kind of society they genuinely wish their children to inhabit.        
Stan Grodynski, Longniddry, East Lothian.