YOUR five-day series investigating Scotland's housing emergency ("Scotland's housing emergency", The Herald, July 9-13) is very much to be welcomed and will be compulsive reading, but why does no-one mention the elephant in the room, in other words the fact that 37% of households in Scotland are now single-occupied? This figure has doubled since the 1970s, and has had far more of an impact on the availability of housing than any other factor.

There are many reasons for the rise in single occupancy of properties, which is expected to further increase over the coming years. The most often-cited is that it is due to increasing life expectancy, with one partner outliving another for longer, but there are numerous other reasons, and sometimes it is a lifestyle choice.

However, council tax reductions of 25% for single occupancy essentially encourage the trend towards solo living. It is an illogical reduction, because three, four, five or six people living in one household pay no more council tax than two, and therefore why should there be a reduction for one occupant? Second home owners in several council areas now pay double council tax, so there is no longer any pretence that there is a relationship between property occupancy levels, use of council services, and council tax.

It is surely time to abolish the 25% reduction anomaly, or at least make it unavailable from a certain date in the future. This will have the added bonus of helping councils to increase their income, which in turn can be used to finance new affordable houses for families and also homes for singles who want to move away from large residencies.

Which politician will be brave enough to propose this logical solution?

Roddy MacLeod, Edinburgh.

• LAUDABLE though your in-depth investigation of Scotland's housing crisis is, the solutions proffered will likely be superficial socialist band-aid. We need a more radical approach.

Fact is; if people were not denied their natural right to their "wee bit hill and glen" ie a fair share in land (by value, nowadays), there would be no housing crisis, no homelessness.

Tenants would only be paying for the bricks and mortar, not the land under it, even in high-rise. Those living in cities would be entitled to less floorspace than those in the sticks, to ensure equity.

Why does no party proclaim our natural economic rights, to land, to free trade, to keep all that we've worked for? All we get is a deafening silence.

George Morton, Rosyth.

READ MORE: Glasgow badly needs an Andy Burnham to stand up for it

READ MORE: Glasgow's surrounding areas should help pay for amenities

Westminster's memory man

WESTMINSTER is up and running again with hundreds of new faces replacing those familiar ones rejected by the electorate. Spare a thought for the predicament this creates for Sir Lindsay Hoyle, dragged happily back again on to the Speaker’s Chair. How long will it take him, not forgetting his deputies, to be able to avoid confusion and embarrassment by naming correctly individual new honourable members whether to call them to speak or to reprimand or even ban them? For the time being will he get away with calling out “ You in the back row in the blue dress" or “ Baldy in the second row on your mobile", and so on?

Perhaps Sir Lindsay would benefit from a refresher course on the card game of Pelmanism? I picture him in his grace and favour flat at Westminster burning the midnight oil whilst staring intently at named photos of the new intake spread out all over the carpet, repeating their names over and over again as he turns them over, until he is satisfied he has memorised them like a vaudeville memory man.

Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.

Is the West really to blame?

TRUDY Duffy-Wigman (Letters, July 10) says the West is responsible for climate change. What about China and the oil and gas-producing countries, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, United States, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Norway, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Qatar and Iran?

Coal is the largest source of energy for generating electricity in the world and accounts for 40 per cent of the world's electricity production and is growing. China alone has 1,142 coal-fired plants. The top coal producing countries in the world include China, India, Australia, Indonesia and Russia. Doesn't this refute the claim that the West is responsible for climate change?

Clark Cross, Linlithgow.

Wimbledon double fault

WIMBLEDON is such a great event but ihe women's matches are being spoiled for me by the inane, incoherent ramblings of Martina Navratilova and Ash Barty fighting to get their point across between points.

Sadly the days of clear concise commentary from the likes of Dan Maskell are long gone.

Do the powers that be ever listen to these people before they are let loose with a microphone?

Neil Stewart, Balfron.

Alex Findlay's Herald hat trickAlex Findlay's Herald hat trick (Image: Contributed)

Getting ahead with The Herald

MANY thanks to Dave du Feu (Letters, July 10) for his handy tip on using The Herald newsprint for weed control: brilliant.

I enjoy using the broadsheet to use as a sunscreen. The hat I am wearing hasn't been needed this summer... so far.

Alex Findlay, Kilmarnock.

• ONE of my domestic chores is to convey dead flowers wrapped in old Heralds from the back door to the compost maker.

The lady of the house would prefer a tabloid version of The Herald; I must remember to ask whether that would be more, equally, or less efficient in preparing dead flowers for their ultimate destination.

David Miller, Milngavie.