We have better things to spend money on than propping up Gaelic

We are a proud people, everyone in the world knows this without having to say and write it in a language that only half a dozen folk can understand. Wouldn't it be better to spend our hard-earned tax pounds on making us all a bit wealthier? Then we'd all sing praises in the same happy lingo.

Stan Hogarth, Strathaven.

The Herald's Sarah Campbell, a native Gaelic speaker, replies.
Read her here

As a Gaelic speaker, I can't stand bitter and offensive haters

• I'M a born and bred true Gaelic speaker and am sad to see the way academics and do-gooders have handled my language over the past 30 years.

First of all they have turned it all into a self-serving plaything and it does not serve the true speakers at all, not that we need any of their silly ideas or bad grammar either, to be honest.

Gaelic died the day it became a commercial weapon for academia to play with while earning good money over and above. The language survived quite well over many centuries by just being spoken properly from person to person. When any culture or language turns into a monetary thing it immediately loses its spirit and quality. As we say, so far it's gach buileadh gu Fodar, Sgun bhulleadh gu siol.

Angus Campbell, South Uist.

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Subsidising the Dutch railway

I KNEW that public transport in Scotland is, to say the least facing challenging problems, however, after reading Geoff Ellis detailing the transport horror faced by people attending festivals and other events in Glasgow (“No transport from TRNSMT: Scotland needs to do much better than this”, The Herald, July 20), I soon realised that in reality, I hadn't a clue. Anyone on a Dutch train in the last 10 years would have been impressed by the new rolling stock, the punctuality, and most importantly the low ticket prices. One of the reasons for this must be that the state-run Dutch railways owned the ScotRail franchise and benefited financially from this.

This meant that passengers in Scotland were effectively subsidising customers in Holland. The idea that a private business should be involved in this form of bizarre cross-border capitalism means that from 400 miles away we could hear Karl Marx laughing in his grave in North London. Thankfully the renationalisation may be a start on the road to recovery, but I will not be holding my breath.

In the good old days, many Labour MPs came from a trade union background, had proper jobs, and almost certainly stood in a bus queue on a dark morning on their way to work. The new cohort of Scottish MPs whose educational backgrounds were surveyed by The Herald makes grim reading. A mixture of privately-educated posh boys and girls, ex-councillors, and professional policy wonks does not inspire any hope that the radical change needed for public transport in Scotland will be delivered.

The Glasgow Subway closing at 18:00 on a Sunday should be a huge embarrassment to Glasgow City Council. Anyone not living in the city and being told about the shutdown could not be blamed for thinking that nothing worthwhile happens after this watershed hour and all the people have gone home. This is a ludicrous situation for a city in the 21st century. This coming weekend people in the west end face a perfect storm. The major road closures added to rail and bus delays could be mitigated by extending the Subway hours.

Unfortunately, this would require decisive and imaginative action. Good luck if anyone thinks this will change.

Myles Cooney, Cambuslang.

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Please, have some pride

I HAVE to agree with most of Mark Smith's article ("We will never fix Glasgow until we fix the bins crisis", The Herald, July 22). My respect for people who work in the cleansing departments is not in doubt. My letter is actually more of a plea to my fellow citizens. Please do not add to the problem by dumping litter outside overflowing bins.

It’s not just during a strike we see this but it’s quite a regular occurrence outside shops, convenience stores and supermarkets. Personal responsibility is becoming a thing of the past. I’m always saddened by this especially when I sometimes see a bin maybe a few yards away that isn’t full and lazy people stuff things into the already-overflowing ones.

As for motorists who have polluted almost every part of our roadsides, particularly slip roads off motorways, for goodness sake have some pride in our country. My respect for our workers means I try to help them wherever possible, not disrespect them by expecting them to clear up my mess.

In “olden days” as my grandson calls them, shopkeepers were outside early morning sweeping up their wee bit in front of their premises. That seems to have stopped. Even domestically if every home owner took responsibility for the pavement and kerbs outside their homes we wouldn’t see all the weeds growing up around them.

Any pictures of pre-1970s Scotland invariably shows clean and well-kept streets.

I’ve written many times about the filthy state of our towns and cities and still hold councils responsible but I have to say a wee bit more personal responsibility would help reduce the litter problem enormously. One can but dream.

 John Gilligan, Ayr.

Overflowing bins in Glasgow (Image: Gordon Terris)

Non-working practices

IN his letter on the ferries farce (July 22) Robert Menzies quotes the chief executive of Ferguson Marine as saying "the yard needs to concentrate on getting the workforce to the standard we need"; Kate Forbes as saying "I don't think it is the skills that have been to blame", and the union asserting that previous failures were entirely the fault of others.

Readers might care to consider to what extent matters are clarified by my recollection of my first day as machine tool fitter at Consolidated Pneumatic Tool Co of Tullos, Aberdeen.

Having learned my trade at a small engineering shop in Inverness, where everybody did everything, I picked up an electrode holder and eyeshield. Almost immediately I was tapped on the shoulder by a steward. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Just going to run a fillet along here."

"Oh no - that's a welder's job."

For three days I sat on a bench doing the Glasgow Herald crosswords and reading Smollett's Roderick Random. On the morning of the fourth day a welder became available and did the work in some 15 seconds, whereupon I was allowed to continue construction of the machine.

This was in 1960, but I suppose that standards of efficiency have slipped since then.

Robin Dow, Rothesay.