THANK you James McEnaney for the informative article comparing university fees policy across Europe ("University fees are essentially matters of national choices and priorities", The Herald, October 2). I know from experience how difficult it is to access these comparisons.
So now we know: our universities are not “out of line” with England: it’s England with its huge fees which is out of line with all the countries of Europe.
The concern that Scottish universities will lose quality unless they start charging English-level fees is raised repeatedly; sometimes by university principals whose own seven-figure salaries are never questioned. Often the argument is presented as sympathy with the Scottish applicants whose places on undergraduate courses are “capped”.
Entry to university has never been a free-for-all. The only question is whether selection is based on academic ability or ability to pay. And the demand across the globe from students willing to pay the international rates is evidence of the sustained quality of our courses.
Mary McCabe, Glasgow.
Read more letters
- Starmer blew his big chance to show himself to be a statesman
- MSPs looking at assisted dying should remember the Nazi 'mercy deaths'
We do not need national park
SEVERAL years ago leaflets were available in Galloway about a proposed Galloway national park. I read one and initially thought that it sounded marvellous; to good to be true. Apparently vast sums of money would be available to enhance the natural landscape, improve nature and bring lots of smiley people to the area to spend, spend, spend. After rereading this several times and visiting both the Cairngorms and Trossachs national parks, I realised it was complete nonsense.
A national park cannot and does not "enhance the environment" . It brings pollution and litter and disturbs the wildlife - and farm animals ("National parks ‘can help sustain farmers’, report claims", The Herald, October 2). The other two national parks have not found that it attracts investment or brings jobs to the area. For many years I heard no more about the Galloway park and assumed the matter had been wisely dropped. Little did I know that there was a small pressure group, the Galloway National Park Association (GNPA), scheming to have a park.
Galloway attracts thousands of discerning tourists who have discovered the area for themselves. They come for events like Spring Fling, the Wigtown Book Fair, the Stranraer Oyster Festival, Nithraid, Riding the Marches, music festivals, shows, galas and countless other events. They visit Crawick Multiverse, Caerlavercok Nature Reserve, Drumlanrig, Logan Botanic Gardens and pretty coastal villages. They come to see our hills, ancient castles and historical sites. They stay in holiday cottages, caravans, campsites and hotels in the region. This is all managed by people who live and work in Galloway already and these tourists are very welcome. Surely we don't want to replace the discerning tourist with the mass tourist?
Obviously I did not go to any of the GNPA meetings nor did I know they were happening. I now realise I should have spent the last few years finding out where these meetings were and going to them so I could be the person who helped save Galloway.
I am an incomer to Galloway. I moved here 43 years ago. Before that I lived in Aberdeenshire, just outside the Cairngorms National Park. I urge everyone to oppose this ghastly idea of a national park in Galloway.
Margaret Gladstone, Thornhill.
Space travel is impossible
I AM mystified that a scientist should say that "astro engineers are trialling a new propulsion system which can power spaceships through the stars" ("New thruster 'could open up deep space'", The Herald, September 28).
Spaceships don't require fuel for propulsion after the initial acceleration to escape velocity. Subsequently only briefly laterally-directed burns are required for course correction.
As Professor Bernard Lovell pointed out in 1952, space travel is impossible for humans. (We're not talking about short hops to local planets like Mars or Neptune.) Space travel properly so-called, ie between stellar systems, would be possible only by beings that had somehow achieved relatively high speeds, and that, crucially, have a lifespan that compares to ours somewhat as that of the Galapagos tortoise does to that of a mayfly.
Such travellers - "astronauts" in the true sense of the word - would be content to live in the craft for the several million years it would take to creep at a thousand or so million miles per hour from one star system to another.
This modest pace would have to suffice, since even the cleverest clogs would be unlikely to be able to evade the laws of physics.
Robin Dow, Rothesay.
Assisted dying vote is a must
A MEMORANDUM sent by Health Secretary Neil Gray to MSPs on Holyrood’s Health Committee has warned that a bid to introduce assisted dying for terminally Scots may be outwith Holyrood’s power ("Assisted Dying bill 'could fall outside Scotland's powers'", The Herald, October 2). Should this not have been carefully checked by Liam McArthur MSP before he introduced the bill?
This bill has created much more heat than light, particularly among the minority who base their lives on faith. Surely the Scots must now be given the opportunity of a referendum on the matter.
Doug Clark, Currie.
No hiding place
I NOTE that a man with a bow and arrow was arrested in the House of Commons today (October 1). His presence must have been rather obvious, being the only Indian amidst a bunch of cowboys.
David Hay, Minard.
Horse sense
I SEE that the horse that led the late Queen's coffin was given an animals' OBE. Could it not have been knighted, thus making it a (k)night mare?
Gudrun Geiling, Appin.
The joy of subtitles
WHOEVER is responsible for the BBC lunchtime news subtitles should be commended for lightening the current depressing news content. Relating to the conviction of "a Scots gangster" the word " prankster" appeared. On another subject the phrase "then the law was not asked" instead of " the law is an ass" was shown.
Could this trend assist the BBC's viewing stats?
Allan C Steele, Giffnock.
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