A chance for redemption: make Martyrs' School an annexe for the Mack

Meanwhile, Mackintosh's least-acknowledged school project, the Martyrs' School, is now for sale ("Council to seek assurances from Glasgow’s Martyrs’ school buyer", The Herald, October 19): suggested re-use as a business premises. It would be a great opportunity to redevelop the old school, which appears to be in decent repair, as a Mack school annexe. The school is hidden in a cul-de-sac near the M8, but is near Castle Street; a shuttle bus from North Hanover Street along Kennedy Street and St Mungo Street could improve access.

Graeme Orr, Neilston.

Read more letters

• Safety and reliability demand that the A9 be dualled urgently
• If MSPs don't want to decide on assisted dying, let us have a vote

Rethink pavement parking exclusions

THE Scottish Government finally enacted the legislation on banning pavement parking on Scotland's streets, albeit with local authorities having the ability to exclude selected streets from the ban. There is a proviso in these exclusions however, that a space of 1.5m must be left by drivers to allow pedestrians and those wheeling to have free passage.

Glasgow City Council has recently published a map showing the streets to be excluded from the ban. However, if you assess these streets, very many have pavements from 1.5 to 2m wide, in other words any vehicle more than minimally parking on the very edge of the pavement will be in breach of the legislation.

It seems to me that the council is setting the pavement parking legislation to fail. By allowing on-pavement parking where the legally specified 1.5m pedestrian free passage cannot be simultaneously accommodated, the ban will be fail through impracticality. Narrow pavements cannot both accommodate pavement parking and free pedestrian access. Fundamentally pavements must be for pedestrians. I therefore ask the council to reconsider the list of streets excluded from the pavement parking ban and only include those where the pavement is sufficiently wide to allow pedestrians their legally mandated 1.5m.

Bob Downie, Glasgow.

Renew Covid mask reminders

MOST of my family are suffering from Covid. We recently passed through Edinburgh and Nice airports, surrounded by coughs and sneezes, yet hardly a face mask or even a hand over the mouth was to be seen.

In July of this year, following a rise in Covid cases in Scotland, I wrote to the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health at Holyrood, and to Public Health at Argyll & Bute Council, suggesting that a simple, inexpensive, reminder to the Scottish public about the value of face masks and health hygiene might be in order. The responses ignored my suggestion, yet, according to both Public Health Scotland and the World Health Organization, masks and hygiene remain important tools against the spread of respiratory viruses in crowded and enclosed spaces. So, why on earth has there been no recent reminder issued at either national or health board levels, especially as winter approaches?

I live in Argyll, and bus travel is required by many, but even on public transport, masks are a thing of the past. From the official silence on this, it would seem that containing Covid doesn't really matter much any more. My wife and I are both in our eighties and, actually, it does. Please, can we have some public health leadership on this?

Prof Angus Mackay, FRCP Edin, Ardrishaig, Argyll.

Changing face of Australia

LIDIA Thorpe, an Australian senator who campaigns on issues associated with the First Nations, expressed the opinion vociferously that Charles may be a king, but certainly not in her name ("Australian senator’s ‘you are not my king’ protest to Charles", The Herald, October 22). One can understand many members of the First Nations in Australia, population of the order of 4% of Australia’s total of over 27 million, sharing the view that someone of a royal house, living in Buckingham Palace, London, was far from deserving of their allegiance. However, one can see why many other Australians share that view.

Before the outbreak of the Second World War most Australians were of British descent. For many generations now that has no longer been the case. There has been considerable migration to Australia from countries such as Greece, Germany, Netherlands, Turkey and Croatia. Moreover, there have been many coming from parts of Asia, in particular Vietnam. Clearly, the previous support for things British is not the given that it once was and that will be shown as and when the people of Australia are given the opportunity to cast their votes on the country becoming a republic.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

Throw the book at them

I CANNOT understand why Labour MPs and Government ministers have so much difficulty explaining the definition of words. First it was "a woman" and now it is "working people". Never mind free tickets and clothes, can someone donate them some free dictionaries?

Paul Lewis, Edinburgh.

Do we need more reminders about wearing face masks? (Image: PA)

A new game for TV football fans

I HAVE invented a new game called “Spot the Englishman”. To play the game one simply needs a television set and access to the English Premiership. My new game can be played on three levels, the ownership of the clubs, the managers of the clubs and the players. Suffice it to say it can be difficult to score points identifying these individuals as on occasion a team will have no Englishmen on the pitch.

The highest individual salary in the Premiership is purported to be of the order of £21 million per year, the average £3m; the total annual wage bill for the Premiership players alone is almost £2 billion and only 15 of the 50 highest-paid players are actually English.

When one considers the hullabaloo portrayed in the media about “illegal immigrants” and them “coming over here and taking our jobs”, the Premiership demonstrates the double standards pursued by the fans and the Establishment alike.

Try my game, it helps pass the time when Arsenal are playing.

David J Crawford, Glasgow.