ON reading your article on the latest soap episode on the SQA ("Higher History marking 'worked as intended'", The Herald, November 7), I doubt if anyone really imagined that it would wave a white flag, especially as its days are numbered as an authority.

The issue is in fact one which has probably been constant over the years of its existence, though it is good to see schools standing up for themselves at last. The problem always seems that schools teach with the naked eye and then their students are externally assessed with a microscope.

I suggest that apart from the seeming failure of the SQA to provide sufficient exemplification beforehand on the standards expected that year, the issue is much wider. I expect that the SQA can make any standard it pleases for Higher so long as universities accept that standard. However, they do seem to differentiate between an A pass and a B pass as if the consequences would affect the orbit of the Moon.

If we must insist on exams is it not time for a broader brush approach with just a pass mark and if the universities don't like it they can make their own arrangements? After all, the exam diet is so intense that young people are not only branded but can be defined as an adult.

Bill Brown, Milngavie.

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The success of private schools

IN response to Peter Dryburgh (Letters, November 6), his over-simplistic and factually incorrect description of how private schools are run - as businesses - is, sadly, an attempt to do down the valuable role that these establishments play in our society.

I have yet to see any private school listed on the stock market, nor have I ever seen evidence of “dividends” being paid out to any "shareholders”. Quite the reverse. In my experience, these establishments regularly send out requests for funding to benevolent donors, in a bid to continue to be able to offer their bursaries and assisted places to those who could not otherwise afford a place in such schools.

Mr Dryburgh should ask himself why private schools still exist in the 21st century and indeed why so many people are now turning to private health care? I think it would be fair to say that the answer is simply that what is currently on offer from the state falls some way short of what many regard as an acceptable minimum standard - and that is not to say that there are not exceptional people employed in both our NHS and education system, rather that the governments, at whatever level, are incapable of drawing up and delivering a sustainable, long-term plan on pretty well anything.

Whether it be in Holyrood or Westminster, our so-called politicians are way too focused on their next election to see the wood for the trees. The recent proposal to claw back VAT on school fees is short-sighted and damaging, and will make not an ounce of difference in the funding pot for education provision across the land.

Colin Allison, Blairgowrie.

• GIVEN the ongoing debate over tuition fees, can anyone explain to libertarians like me why taxpayers should be forced to fund other people's education, or their kids'?

Surely this should be a private matter, whether individual charity or company scholarships.

George Morton, Rosyth.

Why do we have Bonfire Night?

MISSING from letters on firework disorder (November 7) was the comment from Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs, gold commander for Operation Moonbeam, who said challenging scenes had not escalated to mass disorder as it had last year. Overall, the force said the incidents of serious disorder had fallen this year.

As part of Operation Moonbeam, a police operation launched in 2020 to deal with disorder at this time of year, specialist resources were deployed 26 times on November 5 last year; this year there were 18 deployments. The number of injured officers also reduced significantly, with 62 last year compared to one this year.

Similar disorders took place in England and Wales, including in Manchester under the control of Metro Mayor Andy Burnham, whom Labour puts on a par with Scotland’s First Minister in its Council of Regions and Nations and is lauded as the solution for local government despite the threat to real local democracy.

Bonfires and fireworks November 5, should be banned, and apart from their anti-Catholic origins, I have never understood why Scotland should celebrate the failure to blow up a foreign parliament, as Scotland had its own parliament at the time, when we should really be celebrating St Andrew’s Day at the end of November.

Fraser Grant, Edinburgh.

Solving EV resale problems

THERE was an interesting juxtaposition in Wednesday's Herald (November 6) between the 24% growth reported in the sale of new EVs last month ("New car market fell 6% last month) and the negatives, in particular their resale value as reported in Peter Wright's letter.

The former figure would suggest there is optimism that the current resale market valuations can only improve. Another option to circumvent this issue is a dealership leasing agreement. Many interest-free financial deals are available offering the facility to purchase or hand the car back after four years; that is, walk away if it has devalued more than the guaranteed residual value (GRV), or vice versa purchase it if the market value is greater than the GRV. Either way the resale value issue is avoided.

Jon Cossar, Edinburgh.

Why don't police act on pyros?

NOT for the first time, I have to ask why are the police so afraid to make arrests of those using pyros at football matches ("Holyrood considering football banning orders to combat pyro threat", The Herald, November 7)?

Since the ban on alcohol at Scottish football grounds over 40 years ago, the police have vigorously enforced it with searches, arrests, and confiscation of as little as a can of soft drink. Can someone please tell me what the issue is with pyros?

J Kerr, Glasgow.

Pyros at a Scottish football matchPyros at a Scottish football match (Image: SNS)

A tiring sign

ANENT recent correspondence about silly and annoying train announcements, a gantry on the M8 instructed me to "check tyre pressure".

Which tyre would that be? Am I supposed to park on the hard shoulder, extract my inflator, and test, putting lives in danger?

I thought that motorway gantries were intended to warn of slow-moving traffic, speed limits and road closures.

David Miller, Milngavie.