RUTH Maguire MSP argues in favour of introducing Automatic Voter Registration, saying that it will help to ensure “every citizen has the opportunity to cast their vote” (“Why Scotland must go for AVR”, Agenda, November 11).

The vast majority of prisoners will not be affected by such a change because most are ineligible to vote at elections. Are prisoners not “citizens”? 

AGENDA Why Scotland must go for automatic voting registration

Perhaps that is not what she meant, but it does call into question why most prisoners are not able to vote if indeed they are still “citizens”. How does removing the right to vote strengthen the concept of democracy or help prisoners to rehabilitate and reintegrate into society once released?

It’s not as though prisoners have no interest in life beyond the prison walls. They may be a parent and affected by proposed changes to their child’s school catchment area. Their partner may live in an area affected by a planning application.

They may have elderly parents who could be affected by the proposed National Care Service. They may simply have a continuing interest in politics and want to participate in elections by voting. 

The reality, though, is that politicians have no interest in extending the right to vote to all prisoners. 
Maybe that is exactly what Ruth Maguire does mean: prisoners are not citizens.
David Logan, Milngavie.

 

Cancer screening on the NHS
WITH regard to Sir Chris Hoy pushing for earlier cancer screening, would it be possible to set up small specialised clinics to deal with a specific task such as this? 

To relieve the pressure on the general surgeries and hospitals, these clinics could have a minimal charge of £5 for those who can afford it, while those who can’t could use the NHS.

I don’t like the idea of health privatisation in any way but with the long waiting lists and lack of facilities and staff, something has got to give. 

If we can use the NHS less it will free up its services for those more in need and if tasks such as screening can be carried out by specifically trained individuals, it may free up NHS staff to concentrate on other aspects of medical provision.

If a small charge could help pay the running costs of a facility which provides quick and accurate results, then I believe the public would accept the idea.
Marc A Head, Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran.

 

The magic of Tam Shepherds
I’M pleased to see the name Tam Shepherds Trick Shop continuing, albeit only online (“Glasgow’s magic cave vanishes as Tam Shepherds plays its last trick”, November 12).

The Shepherd family were originally handloom weavers of cotton and silk in Largs.

My paternal great-grandmother was Jane Shepherd, an aunt of Thomas. He started his shop in Queen Street in 1886, and it changed hands in the 1930s.

Although my father could never make a penny disappear, nor magically find it behind an ear or down his nose, the Shepherds could!
Graeme Smith, Newton Mearns.


Small-screen gambling
I WONDER if any other readers have noted the growing number of competition websites that are being advertised on television, some of Scottish origin.

While these appear, on the face of it, innocent, further investigation shows that these sites contain long lists of different competitions that anyone can enter on paying a charge. The charges range from less than £1 to £10. It seems to me that people could easily get hooked on this type of thing and end up paying out a lot of money.

It feels like a form of gambling and should carry appropriate warnings similar to betting sites.
Brian Douglas, Ayr.

 

Damming the Black Isle firths
IN response to Lyndsey Ward, spokeswoman for Communities B4 Power Companies (letters, November 11), the drive for Highland wind turbines would be greatly reduced if the narrow Black Isle firths were dammed for power.

Despite the low tidal range, a huge amount of electricity would be produced, 24/7, and excess supply could be used to create green hydrogen. Slinging roads across would cut the Nairn-Invergordon drive by some 15 miles, relieving the A9 and A96.  Easter Sutherland and Caithness would experience a boom.

So why hasn’t it been considered? Salt-resistant concrete (which gets stronger over time) is readily available, and the Admiralty would presumably have no objections. 
But HMG shows no interest, perhaps because dams don’t produce plutonium for weapons.
George Morton, Rosyth.

 

Remembrance recollections
I WAS at Queen Street station at 11am on November 11, when a two-minute silence was held to mark Armistice Day. ScotRail staff stood respectfully in the concourse during this time, but the silence was interrupted twice by the station public address system: first by a message about the train doors closing 30 seconds before departure, and second by a message about a departing 
train.

Am I the only reader to think that is disrespectful for state-owned ScotRail to interrupt a two-minute silence in this way?
Scott Simpson, Bearsden.


* MY eldest grandson, who is 12 and a junior cadet, had been looking forward to Saturday just past as he was taking part in collecting for Poppy Day.

When he returned home his mother noticed he wasn’t his normal excited outgoing self. He eventually told her how surprised and saddened he was at the level of verbal abuse and vitriol he and his friends received from assorted age groups throughout the day.

While this was a minority, it was a sizeable minority. Though I appreciate some people think they have legitimate reasons not to support Poppy Day, to say “**** off” and worse to kids is beyond the pale. 

I have spoken to my grandson since and to his credit he says he will be better prepared next time.
James Martin,  Bearsden.

* I AGREE with Stewart Falconer’s remarks (November 12) about the Green Brigade protests at Rugby Park on Sunday. Freedom of speech needs to be safeguarded. But has no-one told those idiots about what Britain would be like in 2024 if we had not made the ultimate sacrifice in 1939-45 to deter Hitler and his murderous intentions?
D Ferguson, Glasgow.