I FIND the attitude of many of politicians and much of the media to the triple lock pension increase disgusting ("Flynn call to Labour on pension triple lock", The Herald, September 18). To say these increases are unsustainable both now and in the future only goes to prove how out of touch MPs are with reality and the general public at large.

Instead of playing around with percentages as is always used to disguise the truth, let’s look at the real potential increase. If we take the current weekly new pension of £203.85 and increase by the 8.5 per cent, we arrive at £221.17 per week, a rise of £17.32 per week in cash terms. Given the actual physical weekly increases of gas, electricity, fuel, food, council tax, water rates, phone and mobile phone charges, broadband and much over over the last 12 months, how on earth does any politician or pundit think that an increase of that size is unsustainable? It’s what pensioners have contributed to throughout their working life. I would argue it is unsustainable for the pensioner and continues to erode what savings they may have had.

Of course, some will say they have appreciating assets like a house, but it is to be hoped that pensioners can continue to live in their own home that they sweated to pay the mortgage for over the years. Those assets are not easily realised into cash so their families benefit from those assets, provided of course they don’t end up in a care home through no desire of their own and the state very quickly removes those assets to fund their new residency.

Public transport doesn’t get you anywhere easily or quickly and is unreliable so most pensioners have to continue to pay for the running of a car to get groceries and so on.

Most pensioners were working most of their adult life to support their families and the country with the expectation that that would be reciprocated when they were no longer able to work. Instead they are maligned and considered a nuisance and drain on resources. That is unforgivable.

Alan Rutherford, Lenzie.

Supervising the drugs rooms

IN the somewhat contentious correspondence (Letters, September 14 & 15) on the subject of drug consumption rooms (DCRs), I may have missed the most important aspect of these proposals. I sincerely hope that these DCRs will be supervised by long-recovered addicts. The opportunity will be available to addicts to engage with the supervisor as well as seeing literature giving details of available help. Conversation with a cured supervisor will help the addict to talk to someone other than current addicts and, in a clean environment, make him or her feel more a part of society. A friendly relationship may also build up over time, which will help.

The addict in need of support will have an easy person to speak to, the supervisor in turn may feel that an addict might be open to guidance, and though the subject has not yet been mentioned, the supervisor can advise him or her with persuasive arguments for seeking help as the living proof that help works. All in all, I feel these opportunities override everything else.

Nigel Dewar Gibb, Glasgow.

Read more: Banning breeds does not stop attacks. We should punish bad owners

Muzzle all dogs outdoors

THE debate into what to do about dogs that attack and on occasion kill people is in the headlines once again.

The usual response of banning this breed or that breed is rolled out as sure as night follows day as is the usual retort from the dog lobby that it is the owners who are to blame and not the animal. The letter from Alasdair Galloway (September 18) nicely emphasises this point and suggests that penalties for "bad owners" is the answer. Unfortunately for those injured or worse from a dog attack, a fine for the owner does little to salve their injuries or alleviate their apprehension when in future they find themselves in close proximity of man's best friend.

The only surefire way to solve this serious, easily-addressed problem is for all dogs when out in public to be muzzled.

James Martin, Bearsden.

Could we have a tourist lavy?

HAVE you ever wondered what the “NC” in the much-vaunted NC500 stands for? It seems the obvious answer is No Convenience 500.

Communities in the north have been so starved of cash by central belt politicians there is hardly a public toilet remaining open on our number one tourist route.

The solution? Our idiotic politicians now calling for a visitor levy, or tax, have prioritised spending billions in subsidies for useless wind farms, to supposedly save the planet, yet won’t spend a penny to save the pan.

These giant multinationals have been allowed to systematically wreck our number one asset, the Highlands' glorious scenery. Surely it is time the parasitic wind industry, with its obscene level of profits, stumped up and handed back what is effectively our own cash. This would easily pay for essential services like toilets, car parks, campsites, road improvements and so on.

Just compensation for our tourist industry in total desperation, and blessed relief all round.

George Herraghty, Lhanbryde.

Barney over the Moon landings

IT was nice to read your obituary (September 16) of prolific letter-writer R Russell Smith. He was clearly a man of many parts.

One item in particular which struck a chord with me was his interest in the Moon landings and his involving his elder daughter in the broadcasts. This was in sharp contrast to my own experience with my younger daughter, aged two. Linda was absolutely distraught when her favourite programme, Barney Bear, was taken off air in order to accommodate coverage of a Moon landing.

Gordon Evans, Glasgow.

The terror in the shed

DOUG Marr’s column about craft and DIY("If you want something done, DIY ... perhaps", The Herald, September 18) really brightened up a dreich Monday morning and reminded me of my woodwork classes at school, where even making a simple egg holder (six holes drilled onto a piece of plywood supported by two wooden blocks) was beyond me.

Many years on nothing has changed, although at one point, for reasons that escape me, I bought a circular saw and I was so terrified by all the safety warnings in the manual that it remains in the shed, unused.

Stuart Neville, Clydebank.