Andy Murray’s focus on fair play is so refreshing - Readers' Letters

Although not a great tennis fan, I did find myself enthralled with Sir Andy Murray's efforts (and skill) at the American Open. Even more so I was uplifted by his post match interview and his 'observations' about toilet breaks and other 'time-wasting' opportunities embraced by a growing number of sports people.

Andy Murray waves as he leaves the court after being defeated by Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas during their US Open men's singles match

His comment, eloquently and respectively made, does raise the issue of whether we see tennis (and some other sports) as embracing a personal confrontation, involving physical and mental skill levels, or now a team confrontation with physios, coaches etc all involved in the match.

Such a move would no doubt lead to players playing with earpieces so that “the team” could issue “advice” on direction of serve etc based on real-time computer analysis of the opponent.

We already see indicators of this potential with rugby players kitted out with “information gathering” gadgets on their jerseys and an experiment by Edinburgh University (maybe reality now) which was to analyse each opponent (in real-time) and feed information which could determine tactics on the field.

Unfortunately, sport is rapidly becoming a business, largely dictated by the whims and demands of television and sponsor revenues. Glasgow Warriors will not play many Friday matches this coming season, thus depriving their spectators of supporting the Warriors and their local team on a Saturday.

There is also an increasing focus on results. I was thrilled at the Paralympics when someone was tenth but had a personal best! Is this not what sport should be about? So thank you Sir Andy for respectfully drawing attention to the old-fashioned values of fair play and honest endeavour rather than seeking maximum advantage “within the rules”.

You are not alone – there are plenty of sport fans who enjoy the contest rather than simply the result.

James Watson, Dunbar, East Lothian

Fish versus wind

It is very easy to understand the attitude and importance which both UK governments attach to the renewable energy sector of our economy but at what price does it come for the Scottish fishing industry?

It would appear that access to vital fishing grounds are being considered by approving construction of further offshore wind farms.

On a recent visit to Shetland Prince Charles commented that more fish products pass through the Shetland markets than all of England Wales and Ireland combined.

By auctioning off huge areas of seabed to developers this would exclude Scottish fishermen to some of the most valuable fishing grounds in Europe. We are not talking about a small area of seabed but an area equivalent to half the land mass of the Scottish mainland.

These feelings now seem to be totally endorsed by Scottish Fishermen's Federation chief executive Elspeth Macdonald (Scotsman, 30 August).

What price will our Highland and Islands and coastal communities pay if we treat our fishing industry as a second-class economic player?

Answers on a postcard please.

DG McIntyre, Edinburgh

Scottish serfs

Miners were not the only workers treated as serfs in 18th-century Scotland (Letters, 30 August).

In 1705 a family called Cargill in the Angus fishing village of Auchmithie accepted an invitation from the town council of nearby Arbroath to move there.

Incensed by their effrontery, their laird, the Earl of Northesk, took out an action against them at the High Court in Edinburgh, and the verdict of the Court was that the Cargills were the Earl’s serfs and must return to his service forthwith.

It would be another century before Auchmithie fisherfolk moved to Arbroath in any numbers.

Harry D Watson, Edinburgh

Gove can boogie

Regardless of what we think of his politics, it is really time to leave poor Micheal Gove alone now (Scotsman, 31 August).

There are not many of us who can claim to look like Strictly professionals when we take to the dance floor!

Judi Martin, Maryculter, Aberdeenshire

Barking mad

The picture of the Society of William Wallace's sculpture of two sawn off tree trunks, commemorating their hero, kind of sums up the the state of the Scottish independence movement (Scotsman, 30 August).

Rooted in the past, stumped for ideas, the government is lumbering along and full of dead wood.

The "leaves" are outnumbered by "remains" because voters know that, after Brexit , the Scexit process won't be like falling off a log.

And now splinter groups like Alba are appearing.

No wonder Nicola Sturgeon has refused Alister Jack's 60 per cent "olive branch" on Indyref2. "Stick" to the day job, First Minister.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Goalposts moved

With agreement reached on Green MSPs joining SNP MSPs in Scotland’s government it appears that some ardent supporters of the UK constitutional status quo have still not accepted the democratic mandate of the Scottish Government to hold a second Scottish independence referendum on terms previously agreed with the UK Government under the Edinburgh Agreement.

The proposition by Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland, and others expressing their views across various UK newspaper letters pages, that a threshold of 60 per cent of sustained polling intentions in favour of holding a referendum should be required (Scotsman, 28 August) appears to indicate a devious intent to move the goalposts for the next referendum from what the UK and Scottish governments agreed – that a majority vote would determine the result.

Furthermore, the UK is governed through adherence to precedence and favourable polling was not needed to conduct the only UK referendum since 2014 and nothing more than a simple majority was required to bring about the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union in spite of the narrow margin in support of Brexit.

Certainly if a threshold of 60 per cent had been required in the referendum itself the extreme outcome could probably have been avoided and we would not now be witnessing the potentially disastrous decline in Scotland’s food and drinks exports as well as increasingly empty supermarket shelves, but this is “UK democracy”.

For those who have remained silent through the whole Brexit referendum process dictated by an ideologically-driven right-wing Tory government to now proclaim the necessity of new standards for the holding of Scotland’s second independence referendum smacks of more than a little hypocrisy.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry, East Lothian

The end is nigh?

Sometimes, in Scotland mid-2021, you have to shake your head in total disbelief at political developments.

Can we really have reached the stage where a devolved administration has sought and gained a coalition of some kind with a second party, a party whose stated aim is to reverse growth in our economy? Is this really happening? Are a large section of the electorate really so thick that they can accept this as some kind of necessity on their way to a bigger, end-of-the-rainbow goal? That a couple of made-up ministerial jobs, basically paper clip counting at horrendous expense on our taxes, could be invented as a sop to the party of cranks that are supposedly principled participants in this chicanery?

In truth, it is frightening that so many could be conned into accepting this charade as being in any way normal.

Future generations will look on this as the lowest ever point in Scottish politics and that this, hopefully marks the beginning of the end of an experiment in self-government gone horribly wrong.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Green daze

So we have two new Green ministers (Scotsman, 31 August). The job titles are impressive (and long) but still have a made-up feeling about them.

And as the Greens do not agree with personal wealth I look forward to a tweet stating to which "save the planet from climate change” cause each are donating the extra £30,000 they will now earn.

Elizabeth Hands Armadale, West Lothian

Good grief

It's not polite to intrude on other people's grief, but the ongoing rage being expressed by supporters of the Union, of the co-operation agreement between the Greens has become something to behold. The desperation of of contributors as they frantically play hunt the negative and then wildly exaggerate it has reached comedic proportions.

We now learn that the Greens have no core principles, but are anti anything you care to mention. Such is their control of the government's direction that according to Douglas Cowe (Letters, 30 August) it is their ambition to make Scotland like North Korea, Cuba, Laos or China. Ah well, let's not allow reality to get in the way of good old-fashioned rant, but instead of exercising their hyperbolic propensities, maybe some of the writers should get out more.

Gill Turner, Edinburgh

Cut your speed

At last! Paris has decided emissions from vehicles can be drastically reduced by curtailing speed.

This would seem a sensible way forward and one which we could all instantly adopt in the quest to halt climate change; not popular perhaps but necessary.

Margot Kerr, Inverness, Highland

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid Letters to the Editor in your subject line.

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.