Discrimination - 'It is appalling they should be driven out'

AS a society, we should never accept prejudice of any description - and not just the sectarianism and colour discrimination that are our most obvious such evils.

Today we report the sad case of two white, able-bodied working people who found themselves the victims of a sickening attack.

Their crime? Anna Brudnowska and Ewa Aromanowicz are Polish.

The two friends tell of a string of incidents in which they were harassed so much they eventually gave up their efforts to run the PRL bar in Bonnington Road in Leith.

In an area full of all sorts of pubs, they hoped to appeal to the area's many Polish migrants, spending a good deal of money refurbishing the bar in the process.

Their reward was threats and abusive phone calls, including one sick taunt about gas chambers. On at least one occasion the trouble broke out into violence.

It is appalling that these two women, who sought to do nothing more than make a profitable business - paying taxes in the process - should be driven out because they weren't born here.

Edinburgh is a remarkably cosmopolitan city, attracting people from all over the world, of all races, religions and nationalities - and not just during the festivals.

They enhance the city while they are here, and some even decide to stay - as "new" Scots.

We should take pride in our reputation as a welcoming place, and attacks like these demean us all and must not be tolerated.

Lasting legacy

many local people will have benefited from the kindness of the Lauriston Volunteers over the years.

To some they will always be the Royal Infirmary Volunteers, as they were originally known - at its peak a 700-strong band of good people, doing good things, for no personal reward.

It is probably impossible to guess how many parcels for emergency patients were made up, with necessities like toothbrushes and soap, but we do know that 1 million was raised for the ERI in the last decade alone.

The loss of the Volunteers, who now number just 60, many of them elderly, is a sad one. But other groups have emerged to keep up the good work.

And the legacy of the Volunteers will live on for a long time in the minds of all they helped over 73 remarkable years.