Letters: Cyclists on our pavements would be a dangerous step

Does this mean that customers coming out of a shop have to look right, left and right again to make sure it is safe? What happens in the case of wheelchair users, the elderly or the blind?

Perhaps a walking stick through the spokes would stop this nonsense.

C.J.R. Fentiman, Polwarth Gardens Edinburgh

Librarians must be popping pills

MANY things seem to annoy me these days and I was beginning to think I was becoming a grumpy old woman

So I was delighted to read the letter from Joe Logan regarding libraries (Interactive, May 11).

I visited my local library last week and it was a most unpleasant experience. Mothers speaking to each other, loudly, so they could be heard over the noise their screaming children were making.

On the pretext of studying, one girl with notebook and pen in hand doodled away as she made four phone calls in the half-hour I was in the library.

I even asked the librarian if staff were supplied with paracetamol.

It's about time the silent majority was heard - complain and complain until good manners and consideration for others become the norm.

Name and address supplied

Scaremongering on independence

For one who, on her own admission, knows nothing about politics, Mrs Sylvia M De Luca's pro-unionist, anti-SNP/independence stance probably belies her 'humble' admission (Interactive, May 11).

To know where one stands on independence, one of the most potentially divisive issues in Scottish politics, could not transpire without some level of political consciousness, I would imagine.

It was sad that Mrs De Luca had to resort to scaremongering by asking who would defend Scotland if we were attacked by another country.

I wasn't aware of any such threat.

All throughout my life people have delighted in spreading such untruthful rumours. Reds under the bed and Russians ready to invade were some of the lies peddled to justify particular agendas.

Thankfully a knowledgeable and more positive Scottish electorate will not have the wool pulled over its eyes by such distressing and damaging propaganda.

Jack Fraser, Clayknowes Drive, Musselburgh, East Lothian

Balloon bursts for unionist parties

I READ Ian Swanson's article asking who will take the vacant leadership roles of the opposition parties (News, May 11) with interest.

I was reminded of the Oscar Wilde quote: "To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose both looks like carelessness."

It would seem the unionist parties have been very careless indeed.

Mev Brown, Southhouse Square, Edinburgh

Population rise is cause for concern

By stating that Scotland's rising population is not a cause for concern, Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, shows little understanding of the environmental problems caused by population growth and the provision of housing.

It is simply not environmentally sustainable to have ever-rising numbers of people.

Edinburgh has seen a rapid increase in its population and has built thousands of houses on school playing fields, allotments, parks, woodlands and the green belt. Yet, still the demand grows for ever more housing.

Edinburgh's population growth has resulted in a lower quality of life with crowded roads, increased pollution, less recreational facilities and a decline in biodiversity.

If Scotland had a stable, or better still a declining, population, then everyone could be suitably housed without all the environmental damage associated with the political demands of Shelter?

Ian Hain, Firrhill Loan, Edinburgh