Letters: Cyclists should be made to follow law like everyone else

While crossing, two cyclists came out of Bath Street against a red light and the green man. I asked the male cyclist if they were exempt from red lights, he accused me of wanting cyclists to die, and swore at me. This shows the mentality of some cyclists, they think that they are above the laws of the road.

Cyclists like these two cause accidents, and usually cycle away from them. It is about time something was done about this situation. Cyclists pay nothing for using the roads and are not required to carry insurance, so they obviously think that they can do as they please.

I appreciate that not all cyclists are like this, and that some drivers are also guilty of doing things like this, but please remember a motor vehicle has a registration number and the driver can be reported to the police, who can then take action against them.

Should cyclists be as readily identifiable?

WG Whyte, Piersfield Grove, Edinburgh

Slogan politics bad for nation's health

SO THE answer to Scotland's horrendous drinking and eating habits are to be sorted by our SNP government. Given Kenny MacAskill's past brush with the law they certainly would appear to have the experience and understanding to address the problem. And what are the wonder solutions being put forward by them? Raise the price of alcohol, that will sort out the drink problem they tell us.

And to solve the obesity problem they will reduce the size of portions. Is this genius or could it be that the politicians are again over indulging in slogan politics rather than addressing the massive problems Scots habits pose?

The problems need professional and careful attention with all the stakeholders in our community addressing them. Maybe the government can swap over their solutions and raise the price of food so sweets are beyond the cost of our young people's pockets.

Likewise smaller glasses and wine bottles presumably would result in a sober and leaner average Scot.

What we actually need is proper attention to these problems and less of the slogan solutions.

John Allan, Kingsknowe Road North, Edinburgh

Referendum would provide answer

THOSE who claim the SNP are attempting to "rig" the proposed Independence Referendum have short memories. In the 1979 devolution poll, the notorious 40 per cent rule was introduced by a Labour backbencher which famously meant that those had recently died as well as those who didn't vote at all, were counted as being in the "no" camp.

As for the claim in your editorial that "Scotland does not need or want independence" (News, 23 February), many Scots including myself strongly disagree on both counts. We won't know for sure whether Scots want independence or not until we have a referendum.

Gavin Fleming, Webster's Land, Grassmarket, Edinburgh

Dire finances after Labour in office

I AM delighted that Julie Marshall has been studying the Conservative group budget (Interactive, 24 February).

As a result of the dire state of the council finances bequeathed by the Labour Party, the saving our group took was for "community learning and development and Community High School Review", not simply "community centres" as she states. No community centre closure was specified in the Conservative budget.

Crucially, no detail as to the impact of this review was available to opposition groups prior to the budget decision. I note that the strategic redesign group included five members of the administration and five officers.

The Conservative group allocated money in our budget to pursue alternative methods of service delivery for a range of things and this is one of them. It is of great concern to us that the panel which has come up with these proposals is administration only.

In contrast to schools rationalisation, there has been no opposition representation on this panel and the impact of the proposals is disproportionately on the south west, including Colinton Mains.

Councillor Jason Rust, Colinton/Fairmilehead Ward

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