Letters: Flipping angry about zoo's treatment of its sea lions

To dispense with animals that have been a popular attraction at the zoo for a century does not seem the sort of act you would expect from an institution which supposedly cares about the welfare of the beasts it keeps.

Perhaps with the Giant Pandas coming from China in the future, the zoo is less willing to shell out on the surroundings for animals if they are not considered sufficiently "box office".

I hope that if Sofus and Miranda are considered excess to requirements by the zoo they enjoy a better fate than the Red River Hog piglets which were culled last year, or poor Mercedes, the polar bear which is now facing being put down after being removed from Edinburgh to a wildlife park in the Highlands.

Come on Edinburgh Zoo, show you really care about the welfare of animals and give these sea lions a secure future.

Brian Arnold, Dalry Road, Edinburgh

Party should get Green light on TV

TWELVE years after the first Green MSP was elected, here in Lothian, I was pleased to see BBC's Question Time finally agree to have a Green MSP on the panel last week.

And anyone who saw Patrick Harvie win over the audience on topics as diverse as ethical foreign policy and public service cuts would agree that he was worthy of his place.

That makes it all the more astonishing that, as it stands, the TV companies appear to have decided that the "Scottish leaders' debates" in the run-up to the Scottish election should feature only the four "main" parties. Why have the broadcasters not woken up to devolution? And what have they to fear by allowing a Green voice to challenge the cosy assumptions of establishment politics?

Gavin Corbett, Briarbank Terrace, Edinburgh

Tram facts are in black and white

I WAS intrigued to note Julie Marshall's rewriting of history over the tram fiasco (Interactive, March 9).

BBS - the consortium comprising Bilfinger Berger and Siemens Group - was officially appointed in October 2007 to carry out the construction and maintenance of Edinburgh's tram network following a cooling-off period and approval by Edinburgh City Council and Transport Scotland.

This is well before Ms Marshall's date of May 1, 2008. The procurement process to award these contracts started well before the May 2007 elections, and in fact the consortium was awarded the contract as preferred bidder a matter of days after the local government elections in May 2007.

I am afraid, despite these attempts to positively spin the failings of the previous Labour administration on the tram issue, the facts are there in black and white for all to see.Alex Orr, SNP List candidate, Leamington Terrace, Edinburgh

Standing up for principled MSP

I DON'T think that Mike Pringle was dizzy before, he certainly might be now, given the confusion that underpins Henry L Philip's argument (Interactive, March 10).

There's a difference between the Federal Liberal Democrats who have agreed to compromise on tuition fees in exchange for taking millions of the poorest people across the United Kingdom out of income tax, hitting the bankers with a 2.5 million levy and restoring the earnings link to the state pension, and the Scottish Liberal Democrats who are opposed to tuition fees in Scotland.

Indeed it was the Scottish Liberal Democrats who forced the Labour party to abandon their proposals for tuition fees in Scotland in 1999.

Principled politicians, like Mike Pringle, choose not merely to follow the party line, but stand up for their constituents (such as in his continuing opposition to tuition fees and when he voted to ban snaring last week) exist; although in fairness Scotland has been dominated by the Labour party for so long I can see how Mr Philip might have forgotten.

Jennifer Tanner, Braid Road, Edinburgh