Letters: Glasgow lucky to be spared from pricey transport project

If they are anything like us, there will be a more than adequate bus service to take the travellers back and forwards, plus taxis, private hire cars and minibuses. I know that our taxi drivers need these runs.

We can't afford either of these silly schemes when money is short for schools, police, the fire brigade, care for the elderly and other essential causes.

Edinburgh must be the laughing stock of the country. Will the tram project ever be finished, or will it be another case of Edinburgh's disgrace?

Maggie Murphy, Trinity Court, Edinburgh

Anti-fascists right to protest at march

WITH regard to the proposed march by the racist Scottish Defence League (SDL) on 20 February I was both amused and alarmed to read the comments from Councillor Cameron Rose (News, 10 February).

For him to suggest that UAF posters had a "polarising influence" is amusing as I fail to see how any decent person could not be polarised by a group who shout racist slogans and whose members did "Sieg Heil" salutes at their previous protest in Glasgow.

It is more disturbing for him to suggest that there should be no protest against the SDL. The last protest by the English Defence League led to a riot in the middle of Stoke, when at the end of the demonstration the police were unable to contain hundreds of EDL supporters who swept through an Asian area attacking homes, shops and cars.

The counter protest to the SDL is supported not just by UAF, but the Scottish Trade Union Congress, First Minister Alex Salmond, church and faith groups and many others.

Luke Henderson, Unite Against Fascism, Edinburgh

Consultation that falls rather short

I REFER to the letter from Cllr G Mackenzie (Interactive, 11 February) regarding public consultation about the planned permanent changes to the road network from 8 March for the tram project.

He says that a 28-day consultation period starts on 22 February and that the changes will take place from 8 March.

I thought that a consultation period was to receive comments and then take them into account before changes are made.

On my calendar 28 days from 22 February takes one to 21 March, fully two weeks after the changes have taken place. Is this just another example of the council riding roughshod over the people they are supposed to serve or has there been a change to the calendar that I don't know about?

JB Collie, Drum Brae Park, Edinburgh

No-one doing dirty work around city

IT REALLY infuriates me that so little cleaning up seems to be going on around Edinburgh. For example, I was driving on the city bypass and was shocked at the state of the verges, with mountains of rubbish along the whole stretch of it, with certain areas worse than others.

Then when I came off to go to Lasswade, yet more rubbish on the sides of the slip roads.

Calton Road too is an eyesore. The rocky side is shocking because years of rubbish has built up behind the fence. What must tourists think?

Rubbish makes Scotland look like a a Third World country.

Alison Carr, Greenhill Terrace, Edinburgh

Make them pay for expensive rescue

The Ministry of Defence is to be applauded for embarking on the first steps to privatisation of RAF and Navy rescue services.

For far too long, people (most of them city dwellers) have been straying off our extensive network of paved roads in order to experience what they perceive to be the thrills of the countryside.

Unfortunately, taxpayers are then expected, through the military budget, to pay for the inevitable rescues when they fall over a cliff, get stuck up a mountain or stub their big toe.

It is high time that these selfish individuals should have to pay for the full cost of their recovery.

John Eoin Douglas, Spey Terrace, Edinburgh

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