Letters: Hard-line solution needed to clear up British disease

It is obvious that during a hot weekend when many people are visiting the city the bins might become full quickly and the crews that empty them may take longer to get round them.

The next time there is a heatwave in Edinburgh, I would urge the authorities to send out the litter wardens in force.

Anyone who is caught placing litter anywhere other than in a bin should be given a minimum fine of 50, and as a further punishment should be drafted into a litter picking/bin emptying squad for at least a day, to be enforced by the courts if necessary.

I have worked in many parks and gardens throughout Scotland and emptying bins is part of the job. However, some of the smells coming from the bins and items placed in the bins would make even the hardiest people physically ill.

If those caught dropping litter were forced to empty bins as a punishment, then I don't think they would be willing to come back quickly again.

I have also had the fortune to visit Singapore, which is reputed to be the cleanest city in the world. They take a very tough line on litter louts. You would be fined a minimum of 500 Singapore dollars if caught dropping litter, and if the fine was not paid then it could even lead to being birched.

Litter is a British disease, and unless the authorities start taking the hard-line approach, I don't see Edinburgh or indeed the UK becoming a cleaner place to live.

Alastair Macintyre, Webster Place, Rosyth, Fife

Council is only fit for a Lego set

LOTHIAN Buses is going to be plagued with the running costs of the trams, at further great cost to the fare payer and tax payer.

Surely the best thing would have been to put the project out of its misery, albeit at massive cost, and save Edinburgh the embarrassment of only having a small portion of the line operating after years of delay and going over budget.

Additionally, Edinburgh City Council should not be permitted to negotiate how much rates revenue can be retained for the use of this folly. This is equivalent to the Scottish Government giving it a handout!

However, I do have an idea for raising revenue. Sack the council executives who are responsible for this sham, and that should fund the closure of the trams project.

We are living in a very economically unstable period, and that will only get worse because of the problems with Greece. The money wasted here would have done a great deal of good, not only in Edinburgh, but throughout Scotland, where jobs would have been created and retained.

Note to Scottish Executive: In future please don't allow Edinburgh City Council to work on any projects greater than a Lego set.

Kenneth S Deed, Mayfield, DalkeithThe world needs open hacking

IF we are to have a safe open society, we have to have phone hacking by the authorities that we employ for our safety.

If terrorists were planning an attack on our democracy, we would have to oust the perpetrators who were attacking our freedom.

An honest person has nothing to fear, but subversives have to be reprimanded for the safety of the world.

James E Fraser, Cockburn Street, Edinburgh

What China has done is real cool

GLOBAL warming zealots will not be denied their scaremongering, and the government will not be denied its 40 billion a year in "green" taxes.

The explanation, if you believe it, is that China doubled its coal consumption releasing sulphur emissions into the atmosphere thus cooling the planet.

This is a new excuse and one could say that man-made global warming is being cancelled out by man-made global cooling.

Well done China, keep up the good work and we will not need to pay green taxes.

Clark Cross, Springfield Road, Linlithgow