Letters: Long way to go before Mile is brought up to standard

As I approached Heritage of Scotland.com's premises I realised that the word "stroll" was in fact incorrect, and that I would have to amend it to hurdle.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the council recently admonish a shop owner for having a security shutter that did not fit in with its vision of how the High Street should look, and promptly tell them to remove it?

What I would therefore like to know, from Dawe and co is, when did Heritage of Scotland buy the pavement outside their shop, which they then clutter, forcing pedestrians to detour round it?

On a similar note, I am inviting Jenny Dawe and the rest of her council cronies to one day take a walk around the near bombsite that is Clermiston.

Here you won't find the usual holes and craters, but, calderas and fissures, places where there is every chance of cyclists disappearing into.

Look also in particular at Essendean Place - where I reside - see the mounds of detritus, broken bottles, smashed up TVs, broken furniture, lengths of rubber pipe lagging, squashed plastic bottles, you name it we have it. Most of the long-term residents are now embarrassed to admit to living here.

I don't know or could even hazard a guess, as to how many times my better half has tried to contact the cleansing department to no avail.

I strongly suspect that behind Clermiston - you know, bungalowland - would not have these problems, also Daweland, ie Cammo, Cramond Barnton.

But you see, I and my kind are "schemies, the hoi polloi, the great unwashed", ergo, we don't count. When the Great Daweness is perched on her throne, looking over her kingdom, we, the rabble are unseen.

Jim Taylor, Essendean Place, Edinburgh

Bowled over by generous efforts

Your quick news section last Wednesday (News, September 15) mentioned a large donation just received by our new charity, the Edinburgh and Lothian Prostate Cancer Support Group.

Unfortunately, due to a computer glitch at our end, the credit was given to the Dean Bowling Club. In fact, SBC were the excellent hosts of the presentation of this extremely generous cheque donated thanks to the superb efforts of the whole of the Edinburgh Bowling League.

We'd like to thank these wonderfully public-spirited members of the community, whose contribution will help us to develop our support work for men, their families and carers.

Malcolm Goldsmith, chairman, E&LPCSG, Woodfield Park, Edinburgh

Long list of MSPs living in fear

I refer to D Wills' letter published on Monday September 27, and his comments on Margaret Smith being on the Lothians list as well as standing in Edinburgh West for the Liberal Democrats in next year's Holyrood elections.

Disregarding the unusual situation of Alex Salmond being on the SNP list for his region, as well as standing in his own right, I wonder whether he/she read the Evening News article of a week earlier entitled "Sarah Boyack turns to list vote to boost re-election chances" in Edinburgh Central, and whether he/she think "she is clearly scared of her losing her job".

Special permission had to be granted for a sitting Labour MSP to go on a list, and evidently Labour are aware of the real possibility that the electorate will eventually realise what an appalling mess they made of the UK economy, racking up a massive deficit which has to be addressed, however painful that may be, and what a poorly run council in Edinburgh was handed over, again requiring major drastic action to be taken, on a falling income level, to try to balance the books.

There may be a temporary bounce in the polls with a new leader in place, but hopefully by the time elections take place next year everyone will still remember Labour's history of financial mismanagement.

M Gray, Craigleith