Letters: Parents an easy target, but no-one to blame for bug

David Manson blames parents for sending their children to school while infected.

I really don't think this is the case, and, more importantly, I expect the chair of the parent council to stand up for parents rather than criticising them.

Bugs are at their most infectious before symptoms are obvious, and we cannot anticipate when they will strike. Many children were sent to school seemingly well, only to become ill during the school day. This is when I suspect most of the infection was spread.

It is very hard to judge when children are ill unless their symptoms are obvious, and for those who had felt sick but not vomited, there was no medical reason to keep them off school for 48 hours after recovery.

Parents are under huge pressures from employers not to take time off work, and for many taking time to care for a sick child is impossible.

Many have their pay docked or have to rely on friends or relatives to help out.

Surely Mr Manson, as a parents' representative, should be applauding all of those who did manage to take time off to care for their sick children rather than seeing parents as aiding the epidemic. These kinds of incidents are often unavoidable and no-one should be blamed.

Anonymous parent, St John's Primary School, Edinburgh

Principal is on a different planet

THE principal of Telford College seems to live in a parallel universe ("Which would you cut?", News, March 21). He seems incapable of recognising that the public purse cannot afford the spending of the past.

Economies have to be made. A budget reduction of ten per cent is called for and immediately it is all about cutting courses and massive impacts on the students.

Is he honestly telling us that the college is a paragon of efficiency where the administration and procurement is absolutely perfect? If he is then he is kidding himself, and us.

Perhaps a more positive and realistic attitude to costs would add weight to the valid points he makes about vanity projects such as the replacement Forth crossing and the Edinburgh trams, both of which should be cancelled as completely pointless and criminally wasteful.

Stewart Geddes, Silverknowes Crescent, Edinburgh

You can't beat a proper book

I AM amazed when I get on my train home from work and see a growing percentage of fellow travellers glued to e-book readers.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still prefer the feeling of a book in my hands. And I am astonished, especially in these difficult days, at the number of people who think nothing of shelling out a three-figure sum to feed their gadget addiction.

Sure, they'll point out that so many titles can be cheaply and quickly downloaded, but can you wrap them up as a special gift for a loved one?

Like most of us who work these days, I spend most of my daily grind sitting in front of a computer, so the last thing I want to do as I try to unwind on the journey home is stare at grey or black computer-generated words on a rectangular piece of plastic.

One of the great advantages of their new toy, gadget junkies I know tell me, is they are of a convenient size, easily packed away in a pocket or bag.

That sounds familiar to me . . . a bit like a book, in fact.

There's another great rectangular-shaped thing to explore - this one's called a library and it contains thousands of books which can be read at no cost at all.

Go on, give it a try and you may even help persuade councils eyeing possible cuts to leave these valuable institutions of learning alone.

G Hunter, North Berwick, East Lothian

Not trying Tattoo hard with tickets

I HAVE been trying from Australia to book tickets for the Tattoo, no such luck. I cannot even get on to the people by telephone, they close on the weekend. I thought the Tattoo was all about visitors . . . not if you are closed on weekends.

Margaret Cairns, Queensland, Australia