Letters: Please watch out for little ones now schools are back

Yesterday morning my three- year-old son and I narrowly escaped serious injury when a taxi drove through lights on Corstorphine Road at 8.30.

Thankfully the stationary bus we were walking in front of beeped a warning when he saw the taxi wasn't going to stop.

By the time the taxi driver saw us and braked he was over the crossing.

With lots of children due to start school this morning, it's worth reminding drivers to slow down and make sure the crossing is completely clear before they drive through, especially when kids are about.

Rob Flett, Hillview Terrace, Corstorphine

Not impressed by arrogant cyclist

I'D like to address the careless cyclist on Gilmore Place, who decided to endanger himself and other road users by weaving in front of my car at 5mph on Tuesday.

My issue is not with the complete disregard you showed for your own life or the other people around you, but the fact that you have reinforced the ill will that road users feel towards cyclists. You are lucky that I was previously a cyclist and that I had a driving instructor who emphasised how important it is to respect cyclists.

Your decision to forego any safety equipment such as a helmet or lights is not a style choice, but increases the chances of an accident. More so, your question as to whether I "knew the rules of the road" only shows your own ignorance and arrogance.

Chris Behr, Edinburgh

Ushering in an ugly new look

VISITORS to Edinburgh must think we are a very rich city. I thought the finances of the city and the country in general were in a poor way yet the horrific addition to the Usher Hall has just been completed and, after months laying new paving slabs, eight electronic advertising boards have now been installed on the pavement outside.

What the tourists don't know is how much the overall cost of this project had escalated. Apart from anything else, the whole thing looks ugly.

Mrs S F Wilson, Maxwell Street, Edinburgh

Difficult to trust Labour over cuts

UNISON and Labour councillors have yet to spell out where they would make the Draconian savings to meet the required 90 million city council cuts as a result of Westminster's savaging of the Scottish Government budget (News, August 17).

All they can come up with is to blame the SNP, Lib Dems and Tories, ignoring that Alistair Darling said before the general election that Labour's proposed cuts would be worse than Margaret Thatcher's and would last for up to ten years through slashing public expenditure by 25 per cent.

Labour candidates were dishonest with the voters by not saying where these cuts would be made before the election so I suppose it is too much to expect Labour to be honest now.

Fraser Grant, Warrender Park Road, Edinburgh

No point in council having papers

LABOUR'S Lesley Hinds appears to have a short memory in complaining about the current city council using council tax-payers' money to send out newspaper "propaganda" to Edinburgh residents.

The previous Labour-led council set up a network of "local newspapers" all over the city at an astronomical cost. Most were completely unreadable and contained little other than pictures of local Labour politicians and glowing "articles" on how hard they were working.

Exactly why a council charged with running education and keeping the streets clean should feel a need to publish newspapers was never really explained, but thankfully the present administration had the good sense to scrap them, saving millions of pounds of council tax-payers' money as a result.

Gavin Fleming, Grassmarket, Edinburgh