Letters: Stunning structure is a tribute to its architects

One reader said it should be taken down and the space used for other purposes. Has he been down there recently? From Granton harbour to the esplanade to Cramond, it is like a desert. Lots of land is for sale.

I pass the gasholder often. If you stop and look up at the structure, it is a wonderful piece of architecture, and a tribute to the men who built it all those years ago.

Surely it is far more artistic than piles of tyres and bricks, which pass for modern art.

My suggestion would be, why not illuminate it? I think it would look great. Alternatively, why not get the students at nearby Telford College to come up with some ideas?

Jimmy Jardine, Crewe Place, Edinburgh

Policy is driving us parking mad

I WATCHED on Wednesday as a "parking attendant" rolled slowly up my road in a silver people carrier, parked in a "permit holders only" space for 15 minutes as he wrote out a parking ticket, took photographs and consulted the sort of database which would have given George Orwell the shivers - all because some poor so and so with a car half the size had overstayed their welcome at a parking meter.

If you or I had parked in a "permit holders only" space for 15 minutes without a permit we should have been fined, but the law, of course, is above the law.

Bear in mind that our proud council uses the excuse of "reducing vehicle congestion in the city" as its justification for using parking attendants in the first place.

Perhaps a councillor might respond by telling us how having a man driving an otherwise empty seven-seater helps out with that particular problem?

If the officer's manager wishes to consider the usefulness of the event, he could identify the participant from where the ticket was issued - Calton Road at about 1.10pm. But he won't, will he?

David Fiddimore, Neither Craigwell, Calton Road, Edinburgh

Going alone is a startling thought

Much as I do not wish to carry on a public war of words with Jim Taylor, I feel compelled to write in response to his letter (Interactive, November 17) in which he presumes to know the reasons for my opinion that independence is not the way to put Scotland back on its feet.

He is correct that I am not happy about the way in which the Scottish Parliament has continually attacked the licensed trade in Scotland, but wrong in assuming that I am so insular that I would be against independence for that reason only.

There would not be space on this page to list the reasons why the self-serving MSPs currently holding power over Scotland should not be given added powers.Their errors to date are endless.

Where Mr Taylor and I do concur is that status quo is most certainly not the right thing for Scotland. Sadly, we cannot turn the clock back to pre-Scottish Parliament, but giving them further opportunity to run the country into the ground would surely not be a wise decision.

Sheila Fraser, Beveridge Close, Dalkeith

Tale didn't tell the whole story

your article Pitch Battle (News, November 15) and subsequent editorial comment unfortunately misrepresented key results from our recent sports survey.

We received 78 responses by 66 clubs from 600 surveyed, and the findings must be viewed in this context.

Of the 66 respondents, 59 certainly reported that costs were "problematic", but to claim consequently that half of Edinburgh's sports clubs fear they could fold is misleading.

Feedback will inform the current work around community access to schools, introducing a more consistent pricing structure across the schools estate and improving access.

The administration very much recognises the contribution sports make to communities.

Councillor Deidre Brock, convener, cultural and leisure committee, Edinburgh City Council