Letters: There's already enough bother without a hover

If Stagecoach or anyone else believes that this is a viable project then let them come up with the funding to run it themselves.

Like any business if it is successful it will do well and if it is not then it will fold.

Any money that was set aside for the hovercraft project should now be ploughed back towards the roads budgets and repairing the potentially life-threatening potholes which have been left behind by the icy weather.

Alastair Macintyre, Webster Place, Rosyth

Patrol officers are not under threat

School crossing patrol officers will not be cut (Evening News, January 25). This was rejected out of hand by administration councillors.

The Labour opposition have plumbed new depths by suggesting that child safety will be put at risk.

Councillor Ricky Henderson puts himself beneath contempt in seeking to make political capital by unnecessarily worrying children and their parents.

The administration's budget will be presented to the council on February 10. Children, their families, schools and communities throughout the city can be reassured that school crossing patrol officers will be fully protected.

Councillor Jenny Dawe, Leader, Edinburgh City Council

Therapy is vital for stammerers

AS a stammerer, I could relate to what Alex Todd described of his stammering life in the article "Helping to find a new voice" (Evening News, January 21).

I am glad that the future looks brighter for younger generations of stammerers. It is important that parents bring their child to speech therapy immediately when the stutter begins.

A great resource is the website of The British Stammering Association (www.stammering.org) as it offers an infinite amount of helpful information.

I also want to recommend the website of the Stuttering Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org) as it has streaming videos, downloadable brochures and a directory of speech therapists in the UK. Both of these websites are the best sources for people seeking out information on stammering.

Michel Parizeau, Thurso, Quebec, Canada

Good to witness lesson in respect

WHILE I was out the other day near a city cemetery it was really good to see a young father take off his baseball cap and stand straight and to make his two young sons do the same in respect for a passing hearse and cortege.

Maybe if some of the old values of life are coming back, such as respect for self and others and a bit of fellow feeling and community spirit, then there's hope for this rotten old world. If they'd only teach self respect and respect for others in schools it might even filter through to those in power!

BS Ferguson Pirniefield Bank, Edinburgh

Traffic solution is difficult to find

EVEN with soaring fuel prices and a recession that refuses to abate it really is quite astonishing the number of motors that congest the roads of Edinburgh.

You cannot lay the blame at the foot of taxi drivers as they account for probably a relatively small percentage of motors on the road and at the end of the day they are only trying to make a living.

It seems to me that if Edinburgh is to become a much safer city for both pedestrians and motorists alike, especially at peak times, the volume of traffic should be restricted but how do you go about this?

A London-style congestion charge may be one solution but as driving is already expensive enough this would hardly be popular with drivers, commercial or private.

Angus McGregor, Albion Road, Edinburgh