Politicised Olympics

ALONE among last week’s Sunday papers, you chose to politicise coverage of the Olympics opening ceremony with reference to its “threat to independence”, as claimed by foolish opportunist politicians, not to mention your own ridiculous “Games are new battle of Britain” headline.

Your editorial compounds this misjudgment with nonsense about “Britishness” – citing the death of Princess Diana among “milestones in British culture”. You also quote Tory MSP Murdo Fraser havering about the Queen’s Jubilee – virtually ignored in Scotland – being “a reclamation of British identity”.

You must be aware that headlines stick in the minds of readers who read no further, as illustrated by the selection of online responses to last week’s front page item revealing Scotland as top of the European league table for drug use.

Not one of these mentions the follow-up article on page 6 displaying a graphic showing Scotland indeed top of a group of nine countries, featuring percentage use of five illegal drugs. However, England and Wales in second place mysteriously outscore Scotland in three of the five drugs.

Robert Dow, Tranent