Readers' Best Comments

We've got reaction to schools being torn apart at cost to headteachers' budgets, and roads face the freeze

Schools have been forced to splash out 600,000 over the last five years to clean up damage caused by 'mindless' vandals. Deep breath now . . .

A general relaxing of standards of behaviour is to blame. The police no longer punish thugs; parents would rather spend time drinking booze and taking drugs instead of teaching their children good manners; today's limp-wristed teachers no longer punish their pupils; courts no longer dish out proper punishments; the limp-wristed SNP is weak on criminals. Roll on a decent Scottish Government that brings back hanging and physical punishment, because until then, incidents like this will continue to occur.

theBestTony1nGorgie

Back in the 21st century . . .

I owned a shop opposite St John Vianney school. One evening whilst working late, a couple of kids lit a fire against the front door of the school. I phoned the police and told them what route to come to catch them. Of course they arrived the wrong way and the kids ran away. I went over and put out the small fire. The police arrived back at my shop. They could not catch the children. They told me it was just a couple of bairns having a laugh.

r chee bold

School vandalism cannot be stopped, plain and simple. We just have to live with it, like the police who can't catch them, even though they know who it is, the social workers who don't want them to be punished and the children's panel who can't punish them. The solution is clear but we'd have to change 40 years of thinking and that's never going to happen.

Rugal

God, what's happened to today's youth? Where are the police? And why such apathy among the people – doesn't anyone care about their schools. Does anyone care about anything? This is a crime and it hurts and costs the whole community – this is so outrageous! What's happened to Scotland? Wake up people or tomorrow you will all be living in a hellhole!

Greenfox

Consider yourself warned. There are fears the city is running out of salt for gritting the roads, while the freezing weather shows no signs of letting up. Supplies are said to be running dangerously low.

I can only assume Midlothian ran out a few days ago. Tried to go to Edinburgh yesterday – roads perfect through Peeblesshire, but a different world once Midlothian is entered. The council would do well to ask the advice of Scottish Borders Council on how to manage the current weather.

The Rattler, Scottish Borders

Now that the cash cow tourists have all gone home, is it possible to grit the roads and pavements outside the city centre? We haven't seen a gritter since well before Christmas and the pavements are six inches thick with solid ice. I know we are told the tourists are important to Edinburgh, only this weekend they spent 30m in the city, of course none of that went to the city council, but remember councillors, we pay the bills, we deserve at least an equal service, if not a better one.

Rugal

The salt will be being used on the MSPs' and city councillors' streets, they will get all the priority due to their status. Why the hell do we pay road tax and our council tax and end up not getting services we require, it took two weeks for our buckets to get emptied. It's about time the bungling idiots on the Edinburgh Council were bundled out.

Templar75, Edinburgh