Readers' letters: Edinburgh Airport is not fit for purpose

Edinburgh Airport boasts that it is “where Scotland meets the world” but it’s a pretty shoddy welcome. My wife and I have been fortunate enough to have flown into and out of some ten overseas airports over the last ten years and Edinburgh is by far and away the worst.

The current building is just not fit for purpose. It is poorly designed, poorly lit and invariably overcrowded. You have to queue to check in; if you manage to get through security in under 20 minutes then you are doing really well. You then have to search for a seat in the overcrowded departure lounge where there is usually a queue outside the ladies’ toilet.

Compare this with our departure from Narita, one of Tokyo’s two international airports, just a few hours earlier. An express train from the centre of the city took us right into the heart of the terminal. Just 25 minutes later we had checked in; gone through security followed by an immigration check and were sitting down to enjoy a coffee and toast at a Dotour's Cafe. We walked to the cafe and then to the departure gate along spacious, well-lit and attractive corridors with ample seating, that would not have looked out of place in the lobby of a top-class hotel. What a difference from Edinburgh.

A reader says Edinburgh Airport is poorly designed and invariably overcrowded (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

Edinburgh Airport regulalry boasts about adding yet more routes to its schedule and increasing passenger numbers. This can only add to the problems confronting travellers. Ideally, of course, the govenment should be looking to build a new international airport somewhere between Edinburgh and Glasgow accessed by fast rail and road links. In the short term, however, pressure shuld be brought to bear on the owners of the airport, to give a much higher priority to improving the passenger experience.

Eric Melvin, Edinburgh

Boilers U-turn

I am relieved to read that plans to force homeowners to scrap gas boilers have been shelved (Scotsman, 4 April). This policy was never viable and a practical solution is needed that will reduce emissions now and allow more gradual improvement to housing stock. We should not copy countries with very harsh climates like Norway.

The UK has a milder wetter climate and a high percentage of draughty, poorly insulated houses. We rely heavily on gas central heating. There is strong evidence that most domestic central heating runs very inefficiently. Correcting this is possible at low or no cost. I have been able to reduce my gas consumption by 66 per cent since 2019 without solar panels, heat pumps or log burners. Most of the improvement has been from bigger radiators, a variable speed central heating pump, a carefully positioned room thermostat and a better understanding of how boiler settings and other adjustments can help. My energy bill has gone up by 14 per cent since 2019 because the cost of electricity has increased so much and is not fully offset by the reduction in gasc onsumption.

There is still too much government support for draft proofing, heat pumps and insulation that helps the well-off. There is not enough support for the bulk of the population who can and should save gas using less expensive equipment that also prepares us for future heat pump installation or district heating.

Andrew Muirhead, Ayr, South Ayrshire

Fake news

Neil Anderson (Letters, 7 April) would have us all to believe that Mary, Queen of Scots and the Jacobites were the victims of English oppression but that is a total fallacy peddled by many north of the border.

The truth about Mary Queen of Scots is that she was deposed of her throne by Scots nobles who placed her one-year-old son, James VI – later to become James I of Britain – on the throne in her stead and imprisoned her in Loch Leven castle.

The Jacobite Wars were a mixture of political ambition and religious beliefs that was not so much Scotland vs England but rather an attempt to destroy the introduction of the Protestant faith, as was being brutally done in mainland Europe at that time, and reintroduce a Catholic monarch to the throne.

At the Battle of Culloden there were more Scots in the government troops fighting against the Jacobites than there were supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie!

Michael Officer, Bridge of Earn, Perth & Kinross

Classless postage

Am I the only one to think that first-class stamps are a rip-off? Two recent incoming letters, one of them urgent, bearing first-class stamps, took three and four days respectively to arrive. I dread to think how long they would have taken, travelling second class. Probably, there would be no real difference.

It seems incredible that a first class stamp, at £1.70, costs almost double the 87p price of a second class stamp (Scotsman, 7 April). No wonder fewer and fewer people are posting letters and most of what is delivered is junk mail.

I would suggest one class of mail, priced at somewhere between the cost of first and second class. Gone are the days of two morning deliveries and it’s rare to see one on Saturdays. My mail seldom arrives before 2pm, well past the time when second-class mail would be delivered in the past. How long will it be until mail is totally paperless and delivered online for free?

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Degree of difficulty

It's taken thirty years but finally our university system, is facing an existential threat due to the predictable consequences of vastly expanding tertiary education by, on the one hand, maintaining the “free” element while saddling students with debts that many struggle to pay off or never actually reach the earnings threshold that triggers loan repayments, the inevitable consequence of diluting the system with lower-ability students and courses in, for example, sports and event management, psychology, media studies and the like. All in the name of attainment and social mobility.

And to pay for it very sophisticated marketing, extolling not just the cachet of getting a scottish degree, but also the fantastic lifestyle and night life, was used to lure foreign students, a revenue stream augmented by dabbling in the accommodation industry and siphoning seemingly limitless public funds. Now the gravy train has moved on as our universities’ quality declines.

Scotland needs to get back to where it last was in the 80s, when great public education was rammed into kids and those of true university capability got their place, irrespective of background, funded by grants where required, augmented by aspirational parents and part-time and summer jobs.

I fervently hope, however, that, to quote a fellow alumnus of the Linlithgow Academy bright council house kid undergraduate factory, the rocks won’t have to melt with the sun before this obvious reset happens.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Take a pay cut

Dundee University lecturers and staff are being balloted on strike action since 700 jobs are at risk because of a £35 million black hole. Surely one solution is for all staff to take a substantial pay cut and not expect taxpayers to fill the hole.

Michael Baird, Bonar Bridge, Highland

Pub talk II

Over the years, I have been called many things, some of which are not repeatable in these pages. However, I have never been called “shallow” until now (Letters, 7 April), in reference to my letter last week regarding a conversation I heard in a pub (4 April)

I referred to two snippets of over an hours’ conversation – I won’t bore anyone with the full diatribe. However what I will say is I am not delusional, a label which would be more applicable to the two chaps I referred to. The ideology of nationalism is a flawed concept if you do not have the infrastructure, sound financial backing and a thriving economy to carry it forward. Only the delusional will see a way to the land of a tartan Shangri-la when it is obvious that this great nation is an absolute basket case, where at every turn things are in a financial mess and health services at rock bottom, to name but two issues.

My feeble attempts at veiled humour were obviously lost on Brian Bannatyne-Scott, so in future I’ll just cut to the chase and say it for what it was – two delusional chaps attempting to ignore the harsh realities of the state of our nation in their quest to break up the Union and die happily in the knowledge that “the dream” had been achieved.

Or am I just being paranoid?

David Millar, Lauder, Scottish Borders

Free speech

Jack Fraser (Letters, 4 April) sets out some of the problems arising from the concept of free speech as a basic right – principally the “hate speech” it can engender.

He seems to favour legislation as the solution, but I think there are difficulties with this approach. For instance, until a number of cases are brought before the courts and precedents established there won’t be a working description of what constitutes “hate speech”. More generally, binging the criminal justice system into play seems rather excessive and unlikely to foster social harmony.

I would like to suggest an approach based on such old-fashioned concepts as courtesy and politeness. It is possible to exercise free speech without resorting to inflammatory language. Perhaps those tempted to risk causing offence should take a moment to think how they would feel if they were on the receiving end. Let us always remember the old Latin tag Quot homines tot sententiae – there are as many opinions as there are people.

S Beck, Edinburgh

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