Edinburgh has allowed another great asset to wither and die. Why do we elect and employ such inadequate people in our local administrations and cultural institutions?The Scottish Government should now intervene with a compulsory purchase order to reopen the building. A new director such as Mark Cousins should be hired to overhaul and revamp the venue to appeal to all – not just the arthouse crowd from Morningside & Stockbridge.We need a people’s cinema, and it could launch with a season of films by our greatest living director, Ken Loach. If some blockbusters are needed to pay the bills, so be it; that approach works with the wonderful Hippodrome in Bo’ness.We need vision – and not just on the screen.

Bruce Whitehead, Queensferry, Edinburgh

EU plonker?

Edinburgh Filmhouse on Lothian Road shocked staff and patrons by going into administration in October (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

It was striking to note that heralding the Windsor Framework, Rishi Sunak noted how Northern Ireland was now in an “unbelievably” special position in the world in having access to not just the UK home market, but also the European Union Single market.

Ironically, this was the same privileged position that England, Scotland and Wales enjoyed until Brexit, which Mr Sunak supported.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

Go it alone

Rishi Sunak’s proposed Northern Ireland trade deal undermines Unionist claims of a hard border between Scotland and England in the event Scotland decides to join the single market or EFTA prior to full EU membership. There would be a soft border, particularly as England needs its large Scotland export market plus our vast oil, gas and renewable energy supplies.

The Irish trade deal is very similar to the Scottish Government’s “Scotland’s place in Europe” published in 2016 which proposed a solution whereby Scotland, whose people voted to Remain in greater numbers than those in Northern Ireland, could trade with the EU while still part of a Leave-voting UK. However, the UK Government dismissed it within two hours.

Despite Sunak’s deal, Brexit remains a disaster for our economy. If Northern Ireland can have “the best of both world’s”, then so can Scotland but we need independence first as the London-based parties have no intention of getting back into Europe.

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh

Let light in

Senior members of the SNP establishment apparently don't want external scrutiny of the leadership hustings – so announced they were banning media attendance. The SNP leadership selection is a parallel of what the Tories went through last year in Westminster.

The Tories most definitely washed their dirty laundry in public – and the nationalists seemingly want to avoid such critical analysis from the media. The process, of course, involves SNP members not just choosing a leader but the First Minister. This media ban decision by senior SNP officials is flawed. We live in a democracy, and media questioning and analysis is an essential part of the democratic process.

We have realised in recent weeks how successfully Nicola Sturgeon papered over the deep fissures in the party – yet the party apparently continues to persist in concealing open debate. It's absolutely imperative that the SNP, as the governing party, functions with openness and transparency when selecting their leader.

If they are unwilling to do so, what hope is there for democracy in Scotland with the SNP in power?

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire

Afraid of scrutiny

The idea of holding the SNP leader’s hustings behind closed doors is very strange. After all, they are not considering a Scottish election, which they demanded and called a “democratic outrage” when it was not granted after Boris Johnson quit at UK level. Surely the people of Scotland should have a chance to weigh up their next FM.

Could it possibly be that the powers-that-still-be in the SNP are fearful of the general public seeing their candidates and members in full unspun light and the absolutely certain embarrassment that would bring, and possible effect on the voters at large?

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Vote for animals

Our organisation has followed the three candidates to be the next leader of the SNP, and almost certainly the next First Minister of Scotland, since their campaign launches. While we have no organisational preference in terms of the eventual winner, we do have a very real stake in what view they may take as an organisation which campaigns to end animal exploitation.

It has proven depressingly predictable that even now not one candidate has uttered a syllable about animal safeguards as they pursue votes from the rank and file. If you are mobilised by equalities and human rights, you most likely know where the candidates stand. If you care about animal welfare you are as in the dark as you were before they declared.

Our members and supporters, some of whom are card-carrying members, will want to know whether Ash Regan, Humza Yousaf or Kate Forbes are likelier to prioritise the needs of the hunting lobby over animal well-being. Will they take Scotland’s fireworks legislation the additional steps further it needs to be effective? Will they look again at the impact the cost-of-living crisis is having on pet owners facing food and vet bills that make giving up their companion animal the unthinkable possibility, and on the shelters taking them in if they do? Animal Concern itself is campaigning right now to protect wild, farmed, and domestic animals as well as our natural environment by seeking a prohibition on the release of sky lanterns and helium balloons. Can any of the candidates express a view on that?

And so over to the three of them, we want to know not what they have done but what we can expect.

Graeme Corbett, Animal Concern, Dumbarton

Play fair

Let's hope Scotland has matured as a nation over the years and has the intellect not to indulge in pettiness in terms of deliberately delaying or diverting the Irish rugby team bus on way to Murrayfield or intentionally playing Ireland's call at a slow pace, like the Italians did recently, and instead have the decency to allow the outcome of the game on 12 March to be determined on the playing field.Alan Nixon, Corbally, Co Galway

Green for Stop

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for recycling bottles and other drinks containers really does confirm to me that we need to pay more attention to what Holyrood is doing in our names before their plans get too far developed.

My impression was that we already recycle a large proportion of such containers, and we all have an outlet for most of them outside our houses, which we already pay for with our council tax. Now, we have to pay 20p more for each bottle or can, and then go looking for a returns point that will accept them, probably using petrol to do so. Chances are we will have to wait in a queue while the people in front of us scan their bar codes one at a time. Apparently, every small business producing these cans and bottles needs a different bar code for items sold in Scotland to elsewhere, and some are already deciding to withdraw their products from Scottish shops.

On the political front, the SNP leadership contenders are all against it, but for some reason, they seemed to all be struck dumb and didn’t say anything about it before now.

Is it not time we admitted that this scheme is just rubbish and binned it? I feel sorry for Lorna Slater. She was given the green light by her SNP colleagues, but has now been hung out to dry, and no doubt, we won’t be hearing much from her again. The experimental SNP/Green coalition that wasn’t really a coalition at all has failed. Perhaps the Greens need to stop showing unconditional support to a party like the SNP, concentrate on environmental activism and forget about independence, which everyone can see is dead now anyway. The environment and our constitutional position are not linked in any way.

Victor Clements, Aberfeldy, Perthshire

Guinea pig

It's a matter of concern to learn that should DRS be blocked, companies which have invested millions of pounds to comply with the legislation may claim compensation from the Scottish Government, which in reality means the taxpayer. Of course, trying out new initiatives which can lessen the impact of plastic on the environment is important but surely a UK-wide approach is preferable to Scotland going it alone and would lead to a more trouble-free and coordinated implementation.

Why does Scotland always have to be the guinea pig and why do Scottish Government initiatives seem to go off half-cocked and end up costing the taxpayer millions?

It's reminiscent of the recent legislation which was introduced to enforce the installation of smoke detectors and alarms in homes. Implementation was initially delayed and while thousands of people who could ill-afford the costs of the scheme complied with the regulations, we later learned that many council houses did not receive the alarms before the new implementation date with subsequent enforcement of the rules seemingly to have become non-existent.

Another Scottish Government-generated mess!

Bob MacDougall, Oxhill, Stirlingshire#

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Readers' Letters: Fresh vision is needed for iconic Filmhouse

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