Readers' letters: Staging Oasis concerts in middle of Edinburgh Festival is utter madness

A reader suggests Oasis should be playing Hampden in Glasgow, not Murrayfield in the midst of the Edinbugh Festival

While joining in with the chorus of approval for the return of Oasis after so many years of fraternal strife, I must express total astonishment at the timing of their concerts in Edinburgh next year.

Clearly the three dates for Murrayfield are part of the Oasis tour and can't be changed, but why on earth can they not play at Hampden Park in Glasgow rather than at Murrayfield in the middle of the Edinburgh Festival? Slotting 75,000 people x3 into the already packed city is utter madness.

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We know from experience that Oasis concerts in Edinburgh have created many problems in the past due to the nature of the fans, who are not the teenage girls who came for Harry Styles, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift but predominantly slightly older, more boisterous lads. The influx of those fans, mixing with the arty visitors here for the Fringe in particular, is going to create a combustible crowd which could become a real problem.

Liam Gallagher performing with Oasis at Murrayfield in 2009 - the last time the band played at the stadium in Edinburgh (Picture: Ian Georgeson)Liam Gallagher performing with Oasis at Murrayfield in 2009 - the last time the band played at the stadium in Edinburgh (Picture: Ian Georgeson)
Liam Gallagher performing with Oasis at Murrayfield in 2009 - the last time the band played at the stadium in Edinburgh (Picture: Ian Georgeson)

In addition, the understandable greed of the Edinburgh hotels will mean that, for the middle week of the Festival, most visitors and artists will be unable to find rooms for less than £500 a night.

This is totally unacceptable and I sincerely hope, after the euphoria of the tour announcement, that wiser heads will prevail and that this potential disaster is averted.

Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Edinburgh

Oasis tax

I note the extortionate prices hotels in Edinburgh are charging for the nights Oasis are playing at Murrayfield. These prices are truly iniquitous, and hotel businesses have the cheek to say a modest tourist tax will keep tourists away!

Kathryn Sharp, Edinburgh

Taxing the ‘Many’

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It always amuses me to think of Joyce McMillan and Liz Truss sharing that alternative planet called economic illiteracy. Both believe that international capital markets will allow us to borrow as much money as we need, regardless of the economic situation, in which we find ourselves, or that, if we can’t borrow enough, we can just print the rest. We know what happens when we look as though we are going to flood capital markets with our bonds. Liz Truss demonstrated that pretty clearly. If, on the other hand, we print money in the way we did over the period 2010 and 2022, when Sterling M3 rose from £400bn to £2.9tr, as soon as the economy moves out of recession, inflation results, which widens the gap between rich and poor as asset prices spike.

There is, though, nothing wrong with the real social democratic model. It works in Sweden but it has to be underpinned by the understanding that if you want to give to the “Many”, you have to tax the “Many”. The electorate in Sweden understands this. An “ordinary working person” there starts to pay income tax at 30 per cent when they earn just under £1,000 whereas, here no one pays income tax until they earn £12,000, when they pay 20 per cent. As a result, a worker on average earnings in Sweden pays approximately 25 per cent more than their equivalent here, and of course the standard rate of VAT in Sweden is 25 per cent.

Whilst, culturally, Swedish voters have long accepted this, I would suggest that Joyce takes a police escort if she decides to sell the idea, one night, down Sauchiehall Street!

As far as the rich are concerned, Sweden has no inheritance or wealth tax. After they abolished inheritance tax in in 2004 and their wealth tax a few years later, tax revenues rose substantially as did corporate creation.

Mark Tennant, Elgin, Moray

Smoking ban

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Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed plans to ban smoking in pub gardens, sports grounds, outdoors restaurants and other outdoor venues south of the border. The First Minister John Swinney said he will consider following suit. (Scotsman, August 30).

However, there is no move to include vapes and the disposable vapes which litter our streets. Vapes should be included in any such ban since the chemicals can harm lungs, throat and brain development. Vaping nicotine is addictive and users turn to cigarettes. Children move from fruity vapes, given to them illegally by adults, to cigarettes.

The big question is how this ban will be policed. Councils do not have the resources to tackle the present problems of irresponsible dog owners, litter louts and fly-tippers, far less smokers. Certainly not by our police, who no longer investigate burglaries and other crimes.

A quicker way would be to double or even treble the tax on cigarettes and vapes. That would clear the air.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Referendum rules

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I have to agree with the Scotsman editorial of August 31 about proper rules for referendums in this country. We really cannot have profound constitutional change on 50 per cent plus one vote. Such a result is so narrow that the other side simply will not accept the result, leading to instability, as we saw with the Brexit result (it should never have gone ahead with 52 per cent of the vote).

There is another factor at play as well, as pointed out a long time go by Ken Clarke. In referendums, a small minority will use it to vote on other issues – for example, to protest against a sitting government. Major change must have substantial support for the result to be stable.

William Ballantine, Bo’ness, West Lothian

Granny’s anthem

There’s been a lot of talk about “The English” stealing the British National Anthem.

Our own Flower of Scotland being something of a dirge, I propose the more cheerful and more tuneful Glesca Anthem: Ye Cannae Shove Yer Granny Aff A Bus. Ireland get to sing two anthems. Why can’t we?

Doug Morrison, Tenterden, Kent

Write to The Scotsman

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We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid 'Letters to the Editor/Readers’ Letters' or similar in your subject line – be specific. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.

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