Letters: ‘Black taxis are from dark ages and should go green’

I VISITED Edinburgh recently and had a great time, but one thought occurred to me as I hopped in and out of taxis.

These big black behemoths were a childhood memory of mine when I was growing up in the UK; the world has changed, but this mode of transport has not quite caught up.

Most car manufacturers have woken up to the idea that when people travel, they want plenty of space, coupled with a greener way of moving around.

Now that Edinburgh is chasing the green dream with its tram project, how about some spacious environmentally friendly taxis to back that up?

Nan Henderson, Ontario, Canada

Cyclists must be more considerate

I READ the article about cyclists suffering accidents due to tram lines (News, November 22) and I was sorry to read about the girl who fell after hitting a pothole, breaking her collar bone (News, November 24).

But many accidents involving cyclists are caused by them coming up fast behind pedestrians and not sounding their bell. It should be made compulsory that they use bells – some do, but not very many.

It is no joy going out walking in parks and especially canal paths always having to look over your shoulder every few minutes for fear of being run into.

You don’t get a chance to get out of the way, you don’t hear them until they are right beside you.

Sandra Brown, Northfield Drive, Edinburgh

State of the union not so clear cut

Alex Orr persists in claiming that independence for Scotland would mean a return to the “Union of the Crowns” (Letters, November 29). But we can’t go back to 1603, when, by chance, one monarch inherited the throne of another. Even at the time it was an anomaly, only resolved by the Treaty of Union.

Today, an independent Scotland could only have the Queen as head of state, as Alex Salmond has admitted, as the 17th Commonwealth realm, where the rest of the UK would become the monarch’s home state.

Steuart Campbell, Dovecot Loan, Edinburgh

Stop slinging mud and discuss issues

MUD-SLINGING is turning Scottish politics into a joke. The worst behaviour comes from the Labour party. The downright bad behaviour of Labour’s Scottish leader Johann Lamont is the very worst.

She has called the First Minister Wee Eck, a sucker, as straight as Pinocchio– in other words, a liar. At Westminster she would be asked to withdraw her remarks and could be ordered out of the chamber.

Voters don’t like to see mud slinging. What they want to see is a debate on jobs, the rising cost of living through increases to gas, electricity and food. Then there are the Tories’ benefit cuts, the biggest since welfare started.

What we don’t need is scoring political points.

J Hill, Stenhouse Avenue, Edinburgh