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My favourite example of inappropriate use of the apostrophe was found in an application form I received when I was chief executive of the Scottish University for Industry.
The post in question was director of marketing, with a strong need for someone who had strong language skills. The candidate, clearly proud of his impressive academic qualifications, had typed his name and qualifications in 16-point bold type at the top of his application, thus: John MacDonald MA Hon’s. Needless to say, he was not offered an interview.
Frank Pignatelli
With all due respect, it is unreasonable for Bruce Gardener (11 October) to feel that traditional Christians are being ‘persecuted’ by the introduction of same-sex marriage. While there is no question that traditional Christians are opposed to same-sex marriage, and perfectly entitled to hold and continue to express their views, the institution of religious marriage per se does not belong exclusively to them.
It is unjust to some other other faith groups –Unitarians, Quakers, Pagans, liberal Jews, liberal Buddhists and some liberal Christians – who already conduct religious marriages for mixed sex couples and devoutly wish to be able do so for same-sex couples, to be denied the right do so. We may constitute a minority, even a small minority, but we are nonetheless entitled to hold and express our views.
John Macintyre
So. Bruce Gardner does not think ‘that one person’s human rights should be exalted at the expense of others’, but demands that discrimination grounded on Christians’ beliefs should be beyond legal censor? I wish he’d make up his mind.
Paul F Cockburn
I am surprised at the apparent failure of the Midgie to inform Kenneth Roy of a much more venerable, but in this context deliciously relevant, interpretation of the acronym SPAD – from the age of the steam railway, I give you Signal Passed At Danger. I think the special advisors (SPADS) in Edinburgh’s Regent Road should also be told.
Dave Harvie
Thank goodness for Jill Stephenson’s timely visit to the Ukraine and subsequent warning about the dangers of independence. If we aren’t careful we might find ourselves in a country where people are leaving in droves, industry is stagnating, pensions are rendered worthless and we are reduced to selling peanuts from badly maintained urban pavements. Oh, wait a minute…
Bill Boyd
I felt for Jill Stephenson as I read her description about waiting for ages to change money in a Ukrainian bank, but inefficiency is not limited to former Communist countries by any means. In spite of booking and paying for a hire car online, my wife and I still queued for over two hours at Nice airport before being acquitted from the office counter. The car was not what we had booked but at that stage we would almost have accepted a scooter – anything to avoid a return to that counter.
Rick Walthew
Contrary to what Walter Humes implies (4 October), ‘Vulture capitalists..adept at pouncing on ailing businesses’ are precisely what make our system work. It was the absence of ‘vultures’ in their ecosystems that led socialist alternatives to fail. In economies as well as nature, there are essential feedback loops. Without vultures, corpses would not be dealt with. There must be a mechanism for dead and dying businesses to be removed from the system in order for it to thrive.
When I was involved in UK-Soviet relations, one of the most important sights to be pointed out to visitors, and the appropriate positive lessons drawn, were precisely the empty shops and the ‘for sale’ signs. They are/were – to the Soviet visitor, possibly counter-intuitively – the evidence that failure is/was a vital part of a successful capitalist economy.
Needless to say, alongside the necessity of businesses being allowed to fail we were able to point out the existence of the safety net of our welfare state and those other pillars of a free society: an independent judiciary, free press etc. It was the catastrophe of our banks becoming ‘too big to fail’ that brought about the present financial crisis and the perceived need for us, the taxpayers, to step in at, so far, incalculable cost. This is not how a capitalist system is meant to work.
Elizabeth Roberts
I enjoyed Alan Fisher’s explanation of the route to the White House, but am struggling with the maths. Alan writes: ‘Each state’s allotment of electoral college votes equals the number of members in its delegation: that is, one for each member of the House of Representatives and two for each senator. So, for example, Virginia has 11 members of Congress and two senators, so has 13 electoral college votes’. Where have I gone wrong? 11 members of Congress at one vote each = 11 votes. Two senators at two votes each = 4 votes. By my reckoning, Virginia delegation totals 15 votes.
John Izod
I was a contemporary of Ian Jack at Dunfermline High School and can confirm what he says about the wide range of English and Scottish literature in the then curriculum, delivered by a group of enthusiastic young teachers of English, who were able to inspire many of us with a life-long love of language and interest in English and Scottish literature. I also remember the many Scottish songs we sang at primary school, some in Gaelic, and the ballads and poems which we learned by heart.
I don’t think Kenneth Roy has anything to worry about; as someone who is fortunate to live between London and Edinburgh, I have been aware in recent years of an increased Scottish confidence, accompanied by an explosion of Scottish literary talent. I can’t believe that schools are not reflecting this.
Hilary Callaway
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