Return visits to the Capital are just depressing

I EMIGRATED to Canada 12 years ago. Having just had a six-week holiday back in Edinburgh, I am appalled by the general disregard for simple rules, and no-one seems to address these problems. Litter is dropped everywhere, the streets are littered with spat-out gum and cigarette butts.

Notices are on Lothian buses stating no food or drinks, yet I have been on several where passengers were eating hot food, in fact throwing chips around.Young mums or people with shopping trolleys refuse to give their seats up to let a wheelchair passenger on. Yet again a notice says you must.

I wonder who designed the bus having seats at the back facing each other. Almost every time you are travelling passengers have their dirty feet up on the opposite seats. I have had my clothes dirtied on two occasions, once with dog poo, because of this practice.

Why is the luggage space taken up with large metal containers for free newspapers? Surely this space is for folded buggies and bulky shopping. These newspapers get left on seats and end up on the floor..

I have seen a woman refuse to take her dog off a seat yet passengers were standing, and the driver refused to get involved.

Drivers seem to think it is acceptable to drive while having a conversation with friends or other drivers standing beside them. Again, notices are on the buses.

And why are there so many No 22 buses running together all day long? Sometimes only six or seven people are on them. Other routes have quite awful timetables.

Buses in Canada are clean and passenger-friendly and have routes all around the city on a regular timetable.

It makes me sad to see the deterioration in Edinburgh. I just seem to get dirtier every time I come back for a holiday.
Ms Annabel Barclay, Madeira Heights Drive, Vancouver, Canada

Buses must change, not the passengers
IN the debate about mothers taking buggies onto buses, Tom Lee says "Bus users are at fault, not the bus drivers", (Letters, October 11). What Tommy rot!

Times have changed. Buses no longer meet the needs of those who want to use them. They need to adapt, not the users. Buses are no longer designed to reflect the society we have. Isn't it buses that need to change?

Isn't Lothian Buses in dereliction of its commercial duty to meet the needs of its customers by failing to recognise this?

Mothers need transport. They have enough problems trying to manage babies in prams, attendant toddlers, the shopping. The last thing they need is complete idiots making it harder for them because of their inability to realise what the problem is, and how to deal with it.

It's not rocket science. We need to encourage everyone to use public transport, whenever they can. Don't we?
Jim Taylor, The Murrays Brae, Edinburgh

Danger, woman multi tasking in car
I HAVE just seen a woman driving a German sports car up Calton Road whilst brushing her hair, and, I think, talking on a hands free mobile at the same time. Is this an example of the famed female ability to multi task? If so, I would feel safer if she did it somewhere else.
David Fiddimore, Calton Road, Edinburgh

Salmond creates illusion of work
A WEEK is, as they say, a long time in politics, and never has this been so well illustrated than by comparing the actions of our leaders at Westminster and Holyrood.

On the one hand Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have led from the front in taking difficult decisions as we seek a solution to the banking crisis, and significantly their lead is being followed by other leaders across the world. By contrast Alex Salmond has adopted his usual blustering approach, calling lots of meetings to give the illusion of action, while actually doing little or nothing.

When faced with the suggestion that Scottish institutions might just be culpable in the crisis, Mr Salmond adopts his less than statesmanlike demeanour along the lines of "it wisnae me, a big boy did it and ran away" (for big boy substitute any one or more from Westminster, the EU, Cosla, Lloyds TSB etc).

However, if Mr Salmond is convinced that he needs the resources to reflate the Scottish economy by further increasing public spending, then he already has the means at his disposal.

All he need do is to make an announcement that he proposes to use the tax-varying powers the Scottish Government has under the Scotland Act to increase income tax in Scotland by 3p in the pound.

Using the tax-varying powers now would allow Mr Salmond the opportunity to take real responsibility for the future of Scotland's economy, rather than blaming others for his lack of resolve.
Somehow I don't think I'll be holding my breath!
Bill Goodall, Baird Terrace, Edinburgh

Chance for city to put children first
TOMORROW, Edinburgh City Council could reaffirm its neglect of the city's children by delaying the replacement of schools such as Portobello High.

Or it could recognise that "the true measure of a nation's standing is how well it attends to its children" (UNICEF, 2007). Will the Education Leader do the right thing?
Richard Butt, Marlborough Street, Edinburgh