One reader's letter set me straight on free elderly care, while another made my point about royal racism claims – Helen Martin

I always read our readers’ letters to the Evening News. Rather than a brief comment on social media, they explain their thoughts and even supply their home street along with their name.

Evening News readers' letters tend to come by email these days, but however they arrive, they are invariably worth reading

If they reply to my column, I love it – agreement or not. Last week I listed what Scots would lose if SNP lost and our devolved powers were wiped out. I listed several things from free prescriptions to free personal care for elderly (which don’t exist in the rest of the UK).

Ian Lewis from Mayfield Terrace said elderly care was set up by the Labour/LibDem government, not by the SNP, so I was giving false information. He’s right and I apologise. That was a great benefit set up around 20 years ago. But I’d like to reply that, it’s still an advantage we’d lose if our devolution was written off.

I also read a letter from Alissa Syme from Braid Road. She wasn’t referring to me but she said that when she was pregnant 17 years ago “many people shared my excitement about what my baby might look like. Would he have dark skin, hair and eyes like me, or would he look more white”.

Of course, she was referring to the Harry and Meghan interview. With her experience, she said Meghan could be portraying a similar question as racist rather than an innocent, shared, excited remark – saying “the issue here comes down to interpretation, which can only be done by those actually present at the time”.

As I said in my column last week, it could have been nothing more than curiosity. I’m glad Alissa agreed.

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