Cycle routes create a muddy wasteland - your views

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Cycle routes create a muddy wasteland

Cllr Melanie Main recently wrote to the Evening News extolling the virtues of walking, wheeling and cycling during the current pandemic.

Personally I feel this an insult to those who have lost loved ones and their livelihood due to the pandemic.

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I was today on Morning-side Road and again very disappointed in the number of ‘to let’ signs on commercial properties. I am sure those who have lost their employment will not agree with her.

The additional space created by the Orca cycle lane separators appeared to be rarely used and pedestrians were using pavements as per normal, even where there were queues to enter shops.

The only purpose seemed to create further congestion, with buses struggling to pass each other.

I had walked both ways from the Buckstone shops area to Waitrose area and observed very few cyclists but severe congestion either side of Greenbank Crossroads.

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Indeed, in recent weeks the majority of cyclists I have seen have been on public footpaths remote from any roads, a large number of those showing total disregards for pedestrians.

In addition to the danger to pedestrians, for example racing down Blackford Hill on the narrow path behind the allotments and on round Blackford Pond, the damage to paths is extreme.

The path north of Colinton Tunnel is now deeply rutted and a sea of mud, making it unpleasant for walkers unless they are wearing boots – useless for those in wheelchairs; those on mountain bikes without mudguards throwing up mud onto pedestrians. Not exactly pleasant! The same applies to a number of the paths around the Pentland Hills which have deep mud-filled ruts.

Ian Vandepeear, Braid Road, Edinburgh.

Green money is just going up in smoke

The Scottish government is to commit £100 million to developing hydrogen as a greener form of power. Have any of their plans come to fruition?

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It was not so long ago that millions in grants were wasted on seeking to "lead the world" in carbon capture and storage. There is not one full scale plant operating in the world.

Clark Cross, Springfield Road, Linlithgow.

Brexit quota answer simple – stop fishing

It seems that the main stumbling block in the Brexit negotiations has been the issue around fishing rights and quotas.

There is a very easy solution to this, if only those taking part in the negotiations were to agree on no fishing, even on a temporary basis, and then hold a conference including experts on what impact fishing has on the oceans and the planet.

One of those deserving of a placeis Jonathan Balcombe, who is the director of Animal Sentience for the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy.

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His book, "What A Fish Knows: The Inner World Of Our Underwater Cousins" was an Observer book of the year in 2017. In it, Balcombe writes about, among other things, how we know that fish feel pain and the moral implications of how we catch (and farm) fish.

The debate regarding which country gets which quotas of fish is a red herring. Each year, 150 billion - 2 trillion fish are caught, yet we don't need to catch fish at all.

There are many delicious faux (vegan) fish available, ranging from faux salmon, scampi and tuna to fish cakes and fish fingers.

Most fish are contaminated anyway, as the seas are so polluted. We should leave the fish where they belong, in the oceans.

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