Letters: Families are being asked to splash out a lot for a swim

Having a young family, we were disappointed when Leith Waterworld closed its doors earlier this year.

However, Edinburgh Leisure promised us we had the opening of the Royal Commonwealth Pool to look forward to.

True enough, the “Commie” re-opened. The changing facilities had been refreshed, the baby pool renamed “training pool” and fresh scones stocked at the open-air cafe.

We’ve happily been using it since it opened, but were dismayed last week to discover Edinburgh Leisure had decided to hike up the cost of a family swim ticket; jumping from £6.30 to £8.30!

The reception staff made an unconvincing job of justifying it, plainly disagreeing with the inflated price, which now puts it out of kilter with the other Edinburgh pools, and far more expensive than those of East Lothian.

In a time of growing child obesity, low take-up of sport and with the Commonwealth Games around the corner, should Edinburgh Leisure really be penalising our children?

Tom Martin, Joppa Grove, Edinburgh

Zealots and their relentless con

THE fanatical church of global warming is a hate-filled conventicle of intolerant zealots.

These people are armed with righteous certainty and demand ever madder measures on the basis of unproven claims. Those of us who put forward reasonable doubts and urge sensible caution are entitled to an apology and a moratorium on wind farms and carbon taxes.

But why will this never happen? Because a lot of people are making a lot of money from the relentless con that is global warming.

Alan Lough, Boroughdales, Dunbar, East Lothian

Labour crucial to Capital’s revival

I HAD hoped that my days of writing in defence of the Labour Party were long behind me, but in answer to A Shiels (letters, May 18) I would simply point out a few facts.

When Labour took over Edinburgh in the 1980s, it was but a pale shadow of the city is today, only famous for being a place where nothing happened.

Since then, Edinburgh has been transformed into a vibrant international capital city where prosperity – despite the downturn – is still higher than in similar cities.

Try to imagine what Edinburgh would be like without: Edinburgh Park, the Exchange financial district, our conference centre, the Royal Bank headquarters, Harvey Nichols, Hogmanay, the Christmas Festival and the half a million Christmas lights in Princes Street, the Biopark at Little France, the six city park and ride sites, the extra railway stations, or indeed the best bus company in the UK.

Lothian Buses still provides the best and cheapest transport of any major UK city.

Edinburgh is also now a much safer city, with lower crime, and in which you are still only likely to have your house broken into once every 111 years.

The roads are safer too, with a near 40 per cent reduction in accidents and fatalities in a city where (like everywhere else) traffic volumes have soared.

Culturally, Edinburgh is a different place where events such as the G8 Summit can be handled almost as a matter of course.

Edinburgh has a can-do attitude and welcomes more visitors than ever before – and before the usual suspects jump up saying “it’s all for the tourists”, those tourists keep more than 30,000 of our own Edinburgh residents in jobs.

These things are not all down to Labour, but Labour more than played its part in achieving all of them. A Shiels should tell us which city was run better than Edinburgh was during its transformation.

Donald Anderson, The Spinney, Edinburgh

Leave the poll to Scots residents

SO, Sean Connery wants to join the launch of the SNP “yes” campaign, does he?

He loves Scotland so much that he lives abroad!

I suggest Mr Connery belts up and leaves this controversial decision to the citizens who live in Scotland.

As far as I’m concerned, united we stand, divided we fall.

Sylvia M De Luca, Baberton Park, Juniper Green, Edinburgh