Readers' Letters: 'The view from down below is not great'

If I was to drive around Edinburgh and surrounding areas in a vehicle that several thousand people could hear at any given time I suspect that the council’s environmental department would be wanting a word with me.

Helicopter tours are breaking the peace and silence of Arthur’s Seat

How is it then, that we allow very noisy, low-level sightseeing helicopters to break the peace and quiet of a Sunday stroll round Arthur’s Seat or

even your own back garden?

I counted one every 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon and had to curtail my conversation until itwas out of earshot every time.

I am sure Edinburgh looks lovely from up there, but I feel there should be more consideration for the local population by restricting the number of flights, flying much higher or changing the flight paths on a regular basis.

Why should the relative tranquillity of swathes of Edinburgh be ruined by a tiny minority of thrill-seeking sightseers?

I realise that there are much bigger problems to be addressed at the moment, but once one becomes aware of this, it is hard to ignore.

Philip Carmichael, Edinburgh

An SNP soap opera with no end in sight

The SNP conference was full of surprises. Delegates voted overwhelmingly to remove Trident from an ‘independent’ Scotland, and supported a motion backing a draft referendum bill. I rather thought Ms Sturgeon had one she had made earlier.

Meanwhile, Alex Salmond held his Alba conference in person, not virtually, as the SNP did. Rumour had it that 36 people watched his speech online. In it, he attacked Ms Sturgeon for not pushing forward to another referendum.

Mr Salmond has rumbled Ms Sturgeon. He knows as well as we do that she enjoys being First Minister and would not risk her position for a referendum that she can be pretty sure of losing.

And so the can is kicked even further down the road, and Alba can expect some more recruits. Others have simply left the SNP.

The rest of us have to watch this farce of a soap opera, while Nicola Sturgeon, in a show of activity, asks the UK's sovereign government to cooperate by allowing a referendum. Can someone remind me of when Ms Sturgeon has ever cooperated with the UK Government?

Anyway, Mr Johnson’s refusal to discuss the matter will have come as a big relief to Ms Sturgeon. She can now claim thata big boy did it and ran away.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

French solution to passport issue

As the SNP are apparently becoming hesitant over introducing ‘vaccine passports’ yet are still keen to rejoin Europe, perhaps they could look at our near-neighbours in France, where the rate of Covid infection is steadily declining, in spite of restrictions being lifted long ago.

The ‘pass sanitaire’, is quickly and easily scanned (even the Scottish QR code!), and restaurants and cafés, where it is obligatory, are full.

I read that many people aren’t wearing masks on Calmac services. On Brittany Ferries they are compulsory, mask wearing is enforced, and if, for health reasons, you can’t wear one, you are required to notify the company in advance and then stay in your cabin. Not that difficult surely?

It all makes for a safer, more confident society, where consideration of others is still foremost. Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!

Sally Cheseldine, Edinburgh