Should there be a Margaret Thatcher Day? - your views online

Frank Mckay

Yup we should, and Kemi should put it forward to parliment that on the chosen day " a refund for all who had to pay the poll tax", funded by the donations the Tory party get from the rich.

Kay Wilson

Yes. It could be called The Purge. Truly in the spirit of all she stood for, I'm sure she'd be proud.

Johanna Winter

Just when we thought the Tories couldn't be more out of touch with the general public!

Derek Lannan

I think most of us had more than enough Thatcher days!

Scott Johnston

Every day is a Thatcher day. We are still living under the same conditions and extortionate costs that she brought upon to our country.

Mike Husband

Why have a national day to celebrate a selfish tyrant who destroyed the manufacturing industry just to satisfy her hatred of the unions. Manufacturing was the backbone of British industry, sadly now almost gone.

Douglas McIntosh

We're living in a country where racism and the berating of the vulnerable is a daily occurrence. Where the elite ignore the rules that subjugate the rest of us, and the public love them for it! Where the (unelected) royalty ignore the rules of the land, because they can. Already every day is Thatcher Day!

Mark Igoe

No danger, she was evil to the miners then tested the poll tax out in Scotland.

Boarded-up shops

A major rethink of Edinburgh city centre has been ordered to help secure its long-term future and tackle the number of boarded-up buildings created by the decline of the retail and the impact of the pandemic.

Alex Weir

Put big pictures of McVey and Macinnes on the front of each one to remind people why we have so many boarded-up empty shops in the first place.

Colin Nicol

Do the council even know what they want? A lot of people are avoiding the city centre thanks to the anti-car policy and now they're greetin about boarded up shops. You need to take out a second mortgage to pay for parking and you'll need a modern car just to enter the city centre soon, whereas you can go to The Fort and park for free or Livingston, which has a far wider selection of shops and park for very little. I used to like heading up town but the council have just made it a hassle that nobody needs anymore.

Helen Malcolm

It's in ruins and has lost all its status in the shopping world. Too little, too late.

Charles Pretty

Let them open up again with no rent for the next three years.

Albert Crutcher

Allow the proletariat to drive their cars and park them too, at a cheap rate.

Ali Grieve

Reduce the rents to affordable levels. There are hundreds of empty units but at £20k for 800 sq feet no one is gonna move in. I’ve been looking for a 1500 sq ft unit for over a year but there is nothing affordable in Edinburgh anymore. Seems Midlothian will get my business. Landlords and shop owners would rather be sat on an empty unit and no rent than reduce the rent to affordable levels.

Alan Brown

Convert them into strip clubs? And maybe a UK-shop for the tourists selling Union flags, bowler hats, Red London buses and pictures of the Queen? The tourists love it - already very popular items at the airport duty free. Once Adam McVey's back on the dole he could maybe get a job shelf stacking there?

Daniel Cranmer

Too late, ship sailed, Edinburgh is done.

William Kay

No idea what to do with them? Plenty ideas what not to do with them. This is a nationwide problem not just Edinburgh. Oh, and I thought there were buses in Edinburgh. I laugh when car users say there are too many buses on the roads ('getting in the way'), yet when you suggest they use them, suddenly there aren't enough. Funny that.

Tom King

How about no making it economically unviable to rent a shop property? There's no incentive for companies to return to the high street when business rates are more than they make through retail operations per year

Roy Tapping

Social housing.

Colin Henderson

Just fill them with tourist tat. After all, the council are doing their best to discourage local people from going to Edinburgh.

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription. Click on this link for more information.