Readers' Letters: Cancelling Edinburgh's street party is health and safety gone mad

The near deserted Princes Street on Hogmanay after all outdoor events including the street party and fireworks display planned for Edinburgh's New Year were cancelled (Picture: Andy Buchanan/PA)The near deserted Princes Street on Hogmanay after all outdoor events including the street party and fireworks display planned for Edinburgh's New Year were cancelled (Picture: Andy Buchanan/PA)
The near deserted Princes Street on Hogmanay after all outdoor events including the street party and fireworks display planned for Edinburgh's New Year were cancelled (Picture: Andy Buchanan/PA)
A reader suggests the decision to cancel outdoor events at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Festival was ill-judged

I could not believe the decision taken by the Edinburgh Winter Festival organisers to call off the outdoor events on Monday, 30 December on the basis of a very poor weather forecast. It was stated they were struggling to put the infrastructure in place due to the poor weather and that safety was paramount.

I just had a look at the maximum wind gusts over the past couple of days in Edinburgh and according to the Met Office the highest gust was 45mph at 6am on 30 December, never getting higher than 23mph on Tuesday, 31 December. Musselburgh Racecourse, which had its sellout meeting on New Year’s Day, was updating its forecast on Monday to say there was very low risk of snow as the “expected low was tracking south now”.

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What were the Hogmanay festival organisers expecting for goodness’ sake – it’s midwinter and poor weather is something that is fully expected. Why did Musselburgh Racecourse seem to know a lot more about the revised forecasts than the festival organisers?

This was another good kicking given to the hospitality industry, the loss of revenue must have been very significant and the last thing the sector needed. I can imagine the organisers may say there were other festivals cancelled, at Newcastle for example, which is correct, but that was due to the poor weather moving south, although again the really poor weather never arrived.

Another classic example of health and safety gone mad. Anyone going to such events in midwinter should be fully aware of the risks of bad weather and should bear that in mind. It was excruciating watching the BBC’s Hogmanay programme announcing at one minute to midnight that we were going over to Edinburgh Castle to see the fireworks. That was, of course, a replay of the 2024 event!

I wonder what the cost will be to Edinburgh Council and the good people of Edinburgh, who will pick up the tab for a very poor decision.

George Godsman, Perth

Great balls of fire

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The Stonehaven Fireballs ceremony went ahead on Hogmanay in front of thousands of spectators despite the atrocious weather (calm, dry, warm for the time of year) unlike thon soft southerners in Embra.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Hogmanay chaos

Irvine Welsh thinks that it was ‘crazy’ that the organisers of an event attracting some 45,000 revellers in a relatively confined space warned people to avoid the city centre unless they were attending an event or venue, many of which were ticket-only (Scotsman, 2 January).

Some of us have been avoiding the city centre on Hogmanay for years. This year, my journey across town was mercifully brief and quick with no diversions because the events were cancelled and the roads were open.

But perhaps Mr Welsh thinks that it would be great fun to have an entirely spontaneous event with no planning, tickets or attempts at safeguarding. I expect that the resulting chaos and disorder would provide useful fodder for his next book about the seamy side of Edinburgh.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Numbers lesson

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Can I be permitted to make a slight correction to my son Neil Anderson’s letter (2 January). From the ages of four to ten there were in fact 50 in my class at school ,not 40 as stated by Neil.

The teachers were maiden ladies, loved and respected, who stood no nonsense. At 11 the teacher was a retired head brought back because of shortages of staff. His opening address included producing his “Lochgelly” and banging it on his desk. Ah, those were the days!

WN Anderson, Edinburgh

Emissions mission

Fraser Grant explains that CO2 emissions from the Glen Sannox ferry is due to the ship being larger (Letters, 1 January. That is hardly the point as its capacity is more or less the same as its predecessor. Sorry, but that is no excuse.

Ian McNair

Cellardyke, Fife

Hunter’s wisdom

Sir Tom Hunter, who couldn’t be described as anything other than a very successful businessman, has been critical of the SNP government on many occasions over the years. His criticisms, advice and efforts to show the Nats where they are going wrong have always fallen on deaf ears.

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Sir Tom’s latest attempts to guide them on to the correct financial path have been met with the generic SNP answer to anyone who offers advice and is the equivalent of “you can’t tell us how to do things because we know better than all of you”. This despite the fact that top people from Scotland’s financial services industry have echoed Tom Hunter’s sentiments.

The pig-headed amateurs who allegedly govern Scotland will only listen when they’re kicked out, hopefully next year.

Ian Balloch, Grangemouth, Fife

Strong medicine

Dr Iain Kennedy, chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland has warned that unless the NHS gets more funding the service will continue to deteriorate in 2025 (Scotsman, 31 December).

We must ease the pressure in both Scotland and England. The cost of private health care and operations should be tax deductible. Foreign patients should pay up front. Those who receive botched private cosmetic treatment in the UK or abroad should pay for this to be fixed.

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Why also should asylum seekers and refugees jump the NHS queue, further delaying the treatment of those who have paid for decades into the NHS? The migrant charities should pay.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

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