Readers' Letters: Lack of variety and quality among Royal Mile shops shames capital

Walking Festival visitors down the Royal Mile, I am regularly having to apologise to them for the lack of quality gift shops. What is on offer is invariably cheap, tacky “Scottish souvenirs”, most of which will most certainly not have been made here in Scotland. What a chance lost to showcase the best of Scotland when it comes to quality products. Does the council have any idea how they have let the city – and Scotland – down by allowing this state of affairs to have happened?

Compare the Royal Mile with Karuizawa, a tourist centre near Nagano in the Japanese Alps which my wife and I visited in March. It was an absolute delight to walk along the town’s main shopping street. Some 150 outlets showcased the best of local products and produce. The attractive shopfronts displayed ceramics, pottery, textiles, leatherwork, clothing, artwork, local food and drink and high-quality Japanese souvenirs. And there was not a McDonalds, KFC or Starbucks to be seen, just excellent cafes with delicious home baking to be enjoyed.

Thankfully, this failure on the part of Edinburgh is not repeated to the same degree elsewhere in Scotland. While the Brigadoon bric-a-brac can be seen, in towns such as Peebles you will find high-quality Scottish products for sale. Edinburgh must surely up its game and promote the best of Scotland.

Eric Melvin, Edinburgh

Poll closed

Clearly, John Swinney has a very odd idea of how things work constitutionally in the UK. He seems to think that his party only needs to get the largest number of seats and – hey, presto! – he can demand a second referendum on independence. However, the “once in a lifetime” referendum held in 2014 was only permitted because David Cameron allowed it. As the Government of the UK, Westminster is in charge of all such matters as referenda. The number held has been very small and none have been on the same subject twice. One might ask why they should be – if you ask a constitutional question and you get an answer, your problem has been solved.

When the UK was asked if voters wanted to join the EEC, they answered and membership was confirmed. When that entity changed to the EU, to which the UK's voters had not agreed to join, the vote was to leave and we duly left.

As Scottish voters decided to remain in the UK by a substantial margin of almost 24 per cent more votes than voted to leave, there is no reason to revisit the subject. After all, in the unlikely event he was allowed a second referendum, I doubt if Mr Swinney would guarantee to hold a further referendum on rejoining the remaining UK within 11 years if he won it, would he? Maybe we should ask?

Sauce for the goose?

John Fraser, Glasgow

Natural gasbag?

Donald Trump’s dismissive remarks about Scottish wind energy are out of step with the facts and counterproductive for the nation’s energy future. Wind power can be one of the cheapest and cleanest forms of energy available, powering millions of homes and supporting thousands of jobs across Scotland and the wider UK.

Meanwhile, the North Sea is running out of gas. By 2027, the UK will no longer extract enough gas to meet national heating demands, even if all proposed new fields are approved. Analysis of official data shows just 14 per cent of the basin’s original gas reserves remain commercially viable, meaning there is no potential for a long-term energy strategy driven by fossil fuels. No amount of bluster can mask the declining economics of fossil fuels. Trump’s rhetoric ignores spiralling energy bills, geopolitical risks of import dependence, and the urgent climate crisis. Denigrating renewable energy while denying the facts is not just misleading, it’s dangerous.

Simon Francis, End Fuel Poverty Coalition Coordinator, Edinburgh

Shattered idyll

Visitor Martin O’Gorman (Letters, 29 July) writes admiringly of the Isle of Man’s unspoiled landscape and absence of wind turbines – and indeed, many of us here on the island deeply value that same beauty, but I must gently correct the impression tranquillity is guaranteed. Communities in the south of the island are now fighting to prevent the industrialisation of some of our last remaining peatlands, upland habitats and wild open spaces.

A 185-metre-tall wind farm – known as Cair Vie (ironically, “Fair Wind” in Manx Gaelic) – is proposed by the Manx Utilities Authority for the very hills above our peaceful villages. These are areas of immense cultural, ecological and historical significance, where hen harriers and other vulnerable species breed undisturbed.

Our community is working to protect this fragile biosphere from poorly sited industrial developments that threaten the very ecosystems we must preserve if climate action is to mean anything. Peatland is not wasteland – it stores vast amounts of carbon and supports rare biodiversity. Once damaged, it cannot be restored overnight.

We are immensely grateful to visitors who appreciate our stunning landscape – but please know that its beauty endures not by accident, but via constant vigilance and community resolve. As custodians of this landscape, we all have a responsibility to defend it for future generations. We send solidarity to all in Scotland facing similar battles, may you endure, as we will.

Kirrie Jenkins, Ballagreney, Colby, Isle of Man

Learn to move on

It is right that we look to history to inform and perhaps to learn lessons from the outcomes of various decisions that impacted on where we are today.

One lesson should be that we cannot change what happened in the past and events that occurred happened due to particular circumstances that shaped long-gone decisions.

However, whatever the misdeed as viewed by today’s standards it has to be remembered that perhaps a century or two have passed and myriad events have impacted on the original sin, as it were, making it impossible to judge whether the original sin continued to be a negative experience moving forward through the years.

My point is, it is totally wrong to review historical events in isolation, for example, using slavery as a stick with which to beat modern, western man.

Yes, viewed within the prism of a single happening it was wrong that tribal chiefs could sell people to others, as it was wrong for plantation owners to purchase them to work the fields of cotton or other crops. But at the time this was not considered an evil but a necessity, rather a harsh one but “lesser” individuals were considered expendable, to be used until they were no longer able to be useful; then they were abandoned.

Fortunately, modern times have substituted the rule of law rather than the dictate or whim of an individual ruler and there is now, for most of us “lesser” beings, the feeling that we have some control over our lives, albeit at times this is an illusion of faith over fact!

Given that, we now need to move on from historical misdeeds. What is really important is tomorrow and the future. By all means learn the lessons but use them to inform present day decisions and hopefully provide for a better future. The past was yesterday learn from it!

A Lewis, Coylton, Ayrshire

No end to suffering

Earlier this month it was the 40th anniversary of the amazing Live Aid concerts in both London and Philadelphia. Midway through proceedings, viewers were reminded of why this was happening. The great David Bowie introduced a short film showing many children suffering and dying in the famine in Ethiopia. These pictures shocked everyone and many shed tears.

Today on the BBC News, up came almost identical pictures of children suffering and dying in a man-made famine in Gaza. How can the world let something like this happen today?

T West, Dumfries

Spine tingling

Nicola Sturgeon has just received an advance copy of her new book from her publisher and she was “close to tears” with excitement. It has been a dream of hers to have her own name on her own book... but hold on, being a politician, all is not quite what it seems. Ms Sturgeon had a book out in 2021, containing her speeches. While she did not actually write the book, only the speeches, her name is prominently displayed on the cover, the writer, less so. Ms Sturgeon might not be too happy with her sales of this book, as currently it is 1,424,036th on the Kindle best selling list.

Will she be taking a cue from JK Rowling by having the bookshops open at midnight on the first day of issue, 14 August, for the sales rush?

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

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