Delay to tram inquiry findings is a disgrace - Readers' Letters

How long does the eminent Lord need to consider the following:

The £1,000,000,000 (at least) the council is devoting to the largely redundant tram benefits a small minority of regular out-of-town commuters. A couple of times a year, a few more who choose air travel can also get to and from the airport slightly more conveniently.

Alternatively, with a £10,000 grant to each one, the council could have invested in insulating 100,000 homes, starting with those in the lowest council tax bands.

This would have improved the lives – 24-hours a day, 365 days a year – of around 220,000 people who are most likely to have children and can least afford the necessary investment for saving energy.

It also goes without saying that, apart from the gigantic improvement in social wellbeing for so many, the positive environmental impact would also dwarf the extremely dubious eco-claims made by Councillor Lesley Macinnes and co for their shiny tourist-friendly bauble of the tram.

Let us hope that Lord Hardie's delay is caused only by assessing just how many criminal charges of negligence, incompetence and wilful ignorance the responsible councillors and council officers should face.

John Jones, Edinburgh

Anti-vaxxers and the common good

What happened to the common good? In fact, what is the common good? Tony Blair removed it from the Labour Party's manifesto and the Tory Party stand accused of replacing it with corruption and greed at Westminster.

Business leaders have constantly criticised any form of restrictions in the fight against rising coronavirus infections which has had a knock-on effect, particularly among younger people.

During the Second World War, people, including business leaders, made sacrifices for the common good. Some made the ultimate sacrifice. With infection rates rising in other countries because of lower vaccine uptakes do we just ignore the anti-vaxxers and to hell with the common good? Perhaps we need to have a proper debate, preferably on live television, between pro- and anti-vaxxers with a couple of psychologists in mediation. Are anti-vaxxers simply understandably worried about any health-related consequences of the vaccine or are they just selfishly ignoring the common good?

One antI-vaxxer told me he opposed the vaccine because it violated his human rights. What about the human rights of pro-vaxxers not to catch this deadly virus and pass it on to their families?

Jack Fraser. Musselburgh

What’s the point of the Covid passport?

My wife and I went through the process of obtaining vaccine passports because we thought we would need them for two events in November.

We arrived at the turnstiles at Murrayfield and like many fellow supporters had our phones out ready to show our vaccine status but there was no checking in place. We then sat in a crowd of 67,000 of whom less than one per cent kept their masks on throughout the game.

In the next week we arrived at the Queen’s Hall for a concert again armed with our vaccine status but again it was not required for admission. This time around 50 pe rcent of the audience kept their masks on.

Just what is the point of vaccine passports if no checking is taking place?

Donald Miller, Edinburgh

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