Scotland’s shame?

Mywifeandispenttheevening of 8 September in Fort William and 9 September in Inverness. We live in Australia, and with me being born in Bonnie Scotland, we visit regularly.

On both mornings, between 2 and 4am, the streets “were alive with the sound of music,” from late opening pubs, more specifically the yelling, screaming and public drunkenness coming from the clientele in the street at closing time, it being particularly bad in Church Street, Inverness. Being unable to sleep in our room, we took to watching the passing parade, a spectacle of horrid awfulness reminiscent of a Hogarth sketch. What has happened to the persona of the taciturn Scot?

At breakfast on 10 September, the sole topic of conversation among the mainly American tourists was this aberrant behaviour, and what it says about the conduct of our young. No amount of Monarch of the Glen tea towel purchases will erase the memory of that early morning, when they return home. The local police were there, but judging from their acceptance of decibel levels in what is clearly a residential area, they seemed to be of the opinion that all was well, judging from their general passivity and failure to act.

That this type of conduct is counter-productive to the heroic promotional efforts of the Scottish tourist board is self-evident, and to preserve the reputation of our great country, may I suggest that whoever has the conch next year vis a vis the issuance of late licenses is a wee bit more selective, at least in the tourist season, with this specific problem in mind? D GALLAGHER Macrossan Street South Townsville North Queensland, Australia