Be positive and then things can only get better
I AM an optimist! Is it possible to be one with all that’s wrong in the world? Absolutely!
Despite all the greed, fake news, personal opinions masquerading as facts, ludicrous political correctness, gender idiocy and minority causes, I believe things will change for the better.
As Shakespeare put it, we are all actors on a stage, with our exits and entrances provoking change.
It feels as if we are taking part in a melodrama/farce/circus/black comedy. We have plenty of villains, laughable situations, stupid plots and clowns in charge.
We have to accept that nothing stays the same — though football teams, bankers, politicians, business leaders and glamorous celebs would wish that wasn’t the case.
I believe one of the root causes of emotional hysteria in the West is that we fear our exits. We can’t see a value in our personal existence and seek to fend it off for as long as possible.
We all need to feel we have a part in this play, even just as a spear carrier or walk-on role.
Everything has a limit, whether high or low, like a graph with its peaks and troughs. Once it reaches a certain height it has to fall again and once it reaches rock bottom it has no alternative but to climb.
That is why I am optimistic about the future. So what about it, fellow optimists, shall we be a positive minority and get ourselves and our views acted on?
Not only are we acting in this play, we are writing the script and directing the production. We are also its audience and fiercest critic. It is entirely up to us. SHEILA ATTWATER,
Swindon, Wilts.
Scrutinise the inquiry
THE venue for the Grenfell public inquiry — a ballroom in the Grand Connaught Rooms dripping with chandeliers — is inappropriate.
Do we believe inquiries are conducted in the public interest and to root out those responsible?
Are they not set up to mitigate culpability and reduce financial redress? The terms of reference do not include a broader remit to look into the impact of government policies on social housing.
Three hundred people applied to be ‘core participants’ in the inquiry team, but retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who heads the inquiry, rejected a call to appoint a survivor of the fire.
The claim that it would risk undermining impartiality just does not wash. Witnesses are essential to achieve justice.
So, let us scrutinise the Grenfell inquiry and determine whether it progresses in the days, months and perhaps years to come.
WILLIAM BURNS, Edinburgh.
Monkey business
THE outcome of the court case involving the macaque monkey and the photographer brought by animal charity PETA is farcical. No thought has been given to whether the monkey can handle the surge in wealth. The lives of many lottery winners have fallen apart in similar circumstances.
The macaque previously kept himself busy with everyday monkey business, posing for tourists, taking the odd selfie and having swing-on parts in wildlife documentaries. Now, with no reason to get out of his tree in the morning, he could succumb to the temptation of the good life and squander his wealth and his health on a never-ending supply of bananas.
BILL NAYLOR, Wilsford, Lincs.
Betrayal of Britain
THE Collins Dictionary definition of the word ‘treason’ is the crime of betraying your country by trying to remove its government using violence. So can it not be construed that John McDonnell’s call to overthrow the Government is an act of treason?
JOHN DICKSON, Tenerife.
Tunnel vision
USING the logic of Nationalist MSP John Mason, Britain cannot be an island as we have a tunnel to mainland Europe. It says something about the calibre of politician we have in Scotland.
ALEx SINCLAIR, Glasgow.
Brexit trap
NICOLA Sturgeon calls for a new ‘spirit of consensus’ on Brexit despite spending much of the last year sowing discord between Scotland and the rest of the UK, as she attempted to use it as a lever for Scotland to break away.
Her opponents will surely know she is simply inviting them to jump into a ‘consensus’ trap. KEITH HOWELL, West Linton,
Peeblesshire.
Power struggle
WE are warned nasty Westminster is stealing powers from Europe that should be coming to Holyrood. Are these the same powers the SNP wants so it can hand them over to Brussels? BILL MARTIN, Kilmarnock,
Ayrshire.
Superstate fantasy
JEAN-CLAUDE Juncker’s recent grandiose speech promoting the idea of a unitary European superstate may have made many Remainers in Scotland think again.
Yet another nail in the coffin for Nicola Sturgeon’s ceaseless attempts to use Brexit to agitate for Indyref 2? Miss Sturgeon, it looks like you’re backing the wrong horse. MARTIN REDfERN, Edinburgh.
Wind farm danger
THE threat of yet more wind farms off the coast of Britain is a disastrous idea (Mail).
They make superb radar masking shields, a worry when Russian warships and aircraft regularly pass along our coasts. The 2012 Olympic Games were protected by Navy warships with the new generation of sensitive radars.
Offshore wind farms have been declared transponder mandatory zones, which means aircraft passing over have to switch on these detecting devices. But terrorists would switch off transponders, as the 9/11 hijackers did when they had control of the aircraft.
E. C. COLEMAN, Bishop Norton, Lincs.
Dozy sleep warning
I WON’T lose any sleep over the dire warnings about not getting a solid eight hours a night (Good Health). I go to bed at 11.30pm, get up at 1am to watch TV and go back to bed at 4am until 7.30am.
I am in full health at 83 but if I followed the expert’s recommendations, maybe I’d be Superman.
WARREN PAGE, Purley on Thames, Berks.