Respect, please, for the people
ELIZABETH Mueller (Letters, August 10) requests for the Queen “a little respect please”, from those who have taken umbrage at the Southern General being given the royal moniker.
Respect for old women is part of any civilised society. I respect my own mother and mother in law, who are 85 and 95 years old respectively. I don’t expect any great public building to be named after either of them, which is a pity, because neither was born rich and privileged, nor did they spend their lives in luxury, and let’s be fair, in decorative idleness.
Those who insist on perpetuating the myth of royalty, even to the extent of naming a Glasgow hospital after the head of a political system rejected by almost every country in the world, are misguided on two counts.
First, the age of kings and queens is over – see real world for details.
Secondly, they are shoring up the powers of our Government to do almost anything they like through the exercise of the royal prerogative. In a democracy? I don’t think so.
A little respect for the people please, not the monarchy. A J Clarence, 40 Biggart Road, Prestwick. FEW Glaswegians will be surprised that the royal name tag has been applied to our new hospital. There is some precedent for this kind of thing.
Before the QE2 was launched, a complete TV programme was filmed on board with dancers, country dance band and the like. Para Handy, aka Roddy McMillan was the special guest.
Rumours had been gathering strength for some time, that on this occasion, the ship would be named Pride of the Clyde or something similar, to reflect the place of her birth and the skills of the men who had created her.
Roddy told me that, at the launch, as the bottle smacked the hull and the inevitable title was announced, a lone voice from the back of the crowd wailed: “Yez have all been f*****’ had!” Jimmie Macgregor, Holyrood Crescent, Glasgow.