Best Freebies

swallow it.and to add to the mindboggling positioning under Ms Dugdale we read that Labour are actively prepared to support the Tories in taking over councils so long as it keeps out the party their former voters now vote for.

Maybe those former voters willsendamessagetomsdugdale this May in the local elections that might finally shake the party out of the delusion that being a support act for the Tories will win those voters back. GRAHAM CB ROBERTS Caithnes Street, Glasgow overcrowding, he only succeeds in looking ridiculous and ill-informed. Trains in the UK have amongst the smallest loading gauges in Europe, and past attempts to introduce double-deck trains in the UK have ended in failure. The Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Project has suffered cost and time over-runs from the late imposition of larger electrification clearances; to adapt the line for doubledeck trains would require a total reconstruction, clearly unthinkable.

JOHN FLEMING Dick Place, Edinburgh much of Asia, whereas Europe in general and Scotland in particular are stuck in a pathetic state of permanent indecision.

Yet Scotland’s first scientific adviser, Professor Wilson Sibbett, was adamant in 2001 that Holyrood should embrace “the breathtaking ingenuity of modern biotechnology”.

Perhaps our cringing reaction is genetic – those of adventurous spirit emigrated to America leaving behind those incapable of imagining anything finer than Airdrie in the rain.

(DR) JOHN CAMERON Howard Place, St Andrews and I had, like Rip Van Winkle, been asleep!

I refer to the suggestion by students of a Cambridge University college that certain “rude foods” should be banned: Jamaican stew and Chinese chicken. If this is a reflection of the intelligence in our universities, I suggest we abandon the drive to let everyone go to university and return to only allowing those with common sense to partake of tertiary education! JAMES WATSON Randolph Crescent Dunbar, East Lothian The thing which gets me far more than Sunday’s Oscars Best Film fiasco is the value of the lavish goody bags the stars receive – estimates say this year’s swag is worth an obscene £208,500.

JUDI MARTIN Alma, Maryculter

Aberdeenshire