The right man but was he in wrong party?

£25 STAR LETTER

Thanks for having Douglas Alexander write a piece on the ongoing Blair/brown TV documentary. There is a great deal of sense in his words.

Even though I am an SNP supporter and have voted for them for the last 20 years, I get saddened by the attitude of many in the party, that if I get a bigger flag and wave it faster all will get better. It simply does not work that way, and as John Hume said so succinctly: “You cannot eat a flag!”

I think Scotland lost a great and important political figure when Douglas lost his seat in 2015, moreover Paisley and Renfrewshire South lost an excellent constituency MP. But in the days after the independence vote when Labour was seen to have worked together with the Tories (and the Queen) to stymie the free vote, Douglas was the right man, representing the wrong party.

Hopefully one day he will commit his memoirs of the New Labour experiment to print. It would be interesting reading. Andrew Russell, Glasgow

Set an example

Why should council tax payers fund the arrival of refugees from Afghanistan when our politicians are earning between £64,470 and £157,861? They should lead by example and either contribute to their upkeep or, better still, take an Afghan family into their own homes.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow

Two longs, one right

I am wondering why Viking ships are now being called “longboats”. We seem to have forgotten that they have traditionally been called “longships”. A longboat is a different craft altogether.

Jim Mckillop, by email

Case for the Queen

As a tennis player and fan I have always been an admirer of Judy Murray for what she has achieved personally and the achievements of her boys. Reading her article about

the monarchy I found it difficult to be convinced when she stated she was not anti-royal yet continues to say she has started to think they might be antiquated.

She is making the common mistake of not appreciating the cost to the tax payer is minimal, while the value to the country generated by tourism is considerable as so many abroad are fascinated by the royals and want to visit Britain to have a glimpse of the pageantry. I cannot think of any head of state I admire more than her majesty and shudder to think who might replace her as an elected head.

Elizabeth Reid, Edinburgh

Twisty pleasure

I’ve watched all the episodes of Guilt on iplayer and thoroughly enjoyed the second series.

I have to say though, I don’t know if I understood a lot of it. I watched the first series but there was a lot going on it and I couldn’t remember what I did last Tuesday, never mind something I watched ages ago.

It took me an episode and a half to realise Bill Paterson’s character had been replaced by a completely different actor. We could have done with a good catch-up at the start. Gillian Macdonald, Perth