Well, all I am saying is give kids a chance

£25 STAR LETTER

I know how annoying young people can be. I live with two of them.

But they’ve been locked down for a year largely to keep older people safe and when they finally get to sit in a park with friends, everyone’s moaning and the police are throwing them into vans.

I was in Marks & Spencers and it was mobbed, no social distancing, and no one on the door but I didn’t see any police there. They were too busy keeping an eye on teenagers.

Of course, they need to obey the rules and the vast majority do, without complaint but the rest of us need to try to remember what it was like to be young, what they’ve missed out on because of Covid, and cut them a little slack.

Elaine Mortimer, Glasgow

Normal? No thanks

I have read all of your New Normal series and the interviews have been interesting and thoughtprovoking. It would be nice to think our leaders have been reading them too and, when they can, start introducing some of the ideas.

S Carmichael, Clydebank

Sucking diesel?

I’m glad your TV critic agrees with me about Line Of Duty. I loved the first ones, thought the last series was a bit much, and have been close to giving up on this one.

Who is expected to remember obscure plot twists from six seasons ago? People just want something entertaining to watch on a Sunday night, it’s not going to be our specialist subject on Mastermind! Helen Carroll, by email

Is it chicky melly?

Further to Judy Murray asking what we called “chappy,” knocking doors and scarpering, when we were children? I’ve no idea how it was spelled or what it meant, it was probably never written down anyway but it sounded like “chicky melly” to my young ears anyway! Maggie Smith, by email

Or ring bell scoot?

I was tickled by Judy’s article in last week’s paper regarding the children’s game called “chappy” by some. When I lived in Burntisland in the mid-1940s, at an age when I played that game – very infrequently, of course! – we knew it as “ring bell scoot”.

Ian Little, by email

Or ring bang scoosh?

You gave me a giggle on mentioning the naughty game of ringing bells and running away before people could answer the door. As a youngster living in Glasgow 70-odd years ago we called it “ring bang scoosh”.

Moira Lang, Oban

Gregory’s old girl

I loved the feature about Gregory’s Girl but can’t believe it was 40 years ago. My daughter helpfully pointed out that when it came out it was closer to the end of the Second World War than it is to today. That made me feel like Methuselah. Stephen Bell, by email

Blair hair horror

What is Tony Blair thinking about letting his hair go like that? He looks like Peter Stringfellow. Fine for a nightclub owner but not for an elder statesman.

Linda Clarke, Fort William