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The Herald Scotland

Buck up, Scotland: what has happened to your sense of self-respect?

That's for the academics. What's clear is that an attitude of "all of the rights but none of the obligations" has taken hold. My late grandparents, proudly working-class Dennistoun folks, took pride in where and how they lived, following a moral code that recognised obligations to yourself and wider society, irrespective of your circumstances. Self-respect instead of self-centredness. They'd struggle to recognise today's Scotland. Colin Montgomery, Edinburgh. • Scott Wright's article brings back memories of a similar visit made by my late wife Florence and me when our younger daughter was working there teaching English. We had a two-night stay in Tokyo waiting for her to collect us and immediately experienced the friendliness, initially when a man stopped when we were scrutinising a street map to confirm the location of our hotel and, having asked if he could help, insisted on escorting us to the door of the hotel, which was in the opposite direction to which he was going. The following day an optician repaired my glasses and refused to take any payment, bowing us to the door of his shop as if we had done him a favour. We decided to go for a drink when walking Tokyo's main thoroughfares in the evening, after our daughter arrived, and entered a bar with a small dancefloor. When a Japanese man requested a dance with our daughter for a second time and then requested her phone number I sent him off with a flea in his ear and we departed, to discover the next day that this was the haunt of some of the Tokyo gangster set. Our departure on the Shinkansen the next day was probably timely. I can confirm the cleanliness and lack of litter, which is probably a combination of pride in their country and a very strict code of behaviour. I understand the level of suicides among school-age children is very high, which relates to pressure to perform at all levels of education and is a downside of the culture. Litter in much of Scotland is a blight on our country, but a recent visit to Thurso proved that it is not universal, but a lack of parental guidance is being perpetuated by much of the present generation and the blame cannot be blithely passed on to local authorities. James Graham, Clydebank. Read more letters The Argyle Street blues Looking at your image of the proposals for Argyle Street ('First look at substantial transformation plans for Argyle Street in Glasgow', The Herald, July 17), I thought "Hmm, that looks nice." Then I thought: "Hang on, single lane, buses, so how will delivery vehicles deliver to the shops, how will taxis pick up/drop off, how will motorists who have a need to collect goods/people from shops manage?" I can just see the long queue when a bus pulls up at a stop and several are stuck until all passengers get on/off. Yet another daft illogical idea to drive folk out of the city centre. Who are these zealots who come up with these ideas? Douglas Jardine, Bishopbriggs. British pride is not allowed If only one of the boys had come to Bilton School wearing a Union Jack dress on "diversity day", then the teachers would have faced a difficult dilemma ("School 'sorry' for row over pupil's flag dress", The Herald, July 16). Should they support the boy's gender-questioning or condemn his patriotism? There was no such dilemma when 12-year-old Courtney Wright turned up in a Spice Girl-style Union Jack dress; she was removed from the class. Other pupils with St George's and Welsh flags were not allowed in. Why are people who clearly have contempt for Britain and native British identities teaching in British schools at all? Pride in Britain and love of this country is the glue which binds us all together, whatever our diverse heritages. Without that common pride, the future will be very dark indeed. Otto Inglis, Crossgates, Fife. An artist's impression of the Argyle Street East Avenue precinct (Image: Glasgow City Council) Ee, those pronouns Although I cannot join John Birkett (Letters, July 17) in praising Kevin McKenna's article on the Sandie Peggie case, I do agree with him on the problematic use of personal pronouns, particularly the use of 'they' to refer to one person. Language should enhance comprehension, not hinder it. I am becoming increasingly exasperated by having to re-read sentences in an attempt to understand what writers discussing gender and sex are trying to say. I have for some time thought we now need to have a gender-neutral personal pronoun. Having considered the pitfalls of various alternatives this is the best I can come up with: for the nominative and accusative cases I suggest 'ee' and for the possessive 'ees'. Not elegant perhaps, but at least neither of these alternatives is more clearly derived from 'he' or 'she' than the other; a mistake that would no doubt lead to yet more disputation. Peter Martin, Perth. Wisnae right Re discussion of the Scots language: many moons ago a late friend, Katy Agnew, was a paediatric physiotherapist when on a Monday morning as she walked onto the ward a wee Glasgow boy clyping on his pal, pointed and shouted: "Miss! Miss! He wisnae doing his exercises." Katy looked at him and said: "It's 'was not', not 'wisnae.' " The wee lad looked at Katy deep in thought and then said "No it isnae, it's wisnae." Peter Wright, West Kilbride.