Latest news with #Fidelma
The Herald Scotland
6 days ago
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
Why must they insist on this needless humiliation of trans people
Such a change would humiliate trans staff and reveal their trans status to colleagues and other users. It would also likely make other users uncomfortable. Trans staff may have the option of using a gender-neutral toilet, but it seems that not all government buildings have those. And where they are available, they may be a long way across the building. Again, switching to using those may reveal staff's trans status to their colleagues. If this does go to the legal action threatened by Sex Matters, we will see how the Scottish courts decide between the privacy and dignity of trans employees and the insistence by Sex Matters that everyone has to always be treated as the sex on their original birth certificate – effectively an insistence that trans people, as such, do not exist. Of course trans people do exist, and this action by Sex Matters will only serve to make their lives more difficult, without benefiting other users of Scottish Government facilities. Tim Hopkins, Edinburgh. Read more letters We sorely need another McCrone Report on education Zealots who want CCA to cut Israeli links are part of the problem What have they done? We'll all rue the cost of Labour rebels' actions It's not all doom and gloom Reading your front page lead headline today ("Ambulance waiting times rise for critically-ill Scots", The Herald, July 7) I would like to reassure your readers it is not all like this. Three months ago I took a heart attack while using the leisure facilities in a hotel near Glencoe. The hotel staff, the two ambulance crews that appeared – the first in 10 minutes – and the receiving crew at Raigmore were a combined chain of life-saving training and professionalism. Four and a half hours after my incident I was wheeled out of the coronary care unit 80 miles away with two stents fitted. Spirited driving up the A82 and use of modern tech sending my ECG readings direct to the consultant's phone allowed me to bypass the hospital front end and be taken straight for an angiogram. This was not chance. This was thought-through procedures of cardiac professionals working in concert with ambulance crews. I will be forever grateful to the paramedic who worked with me over that two-hour journey keeping me engaged and conscious. John Collins, Port Appin, Argyll. Elle Duffy: Fidelma MKII? Last week and this, the erstwhile sharp and witty Fidelma Cook's columns came to mind when I was reading The Herald Magazine. Why? Because Fidelma uniquely and intimately invited her readers into her life. We felt we were there with her in La France Profonde. Latterly, we journeyed with her through her last months of life, which was an intensely moving and courageous journey. With large glass of the ruby red stuff in hand, Fidelma incisively held forth in her unmistakeable voice on the felicities and infelicities of life. Irreplaceable – that's what she was. We missed her terribly when she left us. I suspect, however, that The Herald has finally found a new and distinctive voice – a very different voice from Fidelma's cutting edge. This is a much gentler voice, a warm and very genuine voice which, week by week, is drawing us ever closer into the writer's life and experiences. I refer to Elle Duffy's down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is columns from the Isle of Rum which have become a 'must read' every weekend. We are constantly drawn into the exigencies and joys of life on Rum, and we can only admire the very practical and philosophical way that Elle and Coinneach have adjusted to their massively-changed lifestyles. They've done what most of us only ever dream of doing. And now we learn that there is a third tiny life interwoven in this unfolding story ("There's no maternity ward on the island...", Herald Magazine, July 5). Congratulations, Elle and Coinneach. A whole new set of challenges to face. We, your readers, look forward to the journey – yet another bumpy challenge on Rum. Thank you for taking us on the ride. Katie Allstaff, Aberfeldy. Columnist Elle Duffy writes in The Herald Magazine about her life on the Isle of Rum (Image: Newsquest) What a racket Why does the BBC employ Martina Navratilova as a commentator? Every year we have to suffer her incoherent ramblings bearing little or no constructive commentary. For such an important occasion as Wimbledon the BBC should have pulled out all the stops and employed its best tennis commentators. Neil Stewart, Balfron. Once is enough Why do players get two serves in tennis? Surely one is enough to get the game started? Alistair Johnston, Hamilton. Brighter outlook Your Shakespearean scholar correspondent Derrick McClure (Letters, July 5) might have brought a glimmer of hope to the general doom and gloom by quoting the whole of the first line of Richard III: " Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious by this sun of York." David Miller, Milngavie. Off the menu Cameron Munro (Letter, July 7) reminds us that not getting a menu in a restaurant is far from being a new thing. I remember being in a restaurant in Paris several years ago. After being shown to my seat I seemed to be waiting an inordinate amount of time to be shown the bill of fayre. When I asked, very politely I may add, if I could see it, the maitre d' replied in the most curt of fashions: "Did sir come here to eat or did he come here to read?" I don't know what it was I had but, to be fair, I do remember it was rather tasty. Gordon Fisher, Stewarton.
The Guardian
09-04-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Country diary: Gorse or gold? Choose your riches
As I drive the Crockanboy Road deep into the Sperrins, my gaze is drawn to the rolling uplands of blanket bog. At each slant of sunlight through the clouds, the tawny heights quiver with saffron and gold. On the lower slopes, the hedgerows are a steady blaze of bright yellow gorse flowers. Crockanboy comes from the Irish, cnocán buí, meaning 'yellow hillock'. It's a name you could give to each of the Sperrins' undulating curves. These modest mountains are the eroded remnants of huge peaks uplifted millions of years ago by tectonic collisions. Those collisions also forged the metal at the Sperrins' core. In their dark heart, as well as on their sunlit flanks, there's gold in these hills. But which is their true treasure? Fidelma O'Kane is clear on that matter. With the Save Our Sperrins (SOS) campaign, she has spearheaded resistance to Dalradian, a US-owned mining company that, in 2017, sought permission to mine for gold in this area of outstanding natural beauty. Gold-mining can severely pollute both air and water. Among the many concerns of local people is the amount of water needed to process the ore, which risks dehydrating the surrounding bogland, turning it from a carbon sink into a carbon emitter. There's also concern about rivers like the Owenkillew, home to a rare freshwater mussel, and potential risks to human health. Eight years on, while legal arguments continue, Dalradian's intentions have been thwarted by the efforts of the local community. Protesters have mounted a stunningly successful environmental campaign, mixing peaceful direct action with dogged planning objections, all leavened by irrepressible creativity and humour. These people appreciate the earth's true value. As theirs has become something of a test case, they also feel a responsibility to other communities in a similar position. I catch up with Fidelma at a local arts event in support of SOS. As the poet Cherry Smyth reads, we hear the voice of the Sperrins in her words: 'A mountain makes the soul seen. / Its heart, if it should need one, / beats in a ruckle of boulders'. I glance around at the rapt faces of the audience. The heart of the Sperrins is beating here. Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian's Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at and get a 15% discount
