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The Herald Scotland

I can't believe what NC500 has done to the price of accommodation

My planned eight-day trip is both to take in corners of the few places I haven't visited, as well as exploring family history touching on Strathnaver and Thurso. I'm a lifetime cyclist whose first venture on two wheels into the north-west of our nation was as a 14-year-old in 1957. Since then, I've toured on every continent bar Antarctica. Yet prices experienced worldwide haven't begun to touch those in Scotland, with NC500 being quite the highest anywhere – and frankly the most extortionate. Gordon Casely, Crathes. We need a health convention For those who have lived and practised in the "managed decline" era of our NHS dating from the inception of the neoliberal apocalypse we are fast approaching, the Auditor General of Scotland no less, Stephen Boyle, offered us some hope this week. Against a background of continued failure of current political and senior managerial failure to fully address excess mortality and over half a million anxious people on waiting lists, Mr Boyle informed us that for our NHS to remain "affordable and sustainable", NHS Scotland's governance need to be "strengthened" and that " reform" was urgently necessary ("One in nine Scots face long waits for planned treatments on NHS", The Herald, May 29). This reform has been called for from voices in the wilderness for decades now and amounts to this: the multiple levels of a self-propagating top-down managerialism and political interference in the goal-setting and delivery of care to the sick and the worried well by doctors and nurses has to end. In addition the constant drain on resources by inflated and non-contributory corporate salaries on health boards and the numerous parasitic panoply of legal and consultancy gravy trains linked to "marketisation" need to be thoroughly scrutinised by disinterested experts, namely, the Scottish public. Read more letters We need an urgent national conversation in a national health convention heavily recruited from a breadth of our citizenry and not a perfunctory "consultation" run by the politicians and so-called experts who have overseen the evolution of the present crisis. It cannot be overstated the extent to which true national reformation policies in all the domains of public services, not only the NHS, will provide a meaningful alternative to Reform UK in Scotland. In the year leading up to the Holyrood elections I hope see to all patriotic parties provide some kind of vision for the health of the nation that heeds the Auditor General's critique of the malgovernamce and mismanagement of the NHS. The well-researched and radical work of the Common Weal think tank would be a good place for policy makers to start and multiple freedom of information requests from individual citizens about corporate remuneration, expenses, procurement, time and motion studies and legal and PR expenditure in health boards could start the audit process that will begin the reform process that is urgently necessary. Lives literally depend on it. Dr Andrew Docherty, Selkirk. • If the NHS waiting times in Scotland appear bad, that is because they are revealed without any wider context. The BBC (UK and Scotland) highlights these stats for Scotland without ever revealing the same stats for England or Wales, which are no better and often worse. What is missing in this debate is any offer of a solution from opposition politicians and medical experts. Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandhesh Gulhane worked in NHS England before flitting to Scotland. His criticism of NHS Scotland is relentless yet he is never asked about the widespread problems in NHS England (as highlighted by the BMA in England). Why not? Isn't it time for more understanding of the obvious and ubiquitous problems in the wider NHS, and consideration of other health systems which work better, from our politicians? GR Weir, Ochiltree. Tidal energy not the answer I disagree with George Morton (Letters, May 26) that tidal is a good option for electricity generation. A 2009 research paper lead-authored by Ruain Burrows titled 'Tidal Energy Potential in UK Waters' identified eight major estuaries that would provide the bulk of tidal energy yield, including the Solway, Severn and Humber. Figure 10a illustrates that there would be four major energy gaps per day where total tidal generation would fall to zero. We would end up in a situation where there would often be huge peaks of tidal energy at night when there would be no market for it and it would have to be expensively shut down. Conversely, there would often be gaps in tidal energy during the day when energy demand would be high, and we'd have to expensively find an alternative. Geoff Moore, Alness. Kirk mess goes on With reference to Craig Wishart's letter (May 28) and previous correspondence, it appears that the average Church of Scotland attendance is about 60,000, with about 40,000 participating online (per AI and Google). The continuing mess in downsizing, discarding premises and alienating congregations, continues. Allan McDougall, Neilston. Memories are made of this Graeme McGarry ("Of course Scottish Cup success meant more to Aberdeen, but context is key", Herald Sport, May 29) is right to affirm that it is the out-of-the-ordinary achievements that really move us as football fans. On August 22, 2006, Hampden being used for a Rolling Stones concert, lowly Queen's Park beat Aberdeen 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out in a CIS Insurance cup tie at Firhill, no goals being scored in normal and extra time. I can still see Queen's Park goalkeeper Willie Cairns thundering a left-footed penalty high into the Aberdeen net. The face of Aberdeen manager, the late Jimmy Calderwood, spoke volumes. David Miller, Milngavie. Fiona Bruce (Image: PA) Arrested development Referring to the Liverpool incident in Water Street on Monday and fronting the BBC 6 O'Clock News on Tuesday (May 27), Fiona Bruce headlines that a 'man is arrested'. No. He has been arrested. He was arrested on Monday, he is not being arrested on Tuesday. Next she'll be saying that she is 'stood' while reading the news. I despair. Steve Barnet, Gargunnock.