I AM dismayed to read that SSE’s investment strategy is to concentrate on wind ("Scottish energy giant in £1.2bn deal with Canadian investors", The Herald, August 3). This is a policy already adopted by ScottishPower, who sold the Cruachan pump storage scheme, one of Scotland’s finest assets, and the Galloway hydro schemes to Drax.

There is something seriously amiss that those vital utility companies, once publicly-owned and engineering-led, are pursuing a high-risk strategy which has no engineering substance. The risk to shareholders is great, albeit trivial compared to the future suffering of Scotland’s electricity consumers faced with the prospect of unbearable rises in electricity charges and uncertainty of supply.

As if this was not bad enough, we are facing a climate change global catastrophe which cannot be avoided by this dangerous obsession with wind power. This is a distraction which is fed by politicians who are, to be kind, ignorant and naïve, or less kindly, irresponsible and lacking the integrity that requires unpopular legislation to reign in the profligate wasteful lifestyle of our affluent society. Wind power is not a lifeboat for us, it is a dangerous, distracting straw which we grasp at our peril. We have a problem, since those who question the absolute role of wind are often dismissed as heretics questioning a religious faith.

We can only hope that COP26 delivers a much more comprehensive understanding of what needs to be done and governments legislate for the necessary changes in our behaviour. Engineers could deliver solutions which protect our quality of life and, most important, enable the world’s poorest to share it. This cannot happen without enabling political leadership and time is running out fast.

Norman McNab, Killearn.

SHUTTERS DOWN FOR STAYCATIONS

WITH all the hype over staycations this year due to the pandemic you would think we Scots in tourist-related businesses would make a bit of an effort. Not a chance.

Eight of us travelled from Dumbarton to Helensburgh by train early on Sunday evening – the height of the tourist season – and stopped off for a cocktail on our way to dinner to celebrate friends' anniversary. We left the restaurant about 9.45 and walked to the station, noting on the way that all the bars were closed. The station was also closed and locked, despite us having checked, before travelling, that the last train was due to leave at 11.30. Fortunately we found a couple of taxis. They told us the last train left Helensburgh at 7.30 and the last bus was at 6.30. That left us with a £50 bill for the taxis home – an expensive end to a wonderful evening.

Come to Scotland for your staycation: only here that means Stay in, everything’s shut.

Walter Semple, Dumbarton.

HEADING FOOTBALLS NOT WORTH THE RISK

YOUR headline “Footballs should be sold with a warning on dementia risk” (The Herald, August 3) brought to mind the case of Queens Park, Clyde, and Celtic footballer Billy McPhail (1928-2003), the scorer of three goals against Rangers in 1957, whose claim that his early-onset dementia was caused by heading a heavy leather ball was rejected by an industrial tribunal and the Social Security Commissioner for Scotland in 1998, despite evidence from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Glasgow University that the peak force a player’s head would need to absorb from a old-style ball travelling at speed would be half a ton.

I understand footballs are lighter now, but still a risk.

Keep the heid and don’t risk it.

R Russell Smith, Largs.

PLASTIC ROPE A REAL MENACE

YOUR Picture of the Day on Monday (August 2) had a foreground of new creels: all made with plastic rope. We live on the shore in Argyll and the majority of the litter along the shoreline consists of plastic rope from the fishing industry, whether fish farms, fishing boats or creelers. The multi-filament rope breaks down into small, mono-filament fragments and if you use seaweed from the shore as fertiliser on your garden, then when the weed breaks down you are left with a mass of small lengths of plastic.

Any fishing which uses non-biodegradable rope could not be said to be environmentally friendly. There is a desperate need for a biodegradable alternative.

James Fenton, Oban.

WHO WAS MY ANGEL OF ELIE?

YOUR photo of the children with the donkeys on Elie beach in August 1953 ("Under starter's orders", The Herald, January 31) reminded me of a day there during our family holiday in August 1952.

Having spent all my holiday pocket money the previous day on my own “irresistibles” – the Lammas Fair dodgems in St Andrews and dreaming of emulating the Wall of Death bikers – I had no sixpence left for a donkey ride (which I think it cost). So I just stood wistfully watching them.

A much older girl of about 12 took pity on me, paid it, and we were all led along the beach mounted proudly on our steeds – but unfortunately past my father. When I returned to him, he inquired coldly where I’d got the money, marched me back to find the girl to repay her, and gave me a lesson on never cadging – the first time I’d heard that word. Humiliating – but I learned a lesson or two.

Maybe one of these girls in your photo was that kind-hearted lass – where is she now?

John Birkett, St Andrews.