I WAS ready to read the interview with Donalda MacKinnon, the new director of BBC Scotland, with an open mind (My Mission is to restore trust in BBC, The National, December 28). However, initial enthusiasm came to a juddering halt almost immediately when I read her comment: “I think the rest of the BBC does take this part of the country very seriously indeed.”

Let’s leave aside the cringe-inducing expression of inferiority – the real BBC might just take its regional office in this wee, provincial backwater seriously, yippee!

The problem is that Scotland is not part of the country, it IS a country. It deserves a standard of public service broadcasting that reflects this. Judging by this interview, I have no expectations we will see this any time soon.

Alasdair Jarvie
Ayr

AS a first step Ms MacKinnon would have to persuade me to switch on to watch or listen. As she thinks it is audience perceptions that are to blame and does not agree that the BBC coverage of the 2014 referendum was biased and lacking in impartiality, there is zero chance of that happening.

Brenda Steele
Fortrose

RELUCTANTLY or not, Hector Maclean (Letters, December 29) seems, like G Ross, to be against English or people from England coming to live in Scotland. He makes the assumption that just because we used to live in England we are Unionists.

What basis or evidence does he have for this statement? He also suggest that we are in the majority as “Unionists” by declaring that “some” may have voted for independence but a “significant” number voted to stay as Unionists. Also, that we “English” all live in the Highlands and Islands. Not so, Hector. We have settled in all parts of Scotland to live and work for lots of different reasons. That very fact suggests we support Scotland for its culture and politics and all other Scottish traditions in between.

And I take absolute exception to the suggestion we were the cause of Scotland losing indyref 1. It was not a majority of Scots who wished for independence. It was 44.7 per cent of the people living and voting in Scotland which included people from England and probably other parts of the world. We are not passing through. We are here to stay and there’s nothing that you or G Ross can do to change that.
Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife

ANE importand pistil frae G Ross o Rosyth (Letters, The National, December 28) maks a nummer of statements about the poleiticall richts o Scots.

A wuid bene blate ti hae sayed a whein o thaim masell fur feir o be-in thocht agin the suddron, bot nou at he hes gaed first A’m blythe ti follae, an confurm hiz wrytes. In a pairt o Wester Ross A ken a Scotch lallan frein hes wirkit a craft langsyne, an aince in hiz memore the Gaelic speikin fowk wes thrang on aw the laun rounabout. The day he is the anelie Scot avaw in hiz aurrie o the tounskip: aw the lave is suddron. Whan ma guidwyfe an masell reteirit ti Scotlandwell fleggit awaw frae Embro, wir natif ceitie, ane o the furms o pollutioun we socht ti eschape wes o suddron tuins aw aroun uz.

Yit thur fowk doun suth is gallus eneuch ti vott uz out the EU kiz o the incunners frae that airt. Wir anelie howp liggs wi fowk lik Maister Ross an hiz straucht-forrit doun-pittin o the faks ben The National.
Iain WD Forde
Scotlandwell

IT’S surprising that Yes didn’t win in 2014, because all the English people I have met claim they voted Yes. I’m glad that the elephant-in-the-room issue of residency has been raised. When the English regime banned EU nationals from voting in the EU referendum – precisely to bias the result – was it being racist? Or does it only become racist when Scots raise the same issue and the English in Scotland find themselves on the receiving end?
Linda Horsburgh
Dundee

I READ with interest the article about the Greens and their expectation of another 25 years of cold homes in Scotland. From other sources it seems not only that existing properties are poorly insulated, but that there is a great need for additional housing. It never ceases to amaze me that the UK in general is a place where dwellings are built “outside”, in the mud, subject to whatever the weather throws down.

I wonder how much unnecessary delay and cost is associated with this practice? A far better solution is to pre-fabricate timber houses and then erect them on site within a few days – including windows, doors and wiring. This is taking place more and more in Europe, including timber-based, multi-storey flats.

Given the natural resources and skills available in Scotland, it would surely make sense for the Scottish Government to fund a massive initiative to design, manufacture and finance homes using CLT (cross-laminated timber) technology. I worked for a while for a Swiss company which takes almost any CAD design and builds timber houses using CLT. These are both modern and beautiful, with the added benefit of being very efficient with energy, conforming to the latest standards which they refer to as Minergy.
Brian Rees
Zurich

GREAT article on the Chinese scroll, the Boxer Rebellion and Scots missionaries in China Priceless scroll shows Emperor intervened to save Christians, The National, December 29). One wee point. Martin Hannan writes: “Thousands of Boxers and their supporters marched on Peking, now Beijing."

The capital of China, in its various manifestations, has been Beijing since the 15th century and probably earlier. “Peking” is a modern western/Romanised version of Beijing (in Gwoyu, the national language, known to us as Mandarin, Beijing means “northern capital”). Peking would have meant nothing to the Boxers!

Bill McLean Dunfermline THANK you for your report on pollution prevention (Spain plans to reduce pollution levels, The National, December 29). In a simple and balanced way, Madrid plans to restrict vehicle entry to the city according to the number on the registration plate of the vehicles.

Your pages have identified that as a possible solution in the past and I would be interested to know if any of our Scottish cities have plans regarding this unacceptable state of pollution affairs, or are they just continuing to wring their hands while people die?
Christopher Bruce
Taynuilt