IT was my misfortune to watch the STV six o’clock news on Friday. There was a segment on the fact that residents in privately owned high-rise blocks in Glasgow had not been informed that their buildings had the same insulation as that used on Grenfell Tower. So, in order to right this wrong, a reporter was despatched to the house of the leader of Glasgow City Council.
Armed with his furry covered microphone, Chris Clements approached the front door of Susan Aitken only to be met with no response. On making his way down the path he then informs us that it is the September holiday and Ms Aitken is out of Glasgow. We then cut to a brief interview with the previous leader of the council, Mr McAveety, who proceeds to tell us about the pressures of being the leader and in a veiled comment states that “some people might not be up to it”. Goodness knows who he could have been meaning!
The information about the cladding was only disclosed during the week when Mr Raymond Barlow (assistant head of planning and building standards) was questioned in Holyrood by Mr Bob Doris (SNP) about the cladding on Glasgow high-rise blocks.
I find it totally outrageous that Chris Clements in the first instance thought it was OK to approach the home of Ms Aitken for an interview when previously informed that she was unavailable and then to give Mr McAveety the opportunity to use this scenario to score political points – revenge for losing control of the council perhaps!
Why was Mr McAveety not questioned about the role of the Labour-controlled Glasgow council when this cladding was being considered?
Why was Scottish Government help with cladding checks after Grenfell twice refused by the council department responsible for carrying out this safety measure?
I can fully understand the distress and fears of residents in the blocks identified that have this cladding and I hope their concerns are addressed sooner rather than later.
Hector MacLean
Glasgow
LIKE many people of my age I suffer from being deaf. As such I am dependent on text when watching TV programmes.
This causes frustration as the text lags usually far behind the spoken words. However there are also compensations. On the BBC Sunday Politics Scotland of September 24, I was highly amused. First of all we had BBC reporter David Porter saying Labour was “competent”, swiftly changed to “confident”, then Alex Rowley, interim leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, referring to “godless people”, and just as swiftly changing to “Scottish people”. Has the deus ex machina a sense of humour?
Jim Lynch
Edinburgh
WHAT a brilliant piece by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp on Friday (There are opportunities in this area of uncertainty, The National)!
What an absolutely devastating broadside on the British Establishment along with a message of hope that there are weaknesses there, and our time will come.
This is possibly his best piece in the entire three years (nearly) of the National, although given all his analysis is of such high quality it would be very hard to pick one in particular as “the best”. This might be it though. Keep it coming!
Alastair Naughton
Peterculter, Aberdeen
REGARDING events in Catalonia, certainly the EU response could be said to be muted but so has the lack of comment and concerns for democracy coming from the Tory Brexit lobby. This silence is not noted on other EU-related matters such as the supposed overburdening oppressive EU bureaucracy, which as good libertarians they have avowed to free us all from.
Why no comment therefore? Could it have something to do with this group being largely composed of politicians who would seek to block a second Scottish indyref? Just a thought.
Peter Gorrie
Edinburgh
EVERYONE has the right to self-determination. It will be our turn next. Disgraceful the way the Spanish fascist government are treating the people. Viva la Catalonians.
Isabella and Jim
Address supplied
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here