This is the true offence surrounding the use of the c-word

Intelligent discussion of the word is not generally encouraged by the ballyhoo of virtue-signalling that tends to surround it, virtue-signalling which, like Mr Guru-Murthy’s apology to Steve Baker, surely misses the point.

Mr Guru-Murthy did not, in fact, as he confessed to Mr Baker, use a very offensive word; rather, he used a word very offensively. It is certainly an earthy word, whose proper usage would need to be rarefied and judicious.

But it is succinct, evocative and rather beautiful. It has, furthermore, no male equivalent and no synonym (the oft-suggested v-word alternative, besides its own rather distasteful etymology, denotes only a small part of the organ in question). To the list of its feminist champions already mentioned by Pat Kane I would add the genial Caitlin Moran, whose book How To Be a Woman examines the subject rather engagingly.

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Kane’s own explorations of how sexual terms become weaponised in conversation are plausible and compelling, although how a term for one of the crowning glories of terrestrial evolution continues in our supposedly reflective age to be used as a metaphor for the ridiculous and unpleasant is, frankly, close to incomprehensible.

That, surely, is the true offence; and that our society should choose to outlaw the word itself rather than rise up against its misappropriation is only further sad evidence of an abiding cultural misogyny.

Michael Bell

Kirkwall

I ALWAYS enjoy the incisive contributions of Professor Gregor Gall, and his piece yesterday is no different.

However, I take issue with his assertion that Nicola Sturgeon is to the left of Alex Salmond. Alex Salmond, as SNP Leader in the 1990s, promoted debate prior to the 1992 SNP conference around the party owning up to the social democratic identity which it had developed since 1969 under the leadership of Billy Wolfe.

This was articulated further in the October 1974 SNP manifesto which called for “War on poverty and a programme of social democracy”.

The 1992 conference drew back from an explicit aim to insert social democracy but it did make clear that Alex Salmond, post-79 Group, was always a man of the centre left, albeit a pragmatic one. Further evidence of this can be seen in the “Penny for Scotland” commitment of the SNP at the first Scottish election in 1999, a campaign which Alex Salmond led.

Actions speak louder than words and while Nicola Sturgeon speaks the language of the left, her enthusiasm for, and promotion of, the misnamed Growth Commission since 2018 has saddled the SNP with a pro-austerity low-growth economic policy which is far removed from social democracy, never mind socialism.

Cllr Andy Doig (Independent),

Renfrewshire Council

PARENTS should be aware that vaping and e-cigarettes are not legal for children under the age of 18.

Across the world, vaping is fast becoming the drug of choice for teens. They have been conned into believing that vaping is not only safe, but helps people to quit smoking.

In America, 10% of teens are vaping regularly and in the many states that have relaxed the laws on cannabis, by decriminalisation or by legalising it, teens are loading their e-cigs and vapers with cannabis.

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In my 50 years of working with young people and their drug problems, one thing is for certain – any drug trends in the US soon arrive in the UK.

The attraction of vaping for teens is fuelled by the dozens of flavours marketed at them. Parents should know that China has the biggest smoking addiction in the world. It researched and funded the development of vaping as an alternative to smoking tobacco.

China has just banned the sale of all flavoured vaping products in its country to protect children and young people. However, it has decided to continue the production, marketing and supplying of their vast range of flavoured e-cig and vaping products to the rest of the world.

Decades ago, tobacco smoking was the gateway drug that was the starting point for millions of children to sample other drugs, such as alcohol and cannabis, before moving on to heavier ones, such as LSD and amphetamines, heroin, cocaine, crack and hundreds of other drugs we don’t know the contents of are flooding our streets.

I regularly see in the west end of Glasgow private school pupils vaping in the streets. I urge all parents not to see e-cigs and vaping as a harmless activity with no consequences

for teens. The anti-smoking organisation ASH Scotland reports that children are risking their health puffing on £5 disposable e-cigarettes. Each contains around 600 drags – the equivalent of smoking 45 cigarettes. Use of these devices by kids is up by 4000 % in the last four years.

Lastly, it is important that people understand that human brains are not fully wired up until our early 20s, with males maturing later than females. Regular use of non-prescribed and illicit drugs including alcohol by immature teens can result in their brains not being fully wired up. That is one important cause of serious mental health problems in our nation.

Max Cruickshank

Glasgow

MICHAEL Fry asserts that “20 years of war against revolutionary France made mass military service an honoured part of being a Scot” (Scot who brought a ranch of the Enlightenment to the battlefield, The National, Oct 17). This is at best only one side of the story.

From 1784, when the Calton Weavers carried out the first organised strike in UK history and were shot dead until the 1820s, much of Scotland was involved in what are now known as the “Radical Wars”. Liberty Trees in support of France were planted everywhere.

In the 1790s, the Government warily introduced conscription into Scotland (it had been introduced in England in 1759). The resultant riots included the storming of a castle in Angus and the little-known Massacre of Tranent. For many years, villagers and townsfolk sympathetic to the political aims of the French Revolution set up and trained paramilitary groups. These bought and sold gunpowder and weapons with which they fought enlisted troops as well as the pro-government private armies raised by such unlikely leaders as Walter Scott and the editor of the Glasgow Herald!

Civilians (including women and children) were shot dead on the street. Some 88 men in the west of Scotland alone were arrested for high treason and tried in secret courts under English law with judges and prosecuting lawyers brought up from England. There were executions and transportations. This part of our history was suppressed at the time and is still not taught in schools.

Mary McCabe

Glasgow

REGARDING Robin McKelvie’s travel article in Saturday’s National – squirrels don’t hibernate! Why would they expend so much energy gathering and storing food for the winter if they were going to sleep right through it?

Neil Caple

Braemar