Letters 2026 - underlining indicates deletion by editor; square brackets indicate insertion. To The Scotsman (11 Mar 26) Your report (10 March) that Edmund King, president of the AA, has urged motorists not to take 'non-essential' journeys because fuel prices will rise. His concern for the average motorist's running costs is touching, but its a matter for them. However he seems to have overlooked the fact that drivers of electric cars are unaffected by fuel prices and so do not have to worry about the rising price of fuel. Why doesn't he urge greater use of electric cars?
To The Scotsman (?) published 26 Fdeb 26 Doug Morrison notes that there were some 47,000 gun-related deaths in the USA 'in a year' (true for last year) and that is why US police carry hand guns (Letter, 24 February). However, most of those deaths were suicides. No action by police could change that, although making guns less available might. In the UK, where gun ownership is strictly controlled, there were only 24 gun deaths in 2023.
To The Scotsman (23 Feb 26) published [date?] Mr [Donald] Trump doesn't know if aliens exist but he has ordered the release of Government UFO files (21 February). However such records will not answer the question; they will merely show that many people think they've seen an alien craft. I spent many years investigating UFO reports and came to the conclusion that no alien intelligence has ever visited us. All UFO reports are misperceptions of mundane objects or phenomena or hoaxes. If another technological civilisation exists in the Galaxy, the first we would know about is from radio signals. Distances are too great for physical contact. That no such signals have been received indicates that we are alone in the Galaxy and perhaps alone in the universe. To The Scotsman (5 Feb 26) not published It's disappointing to see so many, especially the mass media, using the word 'multiple' in the mistaken belief that it's a sophisticated way of saying 'many'. 'Multiple' means 'having several parts, although it can also mean 'numerous' (consisting of many members). A 'multiple rocket launcher' is not the same as 'many rocket launchers'.
To The Scotsman (20 Jan 26) not published You explain that the Digital Assets (Scotland) Bill defines a digital asset is 'something which is rivalrous' ('MSPs back Digital Assets Bill', 17 January). I'm sure that I can't be alone in reaching for a dictionary: apparently 'rivalrous' means 'a person or thing equal to another in quality' (COD). I'm none the wiser. Surely 'a digital asset' has to involve digits, ie numbers. To The Scotsman (17 Jan 26) not published As Alexander McKay points out (letter, 16 January), every wind turbine needs a reliable back-up, fossil fuel or nuclear. That's because wind power is irregular and unreliable. Logic then suggests that all generation should be from fossil fuel (gas) or nuclear and that renewable generation is useless. Why generation electricity from an unreliable source when reliable ones are available? Because we can? That's not a good reason. Electricity demand is fairly constant and so requires a fairly constant supply. It's not possible to match a constant demand to a variable supply. Renewable generation is a parasitical burden on the system and should be abandoned.