Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Readers’ letters: Cycling coverage offered new spin on our city

Jumbo Visma's Wout van Aert takes victory at the Tour of Britain after winning stage 8.

Photo by SWpix.com/Shutterstock
Jumbo Visma's Wout van Aert takes victory at the Tour of Britain after winning stage 8. Photo by SWpix.com/Shutterstock

Sir, – Aberdeen city and shire were shown to wonderful effect as hosts of the final stage of this year’s Tour of Britain.

It’s telling the Esplanade was recently resurfaced and the race was directed away from the ruination of Union Street caused by over- dependence on the idiocy of internet shopping over the genuine warmth offered by real world retail.

Is the city council perhaps embarrassed by its failure to bring the once beautiful Union Street back with some beautiful shops?

It was equally telling that ITV4’s Matt Barbet referred to the city as “a cultural capital” and made not one mention of that soon to be defunct phrase “oil industry”.

With last week’s Carbon Tracker report recommending that all fossil fuels must remain firmly unexploited if humanity and other species are to survive, Aberdeen is still blighted by the buffoons who are all too keen to do the opposite by continuing with the status quo.

Ian Beattie, Baker Street, Aberdeen.

Saving money and time on litter bins

Sir, – The fight against litter continues and I am aware that the bins strategically placed are to encourage their use but many are overflowing, with the birds spreading rubbish  looking for food. The location, size and number of bins should be reviewed more often as waste patterns change with restrictions in the local waste sorting centres. This would  help tackle our litter problem and save in the manpower required in picking up all the  rubbish that should be in the bins.

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Mugiemoss Road, Aberdeen.

SNP hypocrisy over oil and gas fund

Sir, – I have just read that Scottish Government Finance Minister Kate Forbes, in her virtual speech to the SNP conference, has urged the UK Government to commit £500m to the north-east oil and gas transition fund. She promised to match it over the next 10 years. What hypocrisy! She and other SNP delegates are urging everyone to vote for independence ASAP. How can the SNP realistically expect English taxpayers to agree to  this request, knowing that they will never see any repayments? What the SNP might consider is, before voting for independence, that all Barnett Formula payments  from Westminster over the next two years, amounting to I believe, approximately £1,700 per head/per annum, be banked securely to allow us all to see how we might manage  without it over that period.  If we find that everything improves significantly over time, we can then vote confidently for independence and use the two years’ Barnett money to boost our current £35 billion deficit before re-applying for EU membership. What do you think, Nicola?

Jim Ross, Harlaw Road, Inverurie.

Small price to pay for better care

Sir, – People are complaining about the 1.25% rise in national insurance to pay for  social care. If you earn £10k you’ll pay £52 a year more. That’s two fags a week. Those
earning £20k will pay £130 extra (that’s two bottles of wine a month) and £30k earners £255 (five takeaway sandwiches a month) Surely that’s worth it to ensure our old folk are looked after? And cutting down might improve your health and save your kids the future expense.

Allan Sutherland. Willow Row, Stonehaven