MUCH has been written about and speculated on in regard to concussion in sport, especially football and rugby. Many sad stories of dementia have emerged, the most recent being Gordon McQueen.
Strangely though there is a sport whose aim is to actually cause concussion, preferably unconsciousness and/or to cause enough damage to the body that the opponent cannot continue: ie, boxing. Allied to that are the efforts to cause enough bleeding around the eyes or mouth that the opponent cannot continue.
READ MORE: Concussion protocols in football are a ‘shambles’, says brain injury expert
I appreciate that there is a large amount of wealth in the world of boxing especially with regard to gambling and that the individuals involved do have loads of influence. Is this why boxing does not appear to be part of any investigations?
B McKenna
Dumbarton
IT can be fascinating, listening to someone on TV with an authoritative working knowledge of their subject, such as The Repair Shop, where practical experts with a can-do attitude get to work. Even TV antique dealers with a bit of personality and panache can relate the history and craftsmanship of objets d’art, old working tools and utility objects.
Conversely, it is beyond being irritable to downright infuriating to watch the many paid-up South East England airheads, fitba heids, Team GeeBee pointless “celebrities”, lumpen middle-class dinner set of ill-informed snobs and career politicians shamelessly air their class and English nationalist prejudices about something they know absolutely nothing about and care even less. Yes, Scottish politics, history, economics and culture.
They and their audiences receive the loudest applause, like one chatterbox show audience participant who “wittily” said that they should dump all their nuclear waste in Scotland and “give” them independence.
The fact that they already do this, and give nothing, escaped the audience and talking heads, who actually believe their own media propaganda that they do subsidise the ungrateful, whingeing sweaty socks.
Surely it is not too much to hope that come independence we can all have a better TV culture that appeals at home and internationally, and better informed English audiences.
Donald Anderson
Glasgow
THERE might be a flaw in John Barstow of West Sussex’s plan for lorries to be “piggy-backed” on trains between Belfast and Calais.
Some time ago, I asked a driver delivering from Belgium to Perth if he used the then ferry from Zeebrugge to Rosyth. His answer was no, because truck drivers are paid by the kilometre driven and so he would receive nothing for the time on the ferry. It is unlikely that truckers would be happy to forgo the kilometre payments between Northern Ireland and France.
Jim Clark
via email
I WAS a primary school teacher, not an engineer so I expect someone has the answers to these questions about a tunnel to Northern Ireland.
Since trains cannot go up or down tight spirals, will the end points not be in Cumbernauld and Ballymena rather than in Cairnryan and Larne?
Since the rail gauges are different in the whole island of Ireland from those in Britain, will the Irish government be expected to replace all lines and rolling stock at their own expense or will a massive transfer operation be expected in either Cumbernauld or Ballymena? Or will all Britain’s lines and rolling stock be replaced?
READ MORE: Plan for Scotland to Ireland tunnel 'undermines devolution' as nations have bigger priorities
Since a great depth will be required to get under all the armaments and other detritus in the Beaufort Trench, plus any sunken garbage from Sellafield, will the trains need to be pressurised, like an aeroplane in reverse?
Please keep your answers brief, one side of A4 only!
Rachel Martin
Musselburgh
ALISTER Jack, our expert on euphemisms, might be able to explain the “fixed link” with Northern Ireland. Is “fixed” a euphemism for breaking the rules as in “match fixing”? Is a “fixed link” a euphemism for a bridge, a tunnel or a white elephant? Is the estimated cost of £20 billion a euphemism for £50bn with endless delays and engineering glitches?
And is the takeover of a Scottish-Irish decision by Westminster a euphemism for another cynical attack on devolution?
Derek Ball
Bearsden
I HAVE been significantly unwell recently and understand fully how important the Scottish NHS is to all of us. From our local practice on the Holy Loch to RA, Paisley, Dunoon Hospital, Inverclyde Hospital and Stobhill Hospital, I have received marvellous and comforting attention by brilliant and caring staff and If I ever need any convincing (which I don’t) that Scotland is better running its own affairs SNHS provides it.
I contrast the treatment I am receiving with the horror tales from relatives in London about the increasing incoherence of the NHS down south and I am so glad I live in Scotland. And a big thank you to Inverloch Transport for their assistance.
David McEwan Hill
Sandbank, Argyll
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