IT’S unfortunate that Lesley Riddoch’s article on The Art of Coorie (Why I won’t bother to coorie down with a book on a non-existent trend, October 18) skimmed over the most salient points of the debate.

As the author, I agree that the word “coorie” has traditionally been used with “doon” or “in” over the years. But its use now (as explained in the first few chapters) shows how Scots are updating their language in new ways. Which might have been interesting to Riddoch if she had picked up a copy of the book, rather than, by her own admission, reading an Amazon preview.

She might also have enjoyed the chapter on how to invoke coorie for free (or a couple of pounds). Or the sections on walking, Munro bagging, knitting or swimming. Not quite the luxury middle-class pursuits the article claims the book is about.

It also seems a strange suggestion that the only people qualified to offer an opinion on Scotland are Scots. In the case of The Art of Coorie, it appears Riddoch is put out by “someone [who] has come here and seen what we couldnae – a non-existent trend ready to be coaxed into money-spinning life.”

Except I grew up in Fife, went to university in Glasgow and have spent my career writing about Scotland and its most brilliant people. Even if that was not the case, the idea that Scots have the monopoly on reporting on their own country is at odds to the Scotland I know – a place of inclusivity and warm welcome.

Riddoch and I both know

Scotland to be a place of wildness and of comfort. Its duality is what makes it special, and what makes it feel like home.

I think we are on the same side, really.

Gabriella Bennett
Glasgow

READ MORE: Why I won’t bother to coorie down with a book on a non-existent trend​


LESLEY Riddoch’s article on “the art of Coorie” mentions the possibility that “coorie” may come from the Gaelic “còsgach” which can indeed mean cosy and snug but implies more full of holes, damp.

Perhaps the author meant Hobbit holes, where your accommodation is dug out of a soggy bank. Which indeed many the Gael in Scotland and Ireland had to do, digging literally holes in the peatbogs to live in after they had been cleared in Scotland or evicted during the famine in Ireland, and she’s referring to that quaint “tradition”! Them Gaels just don’t know when they’re on to a good thing!!

Crìsdean Mac Fhearghais
Dùn Èideann

THE other day I watched a programme in the Coast series in which the British nationalist Neil Oliver was enthusing about Denmark and hygge. However, I do not remember him saying that this nation of about 5.8 million people was performing well despite not being governed by their southern neighbours. Why should he think that Scotland, with 5.5 million people, cannot perform well unless governed by our southern neighbours? The laddie doth protest too much, methinks.

Robert Mitchell
Stirling

STEPHEN Paton writes that “the right to self-ID has already been a reality in Ireland since 2015 with no negative consequences” (Gender Recognition Act debate is being used to roll back trans rights, October 19)

In fact, Ireland’s GRA provides an extensive list of exemptions to protect single-sex spaces. For example, trans women have to be in male prisons, single-sex shools can reject pupils who transition, “lack of privacy” and “embarrassment” are allowed as objections to trans people using single-sex spaces, and so forth.

Yes, it’s true that trans people haven’t had their voices heard – those who have gone through the complete medical and surgical transition and are just quietly going about their lives have had their opinions drowned out by the noisy, media-savvy trans-activists who are demanding that men who have no intention of relinquishing their

male genitalia – or even taking hormones – must be allowed to to claim the full legal status and protection of “women”.

Val Dobson
via thenational.scot

READ MORE: Gender Recognition Act debate is being used to roll back trans rights​

IN response to Max Cruickshank (Letters, October 18), I would prefer for all of us to “come together”, as he puts it, to support Scotland’s independence rather than the “people’s vote” to save our society. Scotland, our country, is more important and needs even just a few more of its population to realise how their lives will be in a worse situation than what it might be just now. It certainly won’t get any better in the long term, never mind in this or the next Westminster administration, whatever colour that might be. Only independence can save Scotland from the damage of Brexit.

Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife

READ MORE: Letters, October 18

IT’S a disgrace that a handful of Brexiteers and the DUP from a tiny province in Northern Ireland will shut Scotland out from Europe. Can the SNP MSPs and the people of Scotland not march in London by December?

Stevie, Motherwell
via text