I READ with interest your article about the closure of the Post Office in Muir of Ord and Conon Bridge (March 22).

PRIOR to the commencement of the Iraq war, 90 per cent of the Scottish public were known to be against it, and today that figure has grown even larger.

MAY I through your letters page say a big thank you to David Lockett for his vigilance and assistance at the Boggan Burn culvert in Dingwall on the night of February 29.

GRAHAM Mackenzie, rector of Dingwall Academy, is quoted in last week's North Star as saying: "Perhaps in time people will come to view the new school with as much affection as they obviously have for the old academy."

I READ with interest your article regarding parking issues adjacent to the Co-op in Alness. Having owned the Rigger Bar next door for 19 years, I don't recall an accident there.

I REFER to the recent front page article in the North Star about GPs' resources.

WE are all overjoyed to hear of Orrin the otter cub's progress at the Ullapool rescue centre. Beatrice Brinkler's work was justly recognised of late in her national award.

Sir, The Scottish Government is currently deciding whether or not to ban snares and is expected to announce its intentions very soon.

Sir, I have just read Highland Council's budget proposal documents tabled for the Highland Council meeting of February 14.

Sir, I refer to your leading article and editorial for week ending February 1, 2008. While I am fully supportive of appropriate challenges to those of us who work in the public sector, I am writing to correct what was inaccurate and misleading information.

THE page one story in last week's North Star has again shown the absurdities of our race relations laws — and in the process tie up police time and taxpayers' money.

I WAS shocked to come across the very one-sided study founded by Rowntree which claimed potential recruits are given a misleading picture of military life and which accused the army of glamorising war.

I WAS shocked to read in the North Star how the Highland Council have left the community wardens in limbo as regards their future employment status.

CAN anyone help me please? I loaned four certificates I received from Marybank School for the primary school's 140th anniversary celebrations in June and they appear to be missing. They are in the name of Sandra Bartlett and dated about the 1950 era.

THE Co-operative Pharmacy is giving away grants totalling up to £20,000 to local health projects, and time is running out for relevant organisations to claim their share.

MORAG Foster found her recent inspection a profoundly negative experience (North Star, November 24). I have met Mrs Foster as a colleague but not visited Ardross Primary School. I decided to look at the report and it made interesting reading:

WHAT wondrous luck for Scotland to be awarded the Commonwealth Games yet again.

I READ your front page report on a head teacher's account of her school's inspection with great interest (North Star, November 17).

A BIG thank you to the Scottish Government for coming to the rescue of farmers and crofters.

ITS timing and purpose could not have been more obvious – to boost the sale of new bicycles for Christmas!

IN the old days when every hospital had its proud matron you could smell the place was clean and shiny.

ON June 14 the Holyrood Parliament passed a resolution which "calls on the UK Government not to go ahead at this time with proposals in the White Paper, the future of the United Kingdoms Nuclear Deterrent".

ON behalf of the Rosemarkie Amenities Association I would like to thank the North Star for last week's front page article, highlighting our predicament at the beach. I wonder if I could expand on the issue.

A SURVEY we recently commissioned showed that about half of people questioned do not know about the link between cancer risk and lifestyle.

LAST week we read how two teenagers – one 14 the other 15 – had kicked an OAP to death (he died the following day).

I WOULD like to extend my thanks to your readers for supporting Sue Ryder Care's recent Sign On The Line campaign and to let them all know that it is now an award-winning initiative.

COACH trips from the Highlands to the Christmas markets of Europe are increasingly popular, but would it not be great if we could stage our own traditional Christmas Market in our very own High Street?

ON behalf of the Invergordon off the Wall committee, I would like to thank the many community groups, individuals, artists, businesses and property owners who have contributed to the development of the Invergordon Mural Trail and Invergordon's recent Fleet Festival.

THE Scottish Parliament's Environment and Rural Affairs Committee has started a major inquiry into the growing incidence of flooding in Scotland, whether all the provisions for dealing with flooding are fit for purpose in light of changes in weather patterns and what needs to be done to improve matters.

THE recently announced budget cuts proposed by the SNP/Independent-led Highland Council should be no shock to the people of Ross and Cromarty.

I WRITE in response to the article in last week's North Star, headlined Green light for £3m retail plan.

I HAVE to write in response to your recent front page article. I am horrified to learn the Handyperson Service may be withdrawn due to lack of funds.

LIKE the small print in most documents, the SNP manifesto makes uncomfortable reading for us all but especially for our drinks industry which stands accused of pretending that we are coping with the escalation in binge drinking.

I WAS delighted to see in your edition of the North Star (July 21) that Mr Hamish Ross has written a book about Robert Bosdech and his dog.

HAVING recently received a sportscotland Lottery award of £100,000, Caberfeidh Shinty Club are shortly to commence the construction of a new sports pavilion at the Games Field, Castle Leod, Strathpeffer, the facilities of which will be shared by the Strathpeffer Highland Gathering Association.

I HOPE our Highland planning officials have been paying close attention to current events in middle England.

NO wonder Gordon Brown’s poll ratings have shot ahead. He knows we have enough trouble tackling our drinks problem without encouraging more gambling and the miseries that can cause.

THE Elton John concert at the Caley Stadium in Inverness was good, but could easily have been improved on.

HAVING listened to my son phone every electrician and plumbing firm in the Inverness and Ross-shire area asking if they will be taking on apprentices, I am in a position to tell readers the answer: they aren’t.

I WOULD like to express nothing but complete admiration for the two ladies who confronted the yobbo boy racers at Inverness Castle recently. It is certainly a lot more than the police seem prepared to do.

I WOULD like to thank you for drawing attention to the problem of dealing with anaphylaxis in flight in your article “Nut drama on city plane” (Highland News, July 7).

I FEEL I must reply to the report in the article of June 30: "Backing the Outsider?" by Margaret Chrystall.

ON page two of your June 23 edition, it was reported that a local man was placed on probation and the Sex Offenders' Register for "flashing" on Academy Street.

WHAT an aptly fiendish evil move is the granting of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie.

AS the businessman highlighted in last week's exposé on the cost of B&B provision in the Highlands, I would like to clarify the following point which the article did not state, despite my having given this information to your reporter, namely where the £2 million cost of provision came from.

THERE has been a lot on the news about whether or not childhood obesity is a case of neglect.

JUST when Black Isle residents had begun to think the successful campaign at Munlochy had saved their clean environment from contamination by genetically modified organisms, a new threat has emerged.

THE pressing need for a bus depot in Dingwall was brought home last week following the four-vehicle accident on the Kessock Bridge.

DURING the recent heavy rainfall of May 29, my wife and I walked into the town centre of Dingwall when we saw for ourselves the number of overflowing drains.

WHY don't we have a "Temperance Tax" so that the drinks industry can start paying us back a bit of the cash we spend on excessive drinking year after year?

£1.5 MILLION that was assigned for the refurbishment of council-owned care homes has been filched for other purposes, has it? Well, who would have thought it?

WHEN did you last see a supermarket trolley being "sanitised"? Or is it only fuss-pots like myself who would think an antiseptic trolley wipe each day would help keep bugs at bay?

IT was with great sadness I read the article in the North Star about the awful vandal damage down to the Toll House in Tain.

COMMUNITY buy-ups are seeing lands and properties being transferred to public trusts.

SURELY I am not the only one to notice the extreme irony of the fact that Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness and the DUP's Ian Paisley have resolved their differences this week to the extent that they begin the new power-sharing devolved government executive in Northern Ireland, taking office as first and deputy first ministers?