Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment

Let my Dalrymple ancestors push up the roses in East Lothian

Woman deadheading rose with rain damage in summer garden.
‘How about recycling my ancestors to enrich the municipal rosebeds in nearby Haddington’s town gardens?’ asks Alex Renton. Photograph: Maryviolet/Getty Images/iStockphoto

I’m also a descendant of some of the nine 18th-century Dalrymples entombed beneath Morham kirk in East Lothian (‘Anchors in our landscapes’: secular Scotland is fast losing its churches, 27 December). But I don’t believe the Church of Scotland has a duty to continue to preserve the remains, 300 years on. As churchbuilders themselves, these Dalrymples might see that as an idle vanity when the church is in such financial trouble that it is having to sell property across Scotland. How about recycling my ancestors to enrich the municipal rosebeds in nearby Haddington’s town gardens?
Alex Renton
Edinburgh

• I am sure that many children do suffer due to “crap” parenting, such as being left behind in a Buckinghamshire pub (Tory MP says most struggling children in his area are ‘products of crap parents’, 29 December). However, the UK as a whole is currently suffering from an abundance of crap MPs. I will leave it to James Daly’s constituents in Bury North to decide whether he falls within that category.
Wendy Moir
Kirkcaldy, Fife

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.