I CAN'T for the life of me understand all the fuss about cheap drink in supermarkets.

As far as I can see most of the trouble and general bad behaviour takes place in the streets by drunks coming out of pubs or clubs and dancing about like morons up and down the road.

So some pensioners like myself who depend on the big stores to sell a few cans at a reasonable price or the chance to get some whisky for a wee nightcap would have to start paying the stupid prices charged in pubs.

I am of the opinion it's the publicans who are to blame for letting their customers drink too much, plus they are afraid of the competition.

The young ones of today will continue to pay the fancy prices in the bars and clubs and the minority will still cause problems, no matter the price of drink. R DONALDSON Carmunock Panto price hike

WITH panto season about to start and with the credit crunch affecting everybody, I'm amazed to find out that the King's Theatre in Glasgow has decided to increase the price of a small 130ml tub of ice-cream from £2 to £2.50.

I was wondering how this compares to other panto venues across Scotland.

The price of confectionery and merchandise should be compared and let the audiences choose to buy or not to buy. SEASONED PANTO-GOER Glasgow Photos were fab

I JUST had to write to say thank you very much for the magazine in last Wednesday's Evening Times: Times Past - a Glasgow Christmas.

It was terrific - so many of the pictures I had not seen before. But, oh my goodness, what on earth has happened to the Glasgow lights these past few years?

When I saw the lights in Argyle, Sauchiehall or Renfield Streets, I felt disappointed in today's showing. Shops are getting very stingy now. JOAN McNAIR Glasgow Bonus is too late

THE old always got their £10 Christmas bonus in the first week of December.

The idea was that they could prepare something for Christmas Day.

This year it won't be paid until sometime in January because they are adding a little more to help with fuel bills. It's not good enough. They could have paid out the tenner as usual and the rest in January. GEORGE DRUMMOND Govan Weigh up card cost

I RECENTLY sent Christmas cards to friends and was disgusted to find out some were underpaid for postage!

They were all the same size of card and had first class stamps on them but the recipient had to pay £1.06 to get them from the post office.

So does this mean that first class stamps are no longer "first class" and that all cards need to be weighed?

It seems a bit of a rip-off! SANDRA CAIRNEY Via e-mail WRITE: Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB. Please include your name and address. E-MAIL: letters@eveningtimes.co.uk Please include postal address. TEXT: key in the word 'etletters', leave a space then send your comments to 88010. Max 160 characters. Please include your name or initials and where you're from. Texts cost 25p at all times. HOT TOPIC: Great news but trains still too expensive

I think this is great news. I've previously driven through to Edinburgh to catch the 5.50am service with colleagues to arrive in London for 10am.

Some people forget that thousands of people travel to London not just to connect to other flights.

Only problem I see is that it can still be a lot more expensive to travel by train. ANDREWM, Shawlands Rail future is up in the air

We don't need a better rail link to London - book a ticket out of a Scottish airport to just about anywhere and you'll get a free trip to the UK capital thrown in, whether you want it or not.

Improve direct international air connections and you'll boost cross-border train use, tourism and the environment in one go. FMJ, Glasgow Flight add-ons add up

When you factor in the costs of getting to/from airports, the train isn't so expensive. If you're flexible and book in advance it can be pretty cheap and even a walk-on, flexible return fare is just over £100. BRAD, posted online Still slower and pricey

The plane is still half the price of the train. The train speed is still significantly slower than the high speed networks of Europe and the shuttle planes to London. EH?, Glasgow Good connections crucial

Good connections are crucial for business in any city; better links with London will surely make any local infrastructure improvements more likely to be funded.

This is not some expensive roller-coaster for the enjoyment of fatcats. It's a vital artery, supporting much of our local economy. MOLLUSC, posted online It's a long-term goal

High speed rail would be great, sure, but at a current estimated cost of around £30 to £40billion and with a project time - even starting now - running past 2020 it's going to require long-term buy-in from across the political and business spectrums, and with the understanding that overall financial and environmental benefits will only be realised in the long term.

But we'd be talking about city to city Glasgow to London in three hours with less than half the emissions of air travel. PETE, Glasgow