Sir, The palpable contempt for older no voters by Jennifer Dempsey (Thursday’s Courier) and a rump of vociferous yes voters is not only extraordinary but also insulting.
The 65-plus age group may not be able to sprint after a departing bus but our minds are as acute and nimble as any 20-year-old with the added advantage that we have experience and maturity that can only be gained with age.
We’ve brought up our children, helped with our grandchildren, built homes and businesses, held down jobs (some for 50 years!), mastered skills in many fields, been conscripted into the armed forces during the time of national service, suffered post-war austerity, known what it’s like to have no central heating, outside toilets and none of the incredible technologies available today which have improved life beyond our most optimistic hopes in every sphere.
We have faced the very real threat of nuclear war in the 50s and 60s, created the NHS, fought apartheid, liberated the Falkland Islands, secured peace in Northern Ireland and preserved democracy and freedom during our lifetime as a precious legacy for future generations.
Some of us even have parents (mine are in their 90s and voted) with crystal-clear minds who gave their youth to fight the obscenity and dangers of Nazism.
I think they, and we, have earned the right to vote without the nonsensical condescension proffered by the likes of Ms Dempsey.
Many societies, like the Chinese, venerate their elders as a source of wisdom, experience and maturity or as the modern idiom has it: we’ve been there, done that, got the T-shirt!
There will always be older voters whose contribution to this nation should be valued and should continue to be so even as their physical abilities diminish. Does Ms Dempsey think she will never be old?
Iain G Richmond. Guildy House, Kirkton of Monikie.
Poll tax rerun in a fag packet
Sir, Gordon Brown’s timetable for the Scottish Parliament’s new powers, written on a fag packet just days before the end of a two-and-a-half-year campaign, makes me uneasy. In the end, all three main Westminster party leaders signed up to this head-long rush to implement complex constitutional change and it seems to me a recipe for disaster.
It took a decade of debate and consultation to thrash out the present, moderately successful and fairly robust scheme for the operation of the new Scottish Parliament.
Does anyone seriously think it possible to present a coherent formula for devolving income, inheritance, capital gains and corporation taxes, welfare and pensions within four months? In addition, enhanced devolution for Scotland must include enhanced devolution within Scotland and a quantum leap in the autonomy of councils, after excessive centralisation.
I like the idea of a federal structure for the UK but simply handing the Scots a hodgepodge of ill-thought-out devolution powers sounds like a rerun of the poll tax “experiment”.
Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
Dundee has had enough
Sir, Let’s give Dundee the publicity it truly deserves. I refer to the work and enthusiasm unselfishly given by Dundonians during the referendum campaign.
Dundee has said to local and national politicians: enough is enough.
Time after time, Dundee returned Labour candidates to Westminster and what did these champions of the working people do? Absolutely nothing. High unemployment, benefits being cut, the old, the young, disabled people and working families struggling to cope because the Tories (and the suits in a pathetic, outdated Labour hierarchy who couldn’t care less) were busy handing out huge tax cuts to their multimillionaire friends.
No matter how you voted, those people put Dundee back on the political map.
Good for you, Dundee, you may be lucky enough to see the demise of the Scottish Labour Party.
T. Tolland. East Park Cottage, Braidestone, Meigle.
More power for local bodies
Sir, What a wonderful and sensible letter from John Dorward in Thursday’s Courier. I am sure most of us would agree 100% with his suggestion relating to bringing back powers to the town and county councils, run by local people, with whom we could speak and discuss relevant matters.
Sadly, the chance of that happening is rather remote, despite the massive savings which would occur, because it is now all about power and, in some cases, square pegs in round holes and laughing all the way to the bank.
John McDonald. 14 Rosebery Court, Kirkcaldy.
Deputy must be able to lead
Sir, It’s such an embarrassment to all Scots to hear that the devolved parliament has to close for one quarter of the year due to the resignation of the first minister. I always believed a deputy’s responsibilities include replacing the leader in times when they were not available but perhaps not in Scotland.
More serious is the doubt about whether those who would run the country have the aptitude or capabilities to take on more powers from Westminster.
Alan Bell. Roods, Kirriemuir.