December begins with discussion of Scotland’s suitability to independence, lessons from Ireland’s crisis and the role of community wardens.
Sovereign wealth fund could have seen us through Sir, – I’ve been amused by recent assertions that an independent Scotland would be bankrupt like Iceland and Ireland.
Scotland, an oil-producing country for over 30 years, is not independent. It is part of an impoverished Britain.
If it were not for the fact Britain’s long-term loans do not need imminent renewal, it is Britain that would be running out of cash like Ireland.
Look at the facts. Prior to the crisis both Ireland and Iceland had considerably greater prosperity than the UK. Standards of living are falling now.
But that will happen in Britain too as people find their incomes under pressure from cuts, wage freezes, unemployment and inflation. Just wait! And even before the crisis, the British economy had been flagging for years.
For example, the lowest level of GDP per head in the small northern European democracies is $44,000. Britain has sunk to $35,300, well below Germany at $40,900. Britain is below Italy and not far above Spain.
As to the spurious question of how Scotland would have fared if independent, I cannot guess whether a Scottish government would have been as reckless as the UK under Gordon Brown.
I hope not but if it had been that daft, it would still have a sovereign wealth fund of around $300 billion from oil taxation to tide us through any emergency.
It is quite a thought, isn’t it, that our sister oil-producing neighbour in the North Sea, Norway formerly a poor province of Sweden til it got its independence in the early 20th century has such a huge oil fund and enjoys a GDP of $79,000 per head.
And for those masochists bellyaching about the dropping of the Tartan Tax by the SNP government, be careful. If the other political parties tax you an extra 3p in the £, be sure the Treasury will find a mechanism to cut back Scotland’s grant to equal the sums collected.
Gordon Wilson.48 Monifieth Road,Broughty Ferry.
Irish lesson for all of us
Sir, – The 90 billion euro bailout of Ireland shows the perils of eurozone membership.
Low interest rates set to pep up Germany’s formerly sluggish growth acted like petrol on a fire for Ireland and the credit bubble that was allowed to develop has now well and truly burst.
By strapping itself into the straitjacket of interest rates set by the European Central Bank, Ireland lost the flexibility that could have stopped its problems becoming so severe.
Now, it will have to get approval for its budget plans from Brussels losing its last vestiges of financial independence.
Gordon Brown’s mismanagement of the British economy was also shameful. But Britain is a large economy which can cope better with debt.
Ironically, non-eurozone Britain will now be forced to stump up £7.5 billion towards Ireland’s bailout.
Even the European ‘president’, Herman Van Rompuy, now acknowledges the danger the dysfunctional eurozone could collapse under its debt. Britain must heed the lesson stay clear of the euro wrecking-ball!
Struan Stevenson.Conservative MEP for Scotland.
Learn from your mistakes
Sir, – One of the reasons my career in schoolboy football was so short-lived was that under pressure my instinctive reaction was to punt the ball down the field. My sports master concluded I should stick to athletics.
All this came back to me when I saw the IMF chucking money at Greece. Things improved for a while but soon they were back to where they were before.
The IMF is now about to punt $100 billion into an imploding Ireland, even though one would have thought its dire crisis would make even these eternal optimists hesitate.
The storm clouds are gathering over euroland and there seems no end to the mess this pretendy currency has created.
Dr John Cameron.10 Howard Place,St Andrews.
Dr Reid living in a glass house
Sir, – Bill Shankly famously said, “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”
Clearly Celtic chairman John Reid believes that.
Referring to the recent refereeing controversy he stated, “We have seen instances recently where, in the case of a referee, his position ought to be completely untenable. No-one who has admitted to lying… should remain in post.”
Sadly, Dr John and his fellow Labour cohorts did not take that advice over the Iraq/WMD fiasco.
Perhaps if they had we would not now be suffering the effects of their financial incompetence also.
Kevin Cordell.2 Nevis Place,Broughty Ferry.
Wardens aren’t cheap police
Sir, – I share the same concerns as Cllr George Regan in relation to the warden coverage within our communities.
I have sat as a community representative on the interview panel that employs wardens and I have to say that I am extremely concerned with what seems to be a change in the role of the wardens.
They were introduced as a deterrent to crime, to obtain local knowledge and report matters to the police.
They could also act as the eyes of the local authority by reporting damaged roads, pavements, street lighting and so on.
The role now seems to have moved to that of assisting to apprehend the criminal a job that we were given assurances would not be within their remit.
This was and in my opinion still is a police officer’s role, as they are better equipped and trained to deal with such situations.
The role of the warden should not be “policing on the cheap” as this would do nothing to make our communities safer.
Allan Petrie.109 Blacklock Crescent,Dundee.
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