Sir, – One thing I like about the British public is their ability to see humour in just about any situation.
For example, while I was standing at a bus stop in Lochee waiting on a bus to go “doon the toon” I overheard a very brief conversation an elderly man and woman were having.
The old man said: “What do you think about Boris having a bring-your-own-booze party?”
She replied: “That’s jist an affy kerry on aboot a few fowk haein’ a kerry oot!”
Kenneth Brannan. Greenlee Drive, Dundee.
Answers needed over Town House’s future
Sir, – I have been campaigning for almost 10 years now to establish our much-loved Town House in Cowdenbeath as a place to be used for the benefit of the people.
Before Covid, there was a large grant available to be able to modify the Town House for the use of the locals, and perhaps include some kind of memory, museum or remembrance token as well.
To date we the public have been told nothing. This means we cannot fight any plans that are not acceptable to the local people. As usual, things just “occur” – then it is too late to protest or give suggestions.
Can I ask Fife Council, through this column, what are they doing about the Town House?
What, so far, has been done, established or agreed upon by the council and public, for I have seen nothing?
Come on Cowdenbeath, the council and others – let us all know your intentions so we can have a say.
With Covid, we all feel at a disadvantage so please let us all know the up-to-date conclusions.
It all seems a little fishy that nothing is being given out to the local residents or the general public.
Maureen Kennedy. Thistle Street, Cowdenbeath.
Wealth imbalance borne by all living outside London
Sir, – Originating in 1974 after a report by the Pay Board, the London Weighting Allowance pays public service workers higher rates within certain radiuses of the city centre than their peers in the rest of the UK.
The NHS pay awards for 2021-22, for example, allow a 20% uplift for Inner London, a 15% uplift for Outer London, and a 5% uplift for the London Fringe, all in addition to the 3% pay rise for NHS workers in the rest of the UK.
Since 1974 many private sector companies and NGAs have followed suit, offering similar if slightly less generous allowances.
No matter how it is subsidised the consequence of this centralisation of the British state has been a net flow of wealth to London over the past 47 or so years.
The imbalance is borne not just by us Scots but also by English residents living outside these defined London areas.
Yet consider this: citizens of the Republic of Ireland, under the provisions of the Common Travel Area (CTA), benefit from the same allowances if they choose to live and work in London, while no tax support moves from the Irish Treasury to the British one.
An independent Scotland would be in a similar position, with its citizens free to travel and to reside anywhere in the CTA.
I make no pretence that this suffices as an argument for independence, but merely another small example of how our country is dragged along by established thinking in the ex-capital of empire from a bygone age. With self-determination we could manage our affairs for the best interests of our citizens rather than the invisible recipients of London’s unchallenged wealth-flow.
A pipe-dream? Well, not so in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway, each a small country with the historical good fortune never to have fallen under British Dominion.
Hugh Reid. Grange Park, Dunfermline.
Observations have captured the mood
Sir, – Will Self, writing in The New European, said “it is never an edifying spectacle observing second-generation immigrants shutting the borders behind them – but that’s precisely what we are witnessing as the home secretary and the chancellor put fiscal restraint (and their own stellar careers) ahead of any real acknowledgement of moral responsibility for this colossal failure”.
He has captured the mood of much of the population.
Ian Auchterlonie. Denoon Terrace, Dundee.
