Sir, – Your correspondent Ian Lakin (December 22) forgets that the Scottish Government is really only able to re-distribute money that is allocated by Westminster.
We currently do not have the means to generate our own.
As a country, Scotland has a more socialist perspective than much of the rest of the UK and prefers to receive more public services.
These services have to be paid for and this means taxes. More services mean more taxes.
As a relatively egalitarian country, this means that the tax burden must, of necessity, fall on those with a greater surplus of income over outgoings.
Even the increased powers that have only been granted in recent months, do little to help us adjust the economy, which, in any event, cannot be changed overnight, and has to go through a process of evolution and a cceptance.
Invariably, our economy is all but completely dependent on Westminster legislation, which as we have seen, has resulted in traditional industries being taken away or sold off to foreign buyers.
Even our ship building is in hock to the whims of the MoD.
Another significant factor seemingly lost on some is that unless people have a surplus of income they cannot buy products.
A low-wage economy buys less, which results in less income to business.
Regardless of any economy, people need to eat and be housed, and if they cannot afford that then they have to be supported through taxation.
Nick Cole.
Balmacron Farmhouse,
Meigle.
We need to get back to basics
Sir, – Leaving aside the fact that the decline of Scottish education has been appalling during the SNP’s 10 years in government, the fact is that the decline started in the 1960s when the traditional and proven successful methods of teaching arithmetic and English grammar were phased out.
Today we have people in their 60s, probably including English teachers and head- teachers, who don’t know how to parse a sentence, struggle to know which verb governs which noun, don’t know a pronoun from a conjunction and have never heard the word pluperfect. We have journalists and authors who regularly start sentences with the words and, and, but which, being conjunctions, should never be used to start a sentence and which was a grammatical sin in my school days in the 1940s and 1950s for which marks would have been deducted.
In arithmetic and maths, which are often wrongly taken to be the same thing, the situation is as dire.
I had lunch with three friends a few months ago and the bill came to £77.50p. We told the waitress, a charming young person in her early 20s to round it up to £85. She couldn’t do it without her calculator.
I don’t blame the teachers as they are the products of a flawed system, and who themselves were taught by at least one generation of products of the same system, but it is certain that unless the trend is reversed we are on the path to a continuing downward spiral.
Donald Lewis.
Pine Cottage,
Beech Hill,
Gifford.
Subsidies for big business
Sir, – Your excellent reporting of the workers’ camp in the woods near Amazon highlights just how far workers’ rights have diminished under successive governments.
Perhaps this government could look deeper into whether corporate giants such as Amazon actually reflect value for money.
Amazon gets cheaper pro-rata rates than some modest high street shops and that seems completely unfair to independent traders.
Many wages at Amazon and other big firms are so low they are effectively subsidised by top-ups from the taxpayer in the form of tax credits.
David Cruickshanks.
4 Weavers Crescent,
Kirkcaldy.
Priorities in education
Sir, – Teaching children to read and the development of arithmetic skills have never been the SNP’s priority for schools.
There are much more pressing issues of social engineering and philosophical moulding to attend to.
The Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee took evidence from some primary school pupils from West Lothian and to quote the official report: “The children were able to share some of their priorities…including rights around gender, education, the environment, personal safety and children’s rights. Members agreed to take on board the young people’s views across their parliamentary work.”
Some parents might prefer that primary school children were in their classrooms learning basic academic skills rather than being paraded in the Scottish Parliament in order to make MSPs seem particularly enlightened.
Gender and environment, or reading and maths? Would the SNP like to take on board parents’ views of which should be prioritised?
Richard Lucas.
11 Broomyknowe,
Edinburgh.
Infrequent links from Barry
Sir, – I never cease to be amazed at the intransigence of the people of Barry and the surrounding area in ignoring the splendid train service provided by Abellio at Barry Links, the quietest station in Scotland.
Why, for a day’s shopping, what could be handier than catching the 06.08 train into Dundee, arriving just 17 minutes later with only a three-hour wait till the shops open, and then home again on that ever-popular service leaving Dundee just before 7pm, providing a good nine hours of fun in Dundee. Indeed, with a magnificent two trains per day, what better service could Abellio provide?
Peter Burke.
14 Collier Street,
Carnoustie.
Sort out home problems first
Sir, – If Scotland is, as the SNP seems to think, an important member of the EU, why are the heads of EU states not coming to Edinburgh, instead of the SNP flitting around Europe?
Its politicians are wasting time, money and resources that would be better spent addressing problems in Scotland, making a strong case within Brexit for the country with our main trading partner, and working to secure a better future here without the constant petty politics and point scoring.
Iain Johnstone.
23 Auchmithie,
By Arbroath.