Sir, – I was struck by proposals in the Conservative Party’s manifesto to cut income tax for higher earners.
This demonstrates how out of touch the Tories really are, planning tax cuts for the rich while delivering further austerity and widening the gap between rich and poor.
Tory proposals would increase the £43,663 annual earnings threshold at which people start paying the higher rate to match the UK Government’s £50,271.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has highlighted that such cuts make a Tory pledge of £2 billion for health spending unachievable.
Each Tory MSP will save £1,321 under their own proposals and tax cuts, giving the wealthiest more money while cutting the NHS budget, is most definitely not the right priority as we recover from the Covid-pandemic and seek to deliver a fairer society.
Alex Orr.
Marchmont Road, Edinburgh.
More authorititive government needed
Sir, – Bob Thompson’s letter (Frightened to speak lest it cause offence, Courier, April 20) brings focus to the problems afflicting our society.
Our current generation of “yoof” seem to have lost all respect for authority and the need for social cohesion in order for the well-being of our people to prosper.
We seem to be submerged in adulation for “Americanisms” such as “woke”.
In my view it is simply an expression associated with intolerance and the mistaken idea that society can prosper without adherence to social rules in any needed redress of minority disenfranchisement.
Rudeness prevails in social communication when there are self-interested pressure-groups parading their narrow opinions and disallowing anyone to disagree with them.
If some of our citizens feel disenfranchised, then first line of redress should be our MPs.
A further affliction is the ingress of Big Business into every aspect of life.
This leads to cronyism, corruption, and further demolition of the standards of decency that gave rise to world respect for British values.
It gets to a point where the people who should be society’s role-models for adherence to established moral standards, succumb to the temptations of personal enrichment and personality marketing.
We now have the proposed destruction of football tradition in this country, the architects of which are the foreign owners of major UK clubs, funded by tens of billions of dollars by American investment banks.
Is it reasonable to pay star footballers millions of pounds, and to recover these absurd expenses by ignoring the importance of fan support and instead, striking short-term financial deals with competing media platforms?
The question is how to recover society from the slippery slope down which it is sliding, and the answer would seem to be a more authoritative form of governance with less faux division, and a hard look at the impact of foreign-owned big-business on our younger, impressionable, generation.
Derek Farmer.
Knightsward Farm, Anstruther.
Super League not the danger in Scotland
Sir, –The anger at the proposed breakaway by elite football clubs risks overshadowing an even more egregious outrage actively being considered for Scottish football.
These are proposals made jointly by Rangers and Celtic to run their second teams in the Scottish lower leagues, in exchange for a modest cash injection to other member clubs.
At a time when a full meritocratic football pyramid, top to bottom, is almost in place, this idea is almost universally rejected by all lower league club fans.
The distortion of competition, let alone the contamination of community connections, is unacceptable so I would be boycotting any games involving the Old Firm reserves.
If the large clubs want to ensure competition for their over large squads, let them restart a reserve league.
This model may be familiar in certain European lower leagues and even, shamefully, in the Challenge Cup here.
But it is a step too far right here on our doorstep.
Allen Armstrong.
Viewforth, Buckhaven.
