Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – To hear a Conservative politician argue that bus passes, free prescriptions, and university education were unaffordable would have been well within the vocabulary of what one might expect from a party that has little time for shared social values.
To hear a Labour leader espouse the same philosophy left me gob-smacked.
It seemed to me as if Johann Lamont was writing a political suicide note. Even the economics don’t seem to make sense if, as I read recently, the £57m that goes on free prescriptions would cost around £30m to administer in the charging of 20% of the population.
Free personal care for elderly people is expensive at £360m but the saving to the NHS in keeping elderly people out of hospital residency must also be considerable.
The once dearly held principle of the Labour Party that higher education should be based on ability rather than the ability to pay seems to have been abandoned in this realigning of the leadership to the right, although Johann Lamont, I’m sure, would have been able to benefit from free higher education.
On listening to Ed Balls at the Labour conference, however, much began to make sense. It is obvious the Labour Party is adopting the right of centre approach in an effort to attract English voters.
This was the policy Tony Blair adopted, which was highly successful and won three General Elections, bringing the Labour party out of the political wilderness.
Frank Kenneth.6 Lawside Avenue,Dundee.
Pension poser for the future
Sir, – Baby-boomers like me were certainly lucky but one feature not often mentioned is that early marriage made retirement easier for us than it will be for our children. Even though one should contribute to a pension as soon as possible, it is difficult to make serious contributions until the mortgage and school fee nightmares are over.
Like most boomers, the last of my children was born before I was 30 and in university by my mid-40s, leaving 20 years for retirement planning via pensions and ISAs.
It is too late for Generation X but their children need to consider whether university and two decades of partying before starting a family in middle age is really such a great idea.
Dr John Cameron.10 Howard Place,St Andrews.
Get back to the basics
Sir, – If this government is so keen on getting people off benefits and back to work then they should use the resources already available to them at job centres rather than outsourcing the majority of the work to very poorly organised local organisations who promise a lot and deliver very little.
These local organisations offer advice that would be best suited to a school careers chat and the majority of them get little results for job seekers. They only seem to be interested in making use of government resources which, of course, are very overstretched.
Job centre staff should be committed to helping people find work rather than being police-like and pen-pushers. It is time the government got back to basics for getting people back to work and stopped wasting money.
Gordon Kennedy.117 Simpson Square,Perth.
A bright spot in troubled times
Sir – I read Ian Hope’s precise forecast for the farming industry over the next few years (October 2).
He made no mention of such things as the sale of land (housing, windfarms), the prospects for increased biomass (actual – grain drying, for example), or fuel production – such as oilseed, or crop waste as described recently in your columns.
There may also be more scope for some diversity, as in recreation, education and tourism. I believe that farming these days has a lot going for it – a bright spot in otherwise troubled times.
A T Geddie. 68 Carleton Avenue, Glenrothes.
A rare piece of sportsmanship
Sir, – While playing recently for Lazio against Napoli, Miroslav Klose, the German international football player, put the ball in the net with his hand.
The referee didn’t see this incident and was about to award a goal when Klose owned up to having handled the ball.
Such sportsmanship is rare these days in football and I can imagine 99% of managers and coaches in the UK having a heart attack at the thought of such honesty.
If a player in this country was to be this honest he would no doubt be fined for not being a team player, such is the ”must win at all costs” mentality surrounding football in this country.
Hats off to Herr Klose!
Robert Smith.30 Braeside Terrace,Aberdeen.
Perhaps they have chosen the wrong vocation
Sir, – I find it rather scandalous to learn that police officers are being paid bonuses to, basically, do their job. I know retired police officers who went about their daily routine dealing with fatal accidents, sudden deaths and recovering bodies from rivers and beaches, which they knew was all part of the job.
If officers find they cannot deal with such incidents without extra payment, it would appear they have chosen the wrong vocation.
John McDonald.14 Rosebery Court,Kirkcaldy.