Sir, – I was in a well-known electrical superstore when I met three older people at the computer desk, one I knew, who were getting their computers fixed after online problems.
Word is that there are more and more criminals out there who are targeting computers when online.
One of these comes in and blocks your screen with a dark colour and there are two boxes, when you are clicking on Microsoft Edge. As it is a program, your anti-virus will not stop it.
Under no circumstances can you believe what this cyber-attack says and must not give away any of your card numbers. If you do and you are banking online, they will immediately take money from your account and buy Bitcoin. You may lose your computer, but try a reputable retailer for a solution.
Sandy Neish. Cobbans Lane, Inverurie.
What happened to the teamwork of the nuclear family?
Sir, – Following the chancellor’s mini-Budget that brought tax cuts for all but high earners will feel the greatest benefit, financial analysts on broadcast news channels went to town with an array of graphs setting out the UK’s path to financial prosperity or, by their calculations, oblivion.
Off went a reporter to gauge the reaction of ordinary Joe Public in a city in what used to be the industrial heartland.
Where did he conduct his interview? Unsurprisingly, in a charity store where £25 of food could be bought for £4 – the ideal place for getting an unbiased opinion – where a mother-of-two, father vanished into thin air, on Universal Credit, says the changes will make no difference to her.
Her plight, there before our eyes, was an example of what is becoming so common in modern Britain – the erosion of the nuclear family where father and mother worked as a team to bring up their family.
This is not the first generation to face hardship. Life was tough for many families in the early 1970s when, in addition to my regular employment, I and others for similar reasons, worked Friday and Saturday nights 10pm until 6am stacking shelves in a supermarket, pie and beans at 2am, mouth salivating as the smell of newly baked bread filled the air as evidence that the bakers were at work.
For my efforts, enough was earned to buy most of the week’s shopping plus a free carrier bag of bashed tins full of what three growing boys would eat, which is almost anything.
When my regular employment was such that shelf stacking had to be abandoned, my wife worked overnight at weekends in an A&E dept where, along with the ever-present heartaches, such as weeping parents arriving just after their son has died from a road accident, there were times she was subjected to the usual volley of sexist remarks by males emboldened by drink, drugs or a mixture of both venting their frustration at having to wait while genuine emergencies were treated.
But as a team, we prevailed, the clouds of debt slipped over the horizon and the sun began to shine.
Pride was our motivator: if you have children, it’s your responsibility to put in the extra hours to provide for them, putting out the begging bowl is a sign of failure.
Sadly in today’s fragile world, such sharing of responsibilities is becoming ever more impossible, the family unit fractured or absent.
Ivan W Reid. Kirkburn, Laurencekirk.
Levelling down not levelling up
Sir, – The recent, “fiscal event,” can only widen the already wide gap between rich and poor. I thought Tory policy was levelling up, not down?
Add to that the country’s significant debt levels being increased further. How do they propose to tackle that by reducing taxation for the already comfortably off?
Ron Campbell. Richmond Walk, Aberdeen.
NHS question deserves answer
Sir, – In a recent First Minister’s Questions, she was challenged on the performance of the NHS in Scotland, in particular, and waiting times which are, by her own admission, unacceptable.
Her response was the NHS in Scotland had a better performance than the NHS south of the border.
But that was not the question. It was specifically about the NHS in Scotland, and it deserves a proper answer.
Mike Salter.Glassel, Banchory.
Treat others as you want to be treated
Sir, – Farming on a busy commuting route to a large city certainly brings additional challenges. This week, a vehicle lost control and skidded through a livestock fence into a field of sheep. Unfortunately, yet again, the priority appeared to be removing the vehicle quickly, with no regard to the safety of the animals or indeed other road users.
One can understand the reluctance to accept liability, and perhaps the shock of the incident even clouded the fact that there is a legal liability to report damage to third-party property. However, if the driver had even stopped at a local house, prior to fleeing the scene, and reported “seeing a vehicle damage a fence”, then we would at least have a sporting chance of keeping both the sheep and other road users safe.
All of us make mistakes, me daily, but it is how you handle the repercussions that defines you, Thankfully, two neighbours, one in her best heels, helped to resolve the situation until we arrived. I invariably find, if you treat others how you would like to be treated, you are rarely disappointed with the reaction.
Graham Russell. Dams of Craigie, Whitecairns, Aberdeen.
Same old anti-UK propaganda
Sir, – As a typical starry-eyed nationalist, Ken Gow (Letters, Sept 26) parrots the same old anti-UK propaganda we are all being treated to by the SNP.
After more than 15 hypocritical years of total failure at Holyrood, the SNP have become experts at crude manoeuvres in order to keep control.
The wily Nats have: hijacked the saltire flag to woo voters with nostalgic 13th-Century Braveheart claptrap; persisted with their grovelling hot pursuit of our 16-year-old immature schoolchildren; and continued squandering vast amounts of taxpayers’ money bribing the public with hand-outs, which has spawned an unsustainable work-shy benefits culture that is spreading like wildfire across Scotland.
Back in the day, when Scotland was at its best, our proud forefathers got no hand-outs. Work, not a benefits culture, was the order of the day, and days off on the “sick”, were few and far between – changed days indeed in SNP-controlled Scotland.
As they grow older and more mature, many young Scots get wise to the scheming Nats, and realise that teamwork and co-operation between all UK devolved regions is the way forward.
It’s time for all true patriots of Scotland to stand up to this ruinous Venezuela-style nationalistic nonsense from the rabble-rousing, No-Plan SNP.
George Emslie. Balgownie Gardens, Bridge Of Don.
Well done lovely Lochgilphead!
Sir, – I had a lovely day out in Lochgilphead last week, which now must be a contender for the prettiest place to visit in Scotland award.
What a spruced-up change, with the new play park and front shoreline green revamped, and the newly painted shopfronts gleaming alongside the green granite pavements and surely one of the best-kept, tidiest and cleanest towns in all of Argyll.
Well done!
Stephen Jones. Burnside Place, Oban.
Scotland must cut taxes too
Sir, – As a result of the chancellor’s tax decisions, the Scottish Government will receive an additional £630 million and it will be up to them how they use this additional funding.
As income tax is a devolved matter, then their top priority should be to use this money to fund tax cuts to ensure the people of Scotland get the same benefit as the rest of the UK. Scotland is currently the highest-taxed part of the UK and if there are no tax cuts in Scotland, this will be even worse and no one earning over £15,000 will pay less tax than the rest of the UK.
The Scottish Government likes to say that they already have a 19p rate of income tax but this only covers earnings from £12,571 to £14,732, whereas the 19p rate introduced by the chancellor will cover earnings from £12,571 to £50,270. Added to this, the Scottish taxpayer pays rates of 20p and 21p, with a 41p rate kicking in at earnings over £43,662.
The result of this is if there are no tax changes by the Scottish Government, a Scottish taxpayer earning £50,000 a year will pay around £1,800 more in tax than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK.
Furthermore, as the chancellor has scrapped the top rate of tax then anyone in Scottish earning over £150,000 will pay a 46p rate whereas in the rest of the UK, this it will be 40p rate. Given that people who pay the top rate of tax tend to be more mobile, Scotland could see a large reduction in its tax take if these individuals move their tax affairs elsewhere
Added to all this, it is likely that in order to control inflation, the Bank of England will need to continue to raise interest rates, which is good news for savers – but for those who have mortgages, it will be an additional expense
We’ll all wait to see what the Scottish Government does in terms of tax but if it does not endorse some of these changes, the consequences will be great, with Scotland being even less competitive than rest of the UK, struggling to attract new investment and talent and its so-called progressive tax nature will result in less tax receipts than if they were to adopt a lower tax environment.
Mhairi E Rennie. Finlayson Street, Fraserburgh.
Ministers’ wind farm addiction
Sir, – NatureScot, a body which is funded mainly by the Scottish Government and responsible for advising Scottish ministers on all matters relating to the natural heritage, have withdrawn their objection to an application for an extension to a wind farm in Sutherland – because the area can no longer be classed as wilderness.
This is due to the number of already existing and consented wind farms in the area.
It may seem that they have thrown in the towel as defenders of our natural heritage but they are not to blame as some people may think.
The blame lies at the feet of decision-makers – councillors in this particular case but more often than not, with the Scottish ministers who are obsessed with consenting wind farms in the wrong places due to the lack of “right places” still available.
They ignore NatureScot’s expert opinion, in the same way as they ignore other consultees, including communities.
This callous attitude is extended to their own reporters, who are employed to make decisions on behalf of, or recommendations to, ministers on planning applications.
Two wind farms on Orkney were recommended for refusal by two separate reporters due to “significant adverse effects which would not be outweighed by the benefits which could be directly attributed to them”.
But still, ministers chose to turn a blind eye and grant consent.
Anyone else with an obsession of this magnitude – let’s call it an addiction – would be sent for counselling or may even end up convicted of a criminal offence.
Enough said.
Aileen Jackson. Knockglass, Uplawmoor.
Thanks due to lottery winners
As CEO of Scotland’s largest international humanitarian organisation, The HALO Trust, I wanted to thank last week’s lucky People’s Postcode Lottery winners in Aberdeen.
Our Dumfriesshire-based charity receives funding raised by players of the lottery to find and destroy unexploded shells, bombs and mines in north-west Syria, where 1.6 million people in the opposition-controlled enclave live close to unexploded ordnance. All too often, it is children in refugee camps who suffer from living beside explosives. They mistake lethal shells and grenades for scrap metal, leading to tragic deaths or life-changing injuries.
After more than a decade of conflict, the Syrian people’s needs are greater than ever, but the world’s attention has moved on to other crises. I am grateful to all players of People’s Postcode Lottery for raising funds which will allow us save lives while the world is looking elsewhere.
Maj Gen (Rtd) James Cowan, CEO The HALO Trust.
Terminally ill need cash
Over 8,000 people die in poverty every year in Scotland. The UK Government mini-budget will leave them still waiting for the support they desperately need and fearful a cold home this winter could rob them of one final Christmas with the people they love.
The Scottish Government can, though, use some of more than £600m extra funding it will receive to help.
We urgently need the Scottish Government to extend the eligibility of the upcoming Winter Heating Assistance to all terminally ill people, even if they are under 65.
We need to end the injustice for working-age people with a terminal illness right now.
Ellie Wagstaff, Marie Curie.
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