Sir, – It came to my notice in the Evening Express the many changes the council have planned recently, yet hardly anyone I know is aware of them.
For instance, the impending beach promenade closure, which will have a major input to traffic going to all other areas and stop people from simply enjoying our beach, a pleasure we are all entitled to enjoy.
If it’s for pollution reasons then that will move elsewhere, if it’s preparation for the new Dons stadium then have the public been asked for their opinion?
Next comes three additional bus gates and a no-through road into Guild Street. How is this going to help businesses and attract visitors to Aberdeen?
The only good news there has been for months is the Tall Ships arriving here in 2025.
Just how and when do these plans get passed, without the public being informed?
S.A.T., Bridge of Don.
Spend NHS funding on proper care to clear bunged-up hospitals
Sir, – With bated breath we awaited the budgetary announcement from John Swinney, the SNP’s man of all talents, be it as education minister, Covid recovery minister and now stand-in finance minister.
What jaw-dropping or wallet-emptying plan awaited us? A damp squib in the end, just the usual. A bit more tax for many, the raid on our finances to go to – surprise, surprise – the NHS. As someone who spent their working life in this institution, I will make the confident prediction it will make little difference.
Until proper attention is given to our care system, so that those lying needlessly in hospital beds can receive a proper care package allowing them to move back into the community, little will change.
That is where the extra money should be spent, a political gastroenterologist providing a laxative to our bunged-up hospitals. But, of course, the NHS is everybody’s darling and extra money is sure to get a thumbs up from the electorate while care is the tail-end Charlie when cash is being allocated.
Ivan W. Reid, Kirkburn, Laurencekirk.
High time Labour lived up to its role
Sir, – A single mum from Inverness was interviewed on BBC Scotland. She was on benefits, now works in retail, pays £300 per month for car fuel, can’t take a better-paid job because she’d need childcare which she can’t afford, has given up all luxuries like smoking, feeds her kids frugally but well, lives in a council house, has the coal fire on only in the evening and overnight because coal has rocketed in price and was better off on benefits. To sum up, the very opposite of a benefits scrounger and typical of the UK’s three million single families, up from 560,000 in 1971.
Next up was Roz Foyer of the STUC who challenged the Scottish Government to use its tax powers to redistribute income to those who need it most, starting with John Swinney’s budget.
She very sketchily summarised a new STUC report entitled Scotland Demands Better Fairer Taxes for a Fairer Future, which looks at income, wealth and property taxation, to illustrate how £1.3 billion could be raised by taking an extra £200 per year from families earning £40,000, £1,000 from those earning £60,000 and progressively more from higher earners.
Then Social Justice, Housing and Local Government Minister Shone Robison came on to tell us there’s nothing can be done because it’s all Westminster’s fault, despite the blatant message from Ms Foy, Martin Geissler, the STUC and an excellent analysis by the BBC’s Douglas Fraser that the SNP has plenty of scope to reshape our tax system.
I have a question and a suggestion. Is enough being done to make missing partners pay their share of childcare, and how about Anas Sarwar publishing an alternative budget based on using existing devolved powers and the STUC report, to get a proper debate started on taxation and the responsibility of the better off, and to start looking like an opposition party that actually wants to run Scotland?
Allan Sutherland, Willow Row, Stonehaven.
Praise for ‘excellent’ quality journalism
Sir, – As a regular correspondent to your excellent newspaper I must thank the editorial team for the fairness and insight with which business is conducted.
May I wish you all joy at Christmas and every good wish for the year ahead. In this troubled but beautiful world, may the warmth of a smile brighten each day.
However, in the magnificent words of F. Scott Fitzgerald:
“It was only a sunny smile
And little it cost in the giving,
But like morning light it scattered the night
And made the day worth living.”
Slainte mhath.
Grant Frazer, Cruachan, Newtonmore.
Off-peak electricity cost sparks anger
Sir, – A recent memo from my energy supplier says that the price of my off-peak electricity heating units will increase from 25.8p to 29.3p from January 1.
The UK Government says that energy prices are soaring due to “the soaring global wholesale price of gas”. How do they explain the Isle of Man electricity authority, which generates most of its output from gas, selling off-peak heating units for 9.6p?
The Isle of Man also doesn’t have the UK’s economies of scale.
Geoff Moore, Braeface Park, Alness.
What a waste of public finances
Sir, – You reported on December 17 that the chief executive of nationalised Scottish Rail Holdings is stepping down.
He will “leave the role” on March 31 but his last working day is to be December 29 “due to outstanding annual leave”. He was appointed to the job in December last year.
Employment which provides three months annual leave after one year in the job is hardly a glowing example of public sector finances in Scotland.
J.M., Conon Bridge, Dingwall.
Think again over beachfront plans
Sir, – I applaud and fully support D Schofield’s letter (December 17) on the proposed changes to Aberdeen beach. I have many happy memories of my visits as a child, walking the promenade in my courting days and now as an “old lady” watching the waves from the comfort of my car.
We should not let this beautiful area be ruined.
A Cruickshank, North Deeside Road, Aberdeen.
Permit rises utter tosh
Sir, – Why should local residents be penalised for needing to park vehicles near their homes?
What tosh to say the proposed increases are to discourage cars from travelling through the city centre. If vehicles are travelling through then they are not parking. To try to force those living in the city centre to sell their vehicles and use public transport is surely discriminatory?
Is the purpose of parking permits not meant to be to safeguard parking for local residents against those travelling into the city centre and not to penalise them financially because of where they live? If so, money raised should not exceed the cost of implementing the scheme.
Irene reid.
Scots have beef with the SNP gravy train
Sir, – In these extraordinary times I do think, coming out of Covid and in the face of an economic crisis, we should pay more tax but it must benefit all Scots rather than the SNP’s political elite. Holyrood is hugely inflated, expensive and self-important.
In these trying times we must cut our coat to suit our cloth – half the amount of MSPs, and immediately disband every SNP quango which exists solely to give a very good living to the SNP’s political inadequates who otherwise would be unemployable.
Unless Holyrood can be seen to be trying to put its house in order it should not expect Scots to continue to pay for the SNP gravy train at the expense of the Scottish NHS.
Doug Gibb, Morven Cres, Westhill.
Blind nationalism can be dangerous
Sir, – Nicola Sturgeon is currently so totally obsessed with independence that she is prepared to use any of a number of hair-brained schemes she can invent in terms of how this can be delivered at this current time.
We were originally told that the gold standard in democracy was followed in 2012 when, recognising the overall majority in 69 SNP seats, a section 30 order was granted by the UK Government to enable the Scottish Parliament to pass the necessary legislation for a referendum. However, the most recent vote failed to win an overall majority. In theory, another referendum would also need to have waited for at least “a generation to pass” before it could be requested again if there was also significant popular support, but the result remains drawn in terms of that.
Prior to the 2016 election Sturgeon indicated under her latest interpretation of “democracy” that if the SNP won sufficient seats in the 2016 election then a new request would be made. Unfortunately, they only won 64 seats and not the 65 necessary for a majority. The immediate SNP solution was to find another party to form a coalition of convenience and the Greens now fitted the bill, having adjusted their constitution. It seems quite ridiculous, considering the variations in voting systems and voter eligibility may be used creatively by the SNP however they see fit to their advantage. The latest most bizarre scheme is to use a general election as a “de facto” referendum of the as yet undefined popular vote now that the Supreme Court has ruled the Scottish Parliament was not authorised or legally entitled, as everyone except Sturgeon has known for at least 15 years.
The mess created by a marginal Brexit vote is a clear example of the consequences of inconclusive divided votes. A marginal independence vote would also be a total and utter disaster for a Scottish exit from the United Kingdom after more than 300 years. Economic ignorance can have very severe unintended consequences. Sturgeon’s economic competence is extremely limited. She also needs to understand and accept the economic reality and now is really not the right time.
The difference between nationalism and patriotism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is excessively proud of his or her country no matter what it does. Blind nationalist support sets a dangerous precedent, is completely divisive and not good for Scotland.
David Philip, Knockhall Way, Newburgh.
Nationalists have outstayed welcome
Sir, – I appreciate that the whole purpose of the Scottish National Party is to make Scotland an independent country but the least it could do, while in the process, is make some sort of effort to govern for all the people not just its supporters. If it wants a country that has some hope of being financially viable it needs to make positive efforts to embrace business and offer hope to aspiring entrepreneurs.
John Swinney wasted an opportunity last week because he used his budget as a grandstanding opportunity to blame Westminster yet again for Scotland’s woes, not to offer positive incentives to those who create wealth for the benefit of everyone.
He talks about progressive taxation but there is nothing progressive about taxing hard-working Scots people in the midst of the worst economic crisis for years. He claimed to have raised money to help the NHS but, as I understand it, the total raised would cover it for about 48 hours.
He blamed – yet again – Brexit for damaging the country’s labour supply but the Scottish Government’s own figures show that there are now 231,000 EU workers in Scotland compared to 181,000 in 2016.
The Scottish Government will use any opportunity to blame someone else for their inability to balance the books. Look at the numerous disastrous investments made on the Scottish taxpayers’ behalf, be it CalMac ferries, Gupta’s jobless business, wasted legal rows and £500,000 for fees for a non-existent publicly-owned energy company.
Surely, by now, the voters of Scotland can see that progressive politics is not working and this shambles of a government should head for the exit.
Andrew Dingwall-Fordyce, Westhill, Aberdeen.
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