I WOULD imagine that the majority of Herald readers are in the same boat as me and although we can’t pop down to the shops and buy a Maserati on a whim we don’t have to worry where the next can of beans is coming from. My new Glasgow council tax charge means it will cost me £10 a day just to stay in my own wee house and it’s not as if I live in a palace with a deer park and lake in the garden. Impending fuel and utility hikes mean that we may have to modify our behaviour somewhat, but we will survive.
What is not obvious, since it doesn’t get the same publicity as illegal parties in Downing Street, or Geoffrey Cox MP getting £6 million for a part-time job, is that for many families the financial struggle started long ago and the level of personal debt in the UK was escalating way before the latest ridiculous and unnecessary hikes in the cost of petrol and utilities. The truly scary part of the statistics is that they relate principally to people who are actually currently employed; many are carers, nurses and other vital occupations.
The mantra of “buy now and pay later” is gradually morphing into “buy now and default on your debt later”. Comprehensive analysis of indebtedness shows an already alarming increase in Q3 of 2021 where the average debt per person in the UK (excluding mortgages) was £17,283 compared to £15,924 in Q2.
Of the top 20 UK cities and towns in 2021with the highest levels of personal debt 14 of them are in Scotland, only four were in England and all of them north of the Mersey-Humber line. However, the 10 areas showing the greatest reduction in levels of personal debt over the course of the year were all in Scotland and all 20 of the areas showing a 25% increase or more were in England with the exception of Belfast and Kirkwall. What’s going on in Kirkwall?
Is this what Michael Gove means by levelling up? Is the plan to make all those in England as deeply in debt as years of Thatcherite de-industrialisation and Westminster austerity forced upon the Scots? If so, it seems to be working.
David J Crawford, Glasgow.
STOP PANDERING TO EV OWNERS
HOUSEHOLD energy bills are rapidly escalating and could soon be more than £3,000 a year. Local councils installed free electric vehicle (EV) charging points for the convenience of rich EV owners. Electricity is set to become even more expensive so why are councils in Scotland, and some 21 in England, still providing free electricity and free parking for people well able to pay when many council tax payers are now having to choose between eating and heating?
Clark Cross, Linlithgow.
HELMETS DON'T MAKE CYCLISTS SAFER
I WOULD ask Josh Quigley ("Scottish record holder calls for helmets to be made mandatory for cyclists", The Herald, March 22): how many cycle helmets does he see amongst the thousands of cyclists in Amsterdam or Utrecht or Copenhagen? Very few, in my experience.
Cycle helmets do not add to cyclist safety – safe infrastructure and a culture where utility cycling is the norm for short journeys not only make cycling safer, but improve the environment for all; even drivers.
Boyd Johnston, Paisley.
THE LOST SUPPER
LIKE David J Crawford (Letters, March 19) I too remember when a gallon of petrol cost the equivalent of 25p some time in the 1960s. I also remember baulking at £1 for four fish suppers when on a family holiday in 1970 and the dismay of those nearest and dearest to me at my miserly grunt.
In truth, the financial outrage lingers still, and I experienced a flashback only recently on learning that one of the little witnesses, now soon to retire, forked out a double-digit sum for two large gin and tonics.
R Russell Smith, Largs.
* DAVID J Crawford refers to enormous increases in the price of petrol and more since the 1960s and wonders if the average take-home is now 100 times what it was then. My salary when I started work in 1960 was £100 – per annum.
David Williamson, Kelso.
CALL IT A DAY
R RUSSELL Smith (Letters, January 22) may know that October 27 is our National Black Cat Day. Moggies are not my favourite animals, nor octopus my favourite sea creature (World Octopus Day, October 8), but perhaps there is time to book a flight for National American Beer Day, also on October 27.
On second thoughts, a pint of my favourite at the golf club will suffice for this ancient relic.
David Miller, Milngavie.
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