Letters: For economic madness, look no further than the state of the UK

At lease £300 billion has been wiped off stock and bond markets during Liz Truss’s month-long tenure.

There is a cost of living crisis to which the solutions are apparently to “grow the pie” gifting billions to the energy companies, reducing taxes on the rich and not increasing benefits to the poor.

You report Jacob Rees-Mogg wishes to accelerate oil exploration west of Shetland and the north Irish Sea ("Licences for oil and gas to be launched by UK", The Herald, October 7), perhaps demonstrating that it is not the Union but Scotland’s resources which Westminster holds dear.

Norway enjoys the world’s largest wealth fund whilst we share some £2 trillion and rising debt.

Douglas Cowe (Letters, October 7) wrote: “I can only assume that supporters care nothing for the economics and finance of the fight for separation, are happy for money to be wasted and are totally taken in by the teenage emotion of some sort of 'freedom'." Really?

Alan Carmichael, Glasgow.

DESTROYING THE PROPERTY DREAM

AT the very heart of the Conservative political brand identity sits the slogan "the property-owning democracy". It is its credo,that reaches out into the whole country touching families with the hand of pride, aspiration and hope.

This week in one brutal assault the Conservative Party has destroyed that paradigm, making the dream of owning a property an unaffordable heartache.

Stupid, unthinking gross ideological utterances have brought not "growth" but pain and hardship on so many. Not just aspiring homeowners but a large swathe of renting working people and professionals are hurting.

It is no surprise therefore to see a Tory wipe-out in polling terms: yet that will not help alleviate the burden of mortgage hardship.

Thom Cross, Carluke.

TRUSS SHOULD FOLLOW SNP LEAD

JILL Stephenson (Letters, October 7), try as she might, simply cannot defend the indefensible. Even Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng recognised this with a U-turn earlier in the week. Ms Stephenson and other correspondents simply cannot stop themselves taking a punt at the Scottish Government regarding so called "freebies", which in many cases are lifelines.

Imagine if here in Scotland amidst the current cost of living crisis, we were expected to pay £9.50 per item for our medication, an outrage for those in England and a tax on the sick. But those "freebies" go much further and affect many everyday aspects of our lives from birth. Free baby boxes in Scotland, giving every child an equal start, free personal care, which no longer has age discrimination.

The Scottish Government has a progressive taxation system, designed to assist those on low earnings with those on higher earnings paying a little more, and is currently rolling out devolved welfare powers and benefits, taking a whole new approach of "dignity, fairness and respect" with the claimant at the heart of the system.

Progressive taxation is the only way to create a fair and socially just society. It would do the PM no harm to adopt progressive policies.

Catriona C Clark, Falkirk.

CAN WE SEE THE PITFALLS?

IT is good to see that Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government will publish their proposals for the economy and the currency of a putative independent Scotland soon ("Nicola Sturgeon promises economic and currency answers on independence within days", heraldscotland, October 7). If it bears any resemblance to reality, it will of course show how difficult secession will be and what the price of independence will be in terms of higher taxes and public expenditure cuts, especially if it is predicated upon EU membership on any terms and at any cost. Only a fool believes that you get something for nothing, and the forthcoming paper should be clear that independence is no different.

What would be very useful to all Scottish voters would be for the next volume in the part-work that is the Indyref2 prospectus to be a comprehensive account of all the disadvantages, pitfalls and costs that it would entail. It is only when we are armed with such information that voters can take a fully-informed and intelligent decision.

Would it be too much to ask that journalists demand such an account at the launch of the economic paper? If Nicola Sturgeon refuses to commit to its publication, we will know that she has something to hide. (Probably a lot, actually.)

Peter A Russell, Glasgow.

TAX CUTS WON'T BOOST ECONOMY

MALCOLM Parkin's analysis of the effects of tax cuts (Letters, October 7) is naive at best.

He asserts that the best way to benefit the economy is to place more money in the hands of those who already have plenty.

Despite the fact that "the rich" minority already have the means to spend as they wish, he assumes they will pour the extra into the economy.

They won't. They will squirrel it away in tax havens and offshore accounts, thus actually removing it from the economy.

Give the tax cuts to the people who cannot afford to both heat and feed their families. They cannot afford to save. They are desperate to have money to spend in those areas that would directly affect the economy.

That is the fair way to address the problem.

John McCallum, Glasgow.

ANOTHER ROYAL LAMENT

IN reply to Michael Sheridan (Letters, October 6):

As we gathered to remember a woman called Liz

The great stone abbey filled with a raucous tizz

Turned out it wasn’t a regal queen we were celebrating

But a newly-crowned prime minister slowly disintegrating

“Wrong, wrong, wrong” she cried aloud

“Go, go, go” replied the crowd.

Robert Menzies, Falkirk.

YOUSAF TOO LATE WITH ACTION

HEALTH Secretary Humza Yousaf has suggested his plans to recruit a further 1,000 staff overseas for winter would solve his pressing problems as the NHS continues to flounder under his command and winter – or so it seems – it seems is already upon us ("Overseas recruitment drive to save NHS this winter", The Herald, October 5). NHS experts say this is nonsense because of the many months' training time involved. Perhaps if he had thought of this plan six months ago and anticipated the shortages – there appears to have been many warning signals and it is something you would expect a half-competent minister to do – we would be in a better place.

It will be hard for Mr Yousaf to have his standard get-out. "It was that big boy (the UK government) did it and ran away" can only be used once effectively. As the sign on US President Harry Truman’s desk said: "the buck stops here." If only the hapless Mr Yousaf would take that to heart.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

IT'S THE PLANET OR INDY

ANDY Maciver claims '"the SNP needs the General Election campaign to be laser-focused on the proxy referendum. It must be a single-issue campaign" ("Collapse of the Tories threatens disaster for the SNP", The Herald, October 7). However, the problem for the First Minister is that she is caught between Indyref2 and the COP26 pledges at a time when the economy cannot support both policies. This means that if Anas Sarwar points out to Green voters that Scottish Labour is the only party in Scotland that accepts the claim that "independence is irrelevant if we do not fix the climate" then the General Election becomes a referendum between independence with a decade of austerity or saving the planet to prevent wildfires destroying the countryside and rivers running low in water from Muckle Flugga to the Mull of Galloway.

Delegates at the SNP conference in Aberdeen must therefore decide whether to give precedence to the implementation of COP26 or accepting a decade of austerity and the collapse of a green transition in Scotland.

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas.

IGNORE PAISLEY AT YOUR PERIL

PRIME Minister Truss, in response to a question, recently stated: "Well, I’m proud to have lived in Paisley, and I hope they’re proud of me." There will be some doubt about her aspiration concerning reciprocation of feelings of pride when the townsfolk see their town brought into the Prime Minister's Conservative Party conference speech in the limited context of "boarded-up shops", "people left with no hope" and "families struggling to put food on the table" ("PM on attack over growth in bid to save premiership", The Herald, October 6). These are important issues and it cannot be denied that Paisley folk have been faced with their share of such problems over the years. However, there is much more, very much more, to this fine town than that.

Benjamin Disraeli once observed in the late 19th century that people should "keep an eye on Paisley" if they were seeking to secure an understanding about how political opinion nationally was forming. Prime Minister Truss, for as long as she remains in office, would do well to heed that advice.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

Scotland's Caroline Weir and Austria's Sarah Puntigam battle for the ball at Hampden Park on Thursday evening

WOMEN'S TEAM DESERVE BETTER

SCOTLAND’S women are on the brink of footballing history.

Next week fans could be booking tickets to Australia or New Zealand for the 2023 World Cup.

But on Thursday night, despite our wonderful victory against Austria in front of a record 10,128 crowd (" Super-sub Harrison seals dramatic win", Herald Sport, October 7), I was depressed.

I couldn't get home in time to watch it for free on BBC Alba so called into a number of bars in Glasgow city centre that advertise "Football Live".

None had it on. In one, favoured by Celtic fans, the barmaid said she didn’t know anything about the match or where to see it. There were three punters in the bar. Along the road, the Arsenal game was being screened.

More than 10,000 fans were at Hampden for Scotland's win against Austria – a record attendance – and many of them children. Magnificent.

But haud on. Celtic and Rangers average 50,000 a game. If those who go to Celtic Park and Ibrox are football fans why don't they also support Scotland? England's Lionesses get 90,000 at Wembley.

We need to show more support for our women footballers. And a plea to pubs: please put on BBC Alba when they show these matches live even if you are having to pay for Sky.

Andy Stenton, Glasgow.

LOVED, LOVED THE DO

I WAS at the first Beatles concert in Glasgow in October 1963 and it was at the Glasgow Concert Hall in Anderston/Finnieston, not the Odeon ("Help! The day Beatlemania brought Glasgow to a halt", The Herald, October 5). Their last concert in Glasgow was in the Odeon in 1965, which my husband attended.

Dorothy Craig, Clydebank.