Watch out: we'll be at the mercy of the financial spivs once more

In the 1990s my own bank, Aberdeen Savings Bank, disappeared into Lloyds TSB. We all know how that ended up after all the other catastrophes, some of them named below. We travelled to Airdrie to open accounts with the last surviving savings bank in Scotland, but eventually even Airdrie could not cope with the pressures caused by the new system.

My generation will also remember that soon after the “Big Bang” NatWest disgracefully bankrupted itself; immediately the London system “fixed” it up, merging its liabilities and its perpetrators into the Royal Bank of Scotland. Inevitably RBS was itself quickly corrupted in consequence. The same rotten destruction was repeated as the privatised Halifax Building Society slithered into Bank of Scotland.

By 2010, Northern Rock, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers were just some of the names that had joined the horrible history of fraud, embezzlement and consumption of public funds. As the crisis emerged, Gordon Brown and the Labour Party continued the process by placing themselves – and UK assets, including oil revenues – at the disposal of these disintegrating banks. Mr Brown made an infamous Freudian slip by proclaiming himself as the “saviour of the world” but in the process he raided ordinary people’s pensions to bail out the rotten mess: in doing so he nailed Labour’s colours firmly to the City of London mast (recently endorsed by his successor, Sir Keir Starmer). In 2022, while still applauding his own behaviour, Mr Brown now apparently believes Mrs Thatcher’s deregulated, criminally irresponsible bankers should have been sent to jail. He is 12 years late – with no hint of personal remorse or humility – but nevertheless correct on this single point.

The truth is that, in 2022, in this chaotic, post-Brexit UK – morally, economically and politically bankrupt – ordinary savers have no choice; we find ourselves open to being fleeced by money launderers and hedge-fund gamblers.

Therefore, just to remind Gordon Brown: in 2015, the small independent nation of Iceland sent its corrupt bankers to jail. I hope Scotland – deeply insulted today by this carpet-bagging, deregulating, disastrously irresponsible pronouncement from Westminster politicians, for whom history has provided no lesson – will soon be exactly like Iceland: independent, fiscally reliable, globally responsible and, unlike Westminster-run UK, an internationally respected nation.

Frances McKie, Evanton.

THIS IS FAR FROM A DICTATORSHIP

GEORGE Cowie (Letters, December 9) chooses the highly inflammatory term of "dictator" to describe the democratically-elected First Minister of Scotland and present his desire for a change of government and leader.

Key to any true democracy is that the electorate can change their government periodically. Mr Cowie and anyone sharing his views can do so at the next Holyrood election. All they need to do is convince sufficient numbers to vote for it.

Recent polling suggests they may struggle.

Whether you like or dislike our current Government and First Minister is irrelevant. We have a functioning democracy which, unlike the one which decides the UK Parliament, ensures that the Scottish people have both a government and an opposition which broadly reflect the range of views held by the population, as expressed by the ballot box.

It’s about as far away from a dictatorship as it’s possible to get.

Gregor Clark, Irvine.

LET PM ADDRESS THE NATION

WHEN Covid was largely over, I hoped Boris Johnson (despite his credibility problem) would address the nation on TV in some detail about the adverse effects it had on our economy and how government finances had been impacted by its mitigation policies to avoid widespread bankruptcies and mass unemployment, but which led to our huge national debt still reeling from the 2008 bankers’ bailout.

Pent-up inflation was clearly about to explode as many experts forecast, and it was then greatly exacerbated by Putin’s war. The trade unions were stirring.

I then hoped that Liz Truss would address us, and still wait for Rishi Sunak to do so, with his ideal inside knowledge as the Covid Chancellor who warned us early on that his furlough and other schemes would soon have to be paid for. Surely most voters would accept that to yield now to all the pay increase demands would make our debt and taxation levels, and our inflation/cost-of-living crises, even worse – leading us all back to square one.

John Birkett, St Andrews.

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY

PRINCE Harry was a cheeky chappie kind of boy, loved by most of the country. He served in the Army and undertook two tours of Afghanistan, where he played an important role at the frontline but had to leave when his location was leaked by the media. He partied like any young lad, did one or two silly things a boy in his position maybe shouldn’t have, and was always respectful to the rest of the royals, especially his granny.

He could have grown in stature and been elevated to play a major role in the Commonwealth like his brother. Then he met a second-rate ambitious American actress. Enough said ("World’s longest, most expensive perfume ad, with more on way", The Herald, December 9).

Ian Balloch, Grangemouth.

SHORT-TERM LET DELAY A DISGRACE

I AM so angry today. The Scottish Government should be ashamed of itself.

After bringing in the the short-term let licensing rules and insisting that all existing businesses have to have everything in place by March, it has now decided to delay the scheme by six months because of the current cost of living crisis.

For the last year business owners, industry bodies and tourism groups have been saying this was the worst possible time to introduce this scheme and this was ignored. After three bad years of Covid-affected tourism, the introduction of the new fire alarm measures and now with the energy prices and cost of living rises, many are struggling with their finances. Most have already started to get things into place for March, and have had to spend large sums of money for the inspections and certificates needed. We have already spent nearly £900 and that's not including the licence fee. Many smaller business use the money they have made over the year to keep them going through the winter, so they could ill afford this. Now all these documents will have one year less before they will need to be applied for again. A lot of small business had already made the decision to close down as they could not afford these costs to obtain a licence.

Even worse, new businesses not yet opened had to apply by December 1 and are not allowed to take any bookings until they get their licence. Think of ploughing all your money into your business and then being told you can't recoup any. Some councils haven't even started the licence application yet, and one I read about yesterday only has one member of staff to deal with the applications. How long is it going to take for people to get their licence? Many will probably miss next season's bookings.

All this for a licence which the majority believe is not needed and will not help the situation it is designed to deal with.

Tracey Smith, Invercassley Cottage B & B, Rosehall, Lairg.

HOME TRUTHS ABOUT UNITE CAMPAIGN

THE Get Me Home Safely campaign, backed by the Unite union, which argues that hospitality workers should be provided with "safe and free transport home" has been featured across the media, including a piece in this newspaper ("Campaign launched to make safe travel home compulsory for hospitality staff", The Herald, December 8). As an employer in the hospitality sector, who has over more than 25 years always paid taxi fares to ensure staff working at night get home safely, several points raised caught my eye.

First, when Unite says "employers and politicians" must ensure staff are safe, is it aware that employers have been lobbying politicians for more years than I remember to make taxi/travel an allowable expense for tax purposes to no avail? (Some may find it ironic after numerous expenses scandals that MPs would block a move which would have been, albeit a small one, a help to employers providing safe travel.)

The second point was the statement "GMHS in Glasgow would send the strongest message yet to late-night workers and employers alike that transport home after a late night is fundamentally important to their overall safety and working conditions". Does this mean that carers, health workers and many other workers doing essential jobs involving unsociable hours should be provided with "safe free transport"?

For the avoidance of doubt I believe that staff in hospitality working late hours should be reimbursed for travel expenses.

William Gold, Hielan Jessie bar, Glasgow.

Pat Nevin has been broadcasting from Qatar for Radio 5Live

NEVIN'S ACTIONS A DISAPPOINTMENT

OF all the football pundits I was sure that Pat Nevin would reject the invitation to be part of this shamed World Cup.

In your article ("‘I wanted to come out and see what it is like for myself in Qatar’", Herald Sport, December 9) he says that he went to see what it was like for himself, that people were friendly (what did he expect?) and that all in all it is wonderful.

The fact that the process was overtly corrupt (who did not wince when the envelope with Qatar on it was revealed?), that allegedly thousands of non-Qataris died in the construction of the stadia, that an enormous amount of pollution is being caused by the huge air-conditioned stadia and most importantly that the country has some cultures and traditions which are almost antediluvian, seemed to matter less to this most cerebral of commentators than his personal curiosity is personally disappointing.

Many football figures have made mention of some of the above but like Nevin most have managed to overcome their disgust and inflate their bank balance.

W MacIntyre, East Kilbride.

ZIGN OF THE TIMES

FURTHER to recent comments on the misuse of our language, do many other people fume as I do with the singing of Auld Lang Zyne? It isn’t rocket science to understand that it is the Scots version of Old Long Since. We don’t say Zince.

Joyce Avery, Milngavie.

Read more: It's high time this First Minister was replaced