I NOTE with interest Peter McGregor's article about the economic consequences of financing a Scandinavian type of welfare state and the increased taxation which would be required ("Extra fiscal powers set a tax-spend challenge", The Herald, June 10).
It is indeed valuable for politicians and voters to consider the economics around Scandinavian or German levels of state welfare, or rather state investment in people.
However, today's problems in Scotland are quite different. We are talking about a welfare system which results in large-scale malnutrition in children and identifiable extra deaths through cold housing which the occupants cannot afford to heat. This is a rich country in which one of the root causes of disease is poverty.
And we are talking about a society in which some commentators say that the Conservatives are looking forward to the ability to manipulate income tax in Scotland being available before the next election to the Scottish Parliament ("David Cameron's government to fast-track new powers so Tories can offer tax cuts in next Holyrood elections", The Herald, May 28). This is so that they can offer reduced taxation with the unspoken consequent increase in child malnutrition and even less support for the disadvantaged.
Would that we did have the economic problems of more civilised neighbouring states.
Hugh Boyd,
65 Antonine Road, Bearsden.
DR Scott Arthur is living in a fantasy land if he genuinely believes that there is the slightest prospect of the new Tory administration suddenly agreeing to grant Holyrood full fiscal autonomy in line with the SNP's aspirations within the lifetime of the new Parliament (Letters, June 10).
This was made perfectly clear by Mr David Mundell , Scotland's sole Tory MP, shortly after his appointment as Secretary of State for Scotland - or should that be governor-general of the Empire's Scottish colony? - when he explicitly stated that there is "no way" that this is on the Cameron administration's agenda.
Against this background it makes perfect sense for Scotland's Finance Secretary, John Swinney, to focus his efforts instead on securing as many fiscal and welfare powers as he possibly can in an effort to limit the damage that continues to be done to many of our communities by the government's ideologically-driven austerity policies.
In the meantime Dr Arthur might care to reflect that if we Scots are such a burden to the Treasury, as he claims, why are they so reluctant to let us go our own way at least to the extent of allowing us to handle our own financial resources and not just a niggardly percentage of them.
Ian O Bayne,
8 Clarence Drive, Glasgow.
IT is nice to see that Nicola Sturgeon has retained the services of the SNP's Creative Strategy Department after taking over from Alex Salmond as leader of the party and as Scotland's First Minister. In his time in charge Mr Salmond had Scotland joining an "Arc of Prosperity" with Iceland and Ireland, which was ditched when both countries went bankrupt. He then insisted we would follow the economic model of Norway, which has now bitten the dust due to the collapse of confidence in the oil sector. Ms. Sturgeon has now rummaged through the history books and identified the approach of post-war West Germany as the appropriate strategy for an independent Scotland (" Sturgeon: Post-war West Germany is the economic master plan for a fairer Scotland", The Herald, June 11).
West Germany was a large country which rose from the ashes of destruction, chaos, and hyper-inflation caused by World War II, and which was re-built with massive amounts of international assistance (as indeed was Japan). As a small country with record levels of employment, no inflation, excellent economic growth, and a generous welfare state, it is hard to see how the so-called Rhine Capitalism system could be applied to 21st century Scotland.
The SNP's ability to shift from one model to another, in the manner of a high school Economics exercise, should come as no surprise to those of us who take an interest in their rhetoric and soundbites. However real-life politics is not a game. Rather than speculate to a group of bemused Americans about her 1950s vision for Scotland, the First Minister would be better off back in Holyrood helping her team to run the country.
Derek Miller,
Westbank, West Balgrochan Road, Torrance.
THE friendly and unpretentious First Minister of Scotland has clearly made a big impression in the United States and it is encouraging to note that Nicola Sturgeon had "warm and constructive" talks with US Deputy Secretary of State, Anton Blinken, and also met with the US Deputy Secretary for Education, and the US Deputy Under-secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services ("US education meeting centres on attainment gap", The Herald, June 11).
However, I am disappointed that Scotland's First Minister, on her first official visit to the United States, was not invited to meet with President Obama. I seem to recall that a few months ago, Prince William, who is neither a head of state nor head of government, met and had talks with the President. The same courtesy should have been extended to Ms Sturgeon.
Still, it was his loss, and given her enthusiastic reception and the impact she made on the people of the United States, I suspect that Mr Obama will be joining the queue to meet Ms Sturgeon next time she crosses the pond.
Ruth Marr,
99 Grampian Road, Stirling.
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