THE Rt Rev Dr Gregor Duncan, Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway is right to condemn the scandal of food banks existing in "one of the wealthiest nations on this earth" ("It is a scandal that so many have to resort to charity in midst of plenty”, Agenda, The Herald, February 6).
That well-worn description of the UK will resonate painfully in the ears of those trapped in low-paid, part time or zero hours employment and in those who have seen minimum, if any wage rises in recent years.
The wealth to which he and others refer is largely concentrated in the south-east of England influenced, to some extent, by inflated property values arising from purchases by overseas investors from China, the Middle East and Russia.
His protests will, however, flow easily over the heads of the chief executives of those FTSE-100 companies earning a grotesque £5 million annually. This figure is now 183 times the level of those on average earnings, illustrating either the inability or unwillingness of governments of whatever colour to deal with inequality in our society.
The UK has become a service-based economy with a government still continuing to borrow. While not dismissing the importance of the service sector, many of those employed in it are engaged in a low-paid and insecure capacity. With the courageous exception of the rescue of the Ferguson shipyard in Greenock by Jim McColl, our shipyards rely on politically-based contracts for naval vessels, including two aircraft carriers - one of which has an uncertain future. Personal debt remains high with consumer demand sucking in imports from low wage economies. Many struggle to gain a footing on the lowest rung of the property ladder. When did we last hear reports of balance of trade figures, which were formerly trotted out as an indication of the nation's performance in world markets?
Sorry, Dr Duncan and other church leaders, it's doubtful if your views carry much clout with your opposite numbers in the corridors of power.
The efforts of our elected politicians should be focused on encouraging enterprising wealth producers, many of whom could live comfortably on considerably less than £5m a year, and on creating a much fairer society than is evident at present.
Malcolm Allan,
2 Tofthill Gardens,
Glasgow.
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