THE news that Scotland’s roads have a £1.2 billion backlog of repairs brings some focus to your columnist Pinstripe’s appeal for a change in focus in public services (“Four ways to make public spending cash go further”, The Herald, February 12).
But it is interesting to see his list of things that should be cut back, because he does not benefit from them, and the list of things that should be expanded because he does. If we accept that, every now and again, something will go wrong, we can both allow teachers more latitude in extra-curricular activities and, equally, we can accept that not every road will have a complete set of cats-eyes and white lines or be pothole-free.
If we roll back the health-and-safety culture a notch, we might have built a cheaper road bridge faster across the Forth, but the one life sadly lost during construction would probably have been closer to the seven deaths building the first road bridge, or even the 78 building the railway bridge.
If we rolled health and safety back another notch, we could have callously waited for the old bridge to fall into the river; the failing cables would simply be another thing that went wrong for us to accept and move on from.
Sadly, a nannying approach to health and safety is required as people find weighing risk very difficult.
Pinstripe even relies on people misjudging risk and reward by offering to buy them of final salary pension schemes for a 10 per cent increase in salary; otherwise it wouldn’t save any money. At least banks can be bailed out when they get it wrong.
Finally, raiding everyone’s wallets through higher taxes is bad but raiding them through prescription charges or bus fares is apparently acceptable. So why not end a major freebie and introduce a proper congestion charging scheme?
This would not simply be a London-style line on a map; instead, picture average speed cameras along our busiest motorways and A-roads that charged not only for speeding, but also if the average speed was too low. For being in a traffic jam and getting in the way of everyone else, a delay of a few seconds adds up across hundreds or even thousands of people to hours of wasted time.
As an added bonus, a surprise resurfacing of the Kingston Bridge or other choke points during rush hour could cause enough of a tailback to turn a substantial profit.
In a future column, Pinstripe might complain about the waste of our perfectly surfaced and painted roads and appeal for free bus travel to be extended to all commuters, either to get them out his way or so that he can save on the bus fare too.
Alan Ritchie,
2/2 72 Waverley Street, Glasgow.
THE hiatus in the housing market was long predicted as the inevitable outcome of the very first tax raising act by the SNP (“Housing in gridlock as Scots baby boomers stall market”, The Herald, February 14).
From the outset, skewed taxation against the perceived “better off” has been a trademark SNP policy. The effects are now becoming clearer. Tax revenue from the housing market is less than was forecast.
Compounding this, the retail trade is preparing for the next shock because of increases in income tax due shortly which will absorb what little spare money people have left.
Giving a few pence back to those less well off is just a political ploy. Growth in Scotland is extremely low and it is patently obvious that government policies are exacerbating this situation.
Given the hold the Greens have over the SNP and their stated desire for even more punitive taxation to be meted out to the middle class in the next Budget, the question has to be asked as to where will this all lead?
Governments are supposed to learn by previous mistakes. The SNP and Green alliance has chosen to ignore this.
Trying to tax your way out of a financial hole is doomed to failure and all Scots will ultimately suffer.
Dr Gerald Edwards,
Broom Rd,
Glasgow.
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