JIM Stewart (Letters, January 23) maybe correct in that the EU has never created a Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla or Twitter. However, that doesn’t mean that we cannot compete on the international stage when it comes to ideas, technology and enterprise.
Obviously Jim Stewart has never heard of printing presses, which were first used in Germany to print the Gutenberg Bible; two stroke engines (Scotland); Daimler-Benz petrol engines (Germany); steam power (Scotland) and maybe I should add in the armoured tank (England), pencil sharpener (France), the stethoscope (France), Braille (France), Pasteurisation (France), Jacques Cousteau’s, aqua lung (France); the barometer (Italy), banks (Italy), the electrochemical battery (Italy) to name just a few things European that we take for granted from the last millennia.
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The full list of inventions, ideas, groups, associations and businesses started and/or founded by Europeans would take up a considerable number of volumes rather than a letter to a newspaper. In some cases, like pasteurisation and antibiotics, it isn’t about making money or creating a big multinational company, but trying to eliminate pain and suffering in our fellow humans. In some cases, patents have lapsed or were never sought or weren’t even available at the time of the invention or discovery. In other cases, like the petrol engine, it has been improved on by countless people – some of whom have taken out patents on a particular feature but never made a big fortune. Then of course is how things are funded and what their primary intentions are for.
I’m sure that Scots will continue to be at the cutting edge of technology, innovations and discoveries in a diverse field, as will those in Holland, Germany, France, Italy and the rest of the EU.
Alexander Potts
Kilmarnock
READING Jim Stewart’s letter on the SNP wanting to drag Scotland back into the EU. Not passing any opinion on the pros and cons of that. However, interested in his choice of companies highlighting his opinion of the EU being a “failing state”. While Amazon, Google, etc are very large ultra-successful companies, they also seem to have a dislike of paying taxes in countries where they operate.
Charlie Ross
Garmouth
JIM Stewart of Musselburgh may be right in saying the EU has never created an Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Huawei, Microsoft, Tesla, or Twitter but, as someone who wants to live in a world that isn't forced into a bland conformity by global multinationals, I'm sure this is a good thing. Given the choice between supporting a vast corporation dedicated to making its multi-billionaire owners even richer while paying its employees minimum wages on zero-hour contracts, or some smaller less "efficient" but more responsible company (which pays its taxes) I know which I would chose. It's not ALL about profit.
Liam Baldwin
Ballachulish
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