Letters: We must act to rein in pension fund risk-takers

Further changes are clearly needed not only for financial regulators but in their appointments system. For example, different people appointed to each key role could have helped to achieve prudent, low-risk financial management. This would include preventing pension funds investing in Liability Driven Investments (LDIs) which expose funds to the interest rate fluctuations and the losses which have triggered this crisis. It is essential to ban pension funds from investing in all such derivatives which can risk people’s savings.

Gordon Brown’s separation of the Bank of England’s and the financial regulatory system – including the appointments of its management – from political control possibly allowed politicians including the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to presume this system was robust and not subject to fund managers being tempted to take risks with different financial schemes. Recent events have proved this has been anything but the case. To prevent such losses ever happening again further reform and regulation to stabilise our financial system and pension fund management cannot come soon enough.

Elizabeth Marshall, Edinburgh.

LABOUR CLAIMS ARE NOT CREDIBLE

IT is time to put some perspective into recent claims by the Labour Party in respect of the UK’s current cost of living crisis and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget last Friday.

Labour's assertion that government borrowing to primarily mitigate the massive forthcoming hikes in energy costs could be met by a windfall tax on the energy companies is just not credible. According to the party's own estimates a windfall tax would raise around £8 billion, however the Government has already announced a windfall tax which should generate around £5 billion which means the net gain would only be £3bn. This is a mere drop in the ocean when compared to the £60-£150bn (depending on market fluctuations) required to fund the announced price cap on energy bills for both the public and businesses sectors alike. The net result is that Labour would have to borrow a very similar amount as the Government in order to keep energy prices from spiralling out of control. Furthermore, its claim that only high earners would benefit from a tax cut is just not the case. In actual fact, every taxpayer will enjoy a tax cut, with the basic rate being cut to 19p in the pound. This of course would not apply in Scotland unless Holyrood does similar.

Having said all the above I do think that the decision to scrap the top rate of income tax during the current cost of living crisis, despite the low cost to the Treasury of around £2bn, coupled with the lifting of the cap on banker’s bonuses, is politically insensitive at best. This so-called plan for growth may ultimately work, but how long will it take to trickle down and reach the proletariat? Probably anything up to 10 years. So, as I pointed out on your Letters Pages following the Conservative leadership race, Tory MPs will only have themselves to blame for appointing Liz Truss to the final short leet. As ultimately the most unsuited candidate for Prime Minister, she will surely lead them and their party to an unmitigated humiliation at the next General Election.

Christopher H Jones, Giffnock.

IS LIZ TRUSS FOR REAL?

I’VE just listened to all eight of the interviews Liz Truss gave to local BBC radio stations yesterday (September 29), an hour in total. Yes I know, sticking pins in my eyes would have been more fun; but I think I’ve discovered why our Prime Minister comes across as, well, odd. From her turgid and pre-scripted answers to every question she was asked, it’s clear Ms Truss is in fact a robot. Which also explains why she never looks comfortable in her own skin.

Goodness knows who built and programmed this robot that is now running the country. Whoever they are, they’re clearly driven by personal greed and don’t have the UK’s best interests at heart. I doubt if a reboot of the robotic Ms Truss will do any good; what we need now is a General Election and the opportunity to boot her and her foolish Chancellor out of office. And please, forget the Bring Back Boris campaign; he was little better.

Doug Maughan, Dunblane.

THE CHALLENGE FOR SARWAR

LABOUR won’t gain any seats in Scotland if it fails to commit to joining the EU, as Brexit is a major factor in the continual economic decline of the UK, and fails to accept the Scottish Parliament’s democratic mandate to hold a referendum on our future ("Truss’s bad week continues as Labour open up 33-point lead in bombshell poll", The Herald, September 30).

Labour’s Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Kyle has said he would be prepared to call an Irish border poll if certain conditions are met. He said he would set out the criteria required for calling a referendum, which can be held every eight years and is currently in the gift of the Northern Ireland Secretary providing if it can be demonstrated that a majority desire this. "I am saying I am not going to be a barrier if the circumstances emerge," he told the BBC at the Labour Party conference.

In Wales, Mark Drakeford has defended Welsh Labour’s co-operation agreement with Plaid Cyrmu. Following last year’s election, the two parties thrashed out a three-year deal to "address issues which take the greatest political and policy effort to resolve". Wales's First Minister Drakeford said that while they did not agree on everything, they focused "on those areas where progressive parties can agree."

The dinosaurs in Scottish Labour need to spell out the pathway to an independence referendum, as the latest Social Attitudes survey showed that four in 10 Labour supporters back independence for Scotland and in every poll a majority of all voters under 55 support independence. Time is running out for the Union.

It is completely illogical to state that you would never do a deal with the SNP to ensure a Westminster majority, while Labour happily sits in power at council level in Edinburgh and elsewhere thanks to informal deals with the Tories.

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh.

CRUCIAL ROLE FOR MSPs AND MEDIA

STAN Grodynski (Letters, September 30) focuses only on the eye-watering overrun of the forecast direct costs of the Ferguson ferries’ contract and fails to mention that this is only a current best estimate and will, no doubt, be grossly exceeded when, and if, the ferries are ever completed. In his financial comparison to the cost of other UK-wide economic debacles, he also fails to take into consideration the prolonged and continuing damage to the economies and lives of our islands for which the Calmac ferries are an essential lifeline, the current cost of which would no doubt dwarf the direct cost of the ferries’ contract – and with no end in sight.

However, perhaps most importantly, by criticising the role played by “duplicitous Tory politicians” and the BBC in trying to shed some light on the reasons why the ferries’ contract has gone so badly wrong, he appears to fail to appreciate the critical role that the members of the Scottish Parliament, regardless of their political persuasion, BBC Scotland and the press in general have to play in ensuring the transparency and honesty of the Scottish government, regardless of which political party is in power.

Bob Hamilton, Motherwell.

• TODAY'S lead Letters Page (September 30) was a cracker. Two regular correspondents of a unionist persuasion were in full-on hyperbolic insult mode on their favourite subject – the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon. "Hugely insulting" and "morally repugnant" writes Richard Allison. "Ranting and raving about the Tory Government" claims Douglas Sooman on Nicola Sturgeon's performance at First Minister's Questions on Thursday. Calm down gentlemen, I watched FMQs, and nary a rant or a rave was to be heard, just a clinical dismantling of Douglas Ross in Ms Sturgeon's usual calm and controlled manner.

Thank goodness for Stan Grodynski's measured and polite exposition of the facts around the sorry ferries' shambles, with some neat comparators to put things into context. Well done to him.

John Jamieson, Ayr.

TAKE A LEAD IN A WORTHY CAUSE

I HAVE just watched a TV news clip about the retirement of a guide dog. I am sure that many folk were touched by it and wished they could help, and so I would like to make a suggestion to those who can afford £5 per month to help increase the number of such dogs that can be provided.

From the time they were very young, every Christmas I have ensured that part of the present to my grandchildren was a donation to a charity that they would be interested in, to encourage them to think of others less fortunate. Having chosen Guide Dogs, because of the appeal of puppies to children, I expect to be sponsoring a third puppy each this year.

The puppy for each is specified by name and photos and updates about their progress is sent regularly. If a puppy for any reason cannot complete the training programme, if is replaced by another named one at approximately the same stage. The sponsorship continues until the dog finally goes to an owner.

More sponsorships could now mean more puppies bred and trained, with more staff employed, and more folk in need of a dog supplied with one sooner. Anyone able to afford, even in this financial crisis, the small sum every month could support this very worthwhile cause in this way.

P Davidson, Falkirk.

THAT'S NEVER AN IAN

THOSE who have suffered the damaging consequences of the hurricane, which has left destruction in its wake ("Two million people left without power in Florida after Hurricane Ian strikes", The Herald, September 30) will no doubt in the aftermath be left questioning the appropriateness of the name "Ian" being attached to such a force of nature. Its meaning is "gift from God".

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

SWEEPING STATEMENT

I AM intrigued by Thelma Edward’s account of the sooty tooth-cleaning exploits of her granny (Letters, September 30).

Could this be the origin of “making a clean sweep?

R Russell Smith, Largs.

Read more: The hypocrisy of the SNP is morally repugnant