I WONDER how many of your readers are aware of the following: A man born on April 5, 1951, with 45 years' National Insurance contributions, receives £129.20 per week old age pension at age 65. A man born a day later, with 35 years' National Insurance contributions, receives £168.60 per week old age pension at age 65.
Of course, the oldest and most vulnerable in society are always the easiest to exploit – or should I say most easily mugged? The silence from the opposition parties and the various devolved governments on this is completely deafening.
DH Telford, Fairlie.
Squirrel wars: peace breaks out
IN case anyone might be interested, I believe I have reached an accommodation with the grey squirrels/tree rats which continued to raid my bird feeder despite my best efforts to thwart them.
Unfortunately I could not follow the excellent solution suggested by Constance Buchanan (Letters, July 10) of hanging the feeder from the clothes line as these are forbidden, in favour of rotary dryers, in the development where I live. After trying some lateral thinking, I concluded I had no option but to settle our differences by bribing them. Having noted the bushes where invariably they exit (and I assume enter) my garden with me in hot pursuit, I now leave a healthy supply of seeds for them there, and so far they have not returned to the feeder.
At the very least this should be welcomed by those who wrote to chastise me for attempting to deny the squirrels access to my feeder.
Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.
Not proven
THE award by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society ("Scots geographical society gives prestigious medal to Thunberg", The Herald, July 13) and the proposed Nobel Prize for Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage climate activist, may prove premature as global events develop.
She demands that more must be done to avoid catastrophic climate changes with continued greenhouse gas release. Realistically, the very complex factors governing climate are still not understood by science. Controversies abound, for example, the intensification of cloud cover by cosmic rays and the impact of sunspots indicating solar variability. These influences, like others unknown, have yet to be quantified.
The importance of disparities in international compliance in curbing CO2 release cannot be over emphasised: well over half of global CO2 comes from non-complying nations with extensions of coal mining. These include China, the United States, Russia, India and many more; they will never change policy.
Costs of decarbonisation are in the trillions, impairing vital expenditures, and the profound changes in our lifestyles may well prove unacceptable.
Scientific progress in space exploration and so much else will be vitiated.
These planetary tugs-of-war may never be resolved, so the pause in global warming and the many failed gloomy predictions are grounds for optimism.
(Dr) Charles Wardrop, Perth.
Murray poser
IF Andy Murray was watching that memorable Wimbledon final ("Novak: I won’t stop until I pass Federer and Nadal", Herald Sport, July 15), was he thinking: maybe I should just stick to doubles?
Alex Dickson, Lochinver.
TWO weeks of high intensity competition in the sun, particularly in the men’s final, where they played for more than five hours without a significant break final. How many competitors felt the need to spit? Professional footballers please note,
Tom Fleming, Alloa.
I SEE that David Beckham was at Wimbledon. Did he notice the lack of tattoos evident on the players? Just asking.
Steve Barnet, Gargunnock.
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