I WAS left confused by Tom Gordon’s remarks ("Crisis requires fresher ideas than universal basic income", The Herald, April 11) on a universal basic income (UBI). He is looking for a big response, but not as big as UBI. He complains that the £100 per week figure hasn’t been updated for inflation, but Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) has only increased from £72.40 to £73.10, and sick pay is also still under £100 at £95.85. So £100 UBI would still be a significant increase on both, even if not quite as generous as six years ago. £200 per week would obviously be better for equality, but more disruptive.

More worrying is Mr Gordon’s complaint that people would be taxed by 27p on the first pound that they earn. He seems unaware that today someone claiming Universal Credit might not be taxed, but they only benefit by 33p for every pound they earn, because the UC payment is steeply tapered in a bureaucratic process of checking a claimant's recent earnings every week. But somehow the infamous Laffer Curve argument that people won’t bother to work if their marginal tax rate is too high is only applied to the rich.

Clearly if we already had a UBI system in place, the Government’s response to the economic costs of lockdown would have been simplified. There would have been no question of claiming sick pay while self-isolating but not actually sick, and no surge in claimants as workers were laid off. There would be less of a worry about people working when they should be quarantined because they need to pay their bills. And less worry from the self-employed who can’t furlough themselves, and can’t claim JSA while running a company – even if they aren’t generating any revenue, only paying the bills.

Alan Ritchie, Glasgow G1.

WE are seeing multi-billion-pound windfall profits earned by hedge funds from short-selling operations in plummeting global markets on the back of the coronavirus crisis.

Ruffer Investment recently reported making £2.4 billion and Odey Asset Management a return of 21 per cent in March alone, although no cash figure was mentioned.

As stated in a previous letter (March 24), these profits are being earned by intromitting with shares which are borrowed, not owned. The effect is that markets are being influenced by operators who have no beneficial ownership in the shares in which they are dealing and the process is morally repugnant. For every winner there is of course a loser and the losers here are our pension funds, personal savings and not least charitable institutions.

Under the EU’s Short Selling Regulation the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is empowered to ban short sales. Indeed, it did take action during the 2008 financial crisis. The current pandemic is likely to have repercussions of an even greater order. Why the delay this time round?

As a nation, weekly on Thursday evenings we come together to pay tribute to our wonderful NHS and carers and to all the volunteers up and down the country who are working flat out to help get us through this crisis. Is it a forlorn hope that the conscience of short-selling hedge fund managers might be pricked?

D Lindsay Walker, Strachur.