SINCE the closure of pubs, hotels and restaurants was ordered on March 20 the Doomsday clock began ticking for these businesses many of which, as well as being established mainstays of their local economies are vital to our tourism industry as they enhance and enrich the experience of visitors to our country.
As the owner of a business in the hospitality industry I am grateful for the support I have received so far, both through the Job Retention Scheme and being able to claim a grant from the Business Support Fund; however I am aware that many businesses (those with a rateable value above £51,000) have been unable to claim any help at all and have been left to fend for themselves with no income and no prospect of being able to reopen anytime soon. These venues are now teetering on the brink of financial ruin with the consequent losses of jobs and revenue which will ensue.
In spite of vociferous campaigning by industry and trade bodies such as the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, Scottish Tourism Alliance, UK Hospitality and impassioned pleas by respected figures within the hospitality industry to help save these venues which could surely help regenerate the Scottish economy when we begin to recover from this present crisis, it seems that no help is to be offered. Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "I will try to maximise my opportunities for resources in making these decisions," but surely the time for sound bites and empty promises has passed.
If between them the Economy Secretary, the Tourism Secretary and the Finance Secretary stand back and allow the hospitality industry in Scotland to be decimated they, and the party they represent, will never be forgiven.
William Gold, Hielan Jessie bar, Glasgow G4.
Palestine’s pain
REFERRING to the letter from Rev Dr Robert Anderson (June 3) , the League of Nations Homeland declaration in 1922 also stated, inter alia,“it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.
As Dov Weisglass, adviser to the then Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said: “The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet but not to make them die of hunger”. Nothing has changed in that respect.
Where, I wonder, does the flooding of Palestinian schools with sewage and the deliberate reduction of water supplies, to name but two cruelties, fit in with spiritual Christian thinking?
GM Service, Glasgow G41.
Home front
IS there another concern for those working from home to add to those mentioned by Christopher W Ide (Letters, June 4), that being the likelihood of HMRC licking its lips at the prospect of collecting some capital gains tax on the sale of a home calculated on that part of that home which had been used for business only?
Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.
Further debate
PETER Curran (Letters, June 4) makes my point (Letters, June 3) in his first sentence. Percentages cannot be added together. The clue is in the use of the words "a further" in the original article ("Johnson will pay the price of ignoring the British public", The Herald, June 2).
David Miller, Milngavie.
Nailed it
I WONDER if Marianne Taylor could have managed many more puns in her headline about the nail academy ("New plans filed for nail academy highlight a real growth industry", Herald Business, June 2)?
Francis Deigman, Erskine.
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