Midas Men like Trump have contributed nothing to society

Mr Trump’s latest White House speech was reminiscent of the Gilded Age in American history, which lasted from the late 1870s till the late 1890s.

The infamous Vanderbilt Ball in 1883 saw 12,000 of America’s richest people displaying their opulence. The 1% who then owned the US partied in the middle of two of America’s biggest greed-driven economic disasters, which took place in 1873 and 1893.

Then, as now with the ‘No Kings’ marches, people demonstrated.

Meanwhile, in the UK we still have a royal family that lives off the struggling tax payer in actual castles.

The current UK government, winning on a promise of ‘change’, has continued Conservative austerity, refusing to alter the two-child benefit cap which keeps children in poverty, and also refusing to cap bankers’ bonuses.

Ironically, where I live in Edinburgh there is the enormous statue in St Andrew Square celebrating Henry Dundas, whose role in the slave trade was controversial, juxtaposed with a huge increase in rough sleeping on the iconic Princes Street.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh’s Labour council are planning their latest extravagant fireworks jamboree with all the trimmings.

If the 1800s was the Gilded Age, this is the Gelded Age. An era of men with Midas amounts of wealth, who have made nothing, and contributed nothing positive to society.

Amanda Baker, Edinburgh.

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Being there

Like your correspondent Alan Ramage (Letters, Oct 15), I am horrified that Scottish Government civil servants should take such offence at being asked to turn up at the office on two out of five days a week.

The sense of aggrieved entitlement that pervades our society these days is a sad and inexplicable indictment of our time. It is particularly objectionable coming from those who rely on the taxpayer for a living.

My first job in the civil service was in Registers of Scotland, on Princes Street in Edinburgh, in the late 1960s.

I remember an attendance register which the manager ruled off, in red ink, on the dot of 9am; those arriving on the wrong side of the red line were called to account.

Nobody saw anything unreasonable or offensive about this; nowadays it would almost certainly be perceived as a breach of human rights.

Coincidentally, I seem to recall a very pleasant colleague from my time at Registers of Scotland by the name of Alan Ramage.

Iain Stuart, Glasgow.

Baird necessities of life

We learn that the number of centenarians living in Scotland is estimated to be over 1,000 for the first time (“Number aged 100+ at record high in Scotland”, The Herald October 15).

This statistic tempts one to wonder what life must have been like 100 years ago, when those senior citizens were born.

What did 1925 hold for them? Well, their arrival was shared with the early version of the TV, invented by John Logie Baird.

If their parents were musically inclined, they would be breaking into song with ‘I’ll See You In My Dreams’.

And if families had relatives in Italy, they would be concerned about the fact that Benito Mussolini had declared himself Il Duce.

It may be that some family members were politically minded, and were trying to figure out, with the publication that year of Mein Kampf, what Adolf Hitler was planning.

Families may have been feeling the cold because coal reserves were depleted during the previous war, and Britain was importing more coal than it was mining.

Obviously 100 years ago, like today, life was not carefree, with its political and economic trials and tribulations, and new inventions to cope with.

Then, as now, people were aware that the singing of a song could alleviate the harshness of life.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

Spicy curry

I was sorry to be reminded that the star of The Rocky Horror Show, Tim Curry, suffered a major stroke in 2012, which sadly curtailed his career as a performer (“Rocky Horror icon Curry reveals Diana’s cheeky comment”, The Herald, October 15).

Back in 1977, fresh from his success as Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, both on stage and subsequently on the big screen, Tim came to Glasgow to star in City Sugar, a TV movie I produced for STV and the ITV Network.

It stirred up a lot of media interest at the time, Tim being man of the moment, but also because we were first to put the work of celebrated writer, Stephen Poliakoff, before a TV audience.

Tim was a treat to work with, and went on to achieve great things in Hollywood.

I sincerely hope his newly published memoir ‘Vagabond’ notches up another success for him.

Robert Love, Glasgow.

Ordure! Ordure!

I seem to remember I welcomed the breakthrough in TV when the House of Commons was televised live in 1989.

I watched it the other day and was bored silly.

Grey-haired men mostly in grey or dark blue suits, blue ties (even on the Labour side) and white shirts.

It was PMQs, and what a queue there should have been... to get out.

At appropriate moments we heard “Hear! hear!”, the jolly cheer from those still awake, but not really knowing what they were hear-hearing about. It should really have been “Dear, oh dear.”

Andy Stenton, Glasgow.

Andy Murray, an athlete with the right stuff(Image: Photography by Nick Andrews)

Sporting behaviour

I read with interest Charlie Burns’ letter in the Herald (Letters, October 15) about the recent performance of the Scottish football team.

I do fear that the team’s performance, or more accurately the lack of it, is a metaphor for other aspects of our largely troubled society.

Excellence in mediocrity is now the accepted standard of achievement in many aspects of our social structures, much to the detriment of us all.

Perhaps if politicians, and others responsible for the welfare of our nation, took note of how Andy Murray and Robert MacIntyre conduct their affairs, they might actually achieve positive progress, which would benefit all of us.

Dan Edgar, Rothesay, Isle of Bute.