No-one seems to care as businesses keep going under

Published on Saturday 4 October 2008 11:05

I run a small business in Leith Walk and we are not VAT registered, so we only qualified for £3000 of the so-called compensation. £1000 of this compensation was then clawed back by the taxman, reducing the compensation by a third, i.e. £2000.

The aforementioned 350,000 will be squandered on silly adverts saying Edinburgh is open for business when obviously it is not.

Another article in the same edition points out that the roads are in a mess and the city is best avoided by car, which is true, as no-one can get near the shops for tram and roadworks, let alone get parked near the shops.

Nobody wants the tram system, but councillors and politicians refuse to backtrack and scrap the whole sorry affair. Has no-one told them we are in a recession? Small businesses will continue to go under but do these so called public servants care? No, do they hell!

Ray Withey, Leith Walk, Edinburgh

Bank profit should go to the taxpayer

MY understanding of high finance is roughly parallel to my grasp of nuclear physics, but it seems to me that government repayment of depositor money lost by bank failure merely doubles the loss.

This is paid from our own money, in the form of taxation; indeed some of it will be a subsidy from people who have no bank savings.

The whole banking system is in any case loaded against the saver. If we borrow, the advance is called a loan or a mortgage, so that repayment can be demanded, to the extent of repossessing a home. If we pay into an account, however, this is called a deposit, in which case the bank holds it on our behalf, so why can't customers insist on repayment – by the bank – of their own money?

Where a bank is taken over by government, i.e. by the taxpayer, all directors should be dismissed and any bonus system abandoned. Nationalisation means operation on behalf of the nation, so any profits should go to the taxpayer.

Robert Dow, Ormiston Road, Tranent

Phone-in axe is a turn-off for fans

LIKE many others in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife, I am incensed with the axing of the Arlene Stuart phone-in on Sunday by the new Forth bosses.

They made no announcement about this, and no explanation to the listeners as to why it was axed. I have been a regular caller to this show for over 30 years. This was a platform for locals to air their views on many subjects. And Arlene did a wonderful job on behalf of her listeners.

The public have a choice to which radio station they tune into, as do the people who spend vast amounts advertising.

Robert Wood, Crossgates, Cowdenbeath, Fife

Pedestrians have the right of way

READING Thursday's Evening News about the poor woman knocked down and killed on the pedestrian crossing in Corstorphine prompts me to remind fellow drivers that a pedestrian who has started to use the crossing during a "green man" phase has a legal right of way until completely across the road.

Drivers who move on the flashing amber before all pedestrians have reached either pavement are in breach of the law – and bereft of common sense and decency.

Highway Code Rule 196 states: "Signal-controlled crossings. When the amber light is flashing, you MUST give way to any pedestrians on the crossing. If the amber light is flashing and there are no pedestrians on the crossing, you may proceed with caution."

Norrie Henderson. Meadowhouse Road, Corstorphine

Give our youngsters the chance to vote

AMID the recent furore over the Austrian elections and the success of the two far-right parties, the fact that the voting age was lowered to 16 for these elections has been largely forgotten.

In an attempt to balance out the country's ageing constituencies as a result of low birth rates, Austria has become the first European Union country to lower the voting age in national elections to 16.

Last year, the number of Austrians aged 65 and older exceeded the population aged 15 and under. And observing this demographic trend, the Austrian Parliament passed a law in 2007 lowering the age limit from 18 to 16, representing about 200,000 of the 6.3 million-strong electorate.

The recent poll was the first electoral test of the new law, and given the fact people in Austria are allowed to vote from age 16, it seems nonsensical that those of the same age in the UK should not be allowed such a right.

Alex Orr, Bryson Road, Edinburgh

Wage rise offer is effectively a cut

WITH the official rate of inflation nudging five per cent, but for many it is nearer 30 per cent, the UK and Scottish governments' 2.5 per cent wage rise for public sector workers is effectively a wage cut. Workers are not to blame for inflation; they are the victims of it. Striking council workers feel they need a rise of five per cent just to keep their heads above water. For those on the lower grade earning 5.81 an hour, the existing pay offer would give them a derisory 15p an hour extra.

When Shell and BP are raking in more than 3.2 million per hour in profits, the price of petrol has risen by a quarter. Electricity is up by the same margin. Gas has increased by over one third and food prices are an average of 14 per cent higher than last year.

To cap it all, greedy speculators have robbed our banks at a time when executives of the biggest companies have seen their earnings escalate from 15 to 75 times the average employee.

Why should those who provide the vital services we all depend on have to subsidise councils by accepting a wage cut because Gordon Brown and others would rather spend billions on wars and nuclear weapons?

Jack Fraser, Lothians Solidarity Party, Musselburgh