Tourists don't need bed tax to keep them away

Published on Saturday 12 July 2008 10:50

WELL done the Holyrood committee that refused to back the council's proposed 'bed charge', the proceeds of which would have gone to pay for tourist initiatives in Edinburgh.

The destruction being caused by the laying of tram lines means that desperate measures are needed to encourage tourists to stay in Edinburgh rather than pass through as quickly as possible.

The city has never before been in such a chaotic mess, but we are assured it will all be worth it and we only have three years to go.

Tell that to the tourists, the bus drivers and the residents – the tourists have the choice to come back but the rest of us are stuck with it and the prospect of a bus service that is being deliberately destroyed to provide extra funds for the trams that nobody wants is appalling.

The bus network needs more support than ever, including priority over cars in the worst congested areas such as the West End and Leith Walk, so that the buses keep moving and passengers keep using them.

In the meantime we have gridlock and half-hour delays in getting to and from work – but it's only for three years and it can't get any worse, can it?

Rosemary Macdonald, Corstorphine Bank Drive, Edinburgh

Two-for-one is a good deal better

I WONDER whether our simple-minded, knee-jerking politicians have commissioned an in-depth study of people's waste bin contents. How else could they identify "two for the price of one" offers as a prime cause of food waste?

Many customers freeze one portion for later use; indeed they may purchase several packs, while others have sufficiently large families to consume two in one meal.

In some cases, people may get together to split the cost and share the saving. Why should they be denied this advantage by feather-bedded politicians?

Retail Price Maintenance was rightly abolished years ago, and parliamentarians have no mandate to interfere in what is essentially a matter of balance between sellers and customers.

Robert Dow, Ormiston Road, Tranent

Euro rap highlights state of economy

SLOVAKIA last week became the first central European country to set its euro conversion rate in advance of it becoming the 16th member of the Euro Area in 2009, marking a decade of the monetary union.

Ironically, in the same week that Slovakia, the first old Iron Curtain country, was given the green light for joining the common currency club, so badly has the British economy been managed that the UK has failed to meet the entry criteria for joining the single currency, even should it want to. The EU is now taking disciplinary steps against the UK for having a budget set to exceed the EU's economic rules, the so-called Stability and Growth Pact.

Three years ago, almost a dozen EU countries faced similar instructions to put their budgetary house in order, but now only Britain and Hungary continue to come in for criticism.

Since Britain is not in the eurozone, there is no prospect of the country facing the ultimate penalty of financial sanctions if it fails to meet the deadline for getting the budget deficit under control, but this decision is an unwelcome rap over the knuckles for a government that has previously prided itself on its stewardship of the economy, but has left the Treasury cupboard bare at a time when we need the coffers to be full, especially during the current economic climate.

Alex Orr, Bryson Road, Edinburgh

Ovation nothing to feel smug about

BEFORE Nicola Sturgeon gets carried away with her reported standing ovations at the BMA Conference in Edinburgh, she should perhaps remind herself of who her audience were.

The British Medical Association is effectively a Trades Union, albeit one with members with earnings from the public purse vastly in excess of anything most 'ordinary' trades unionists could ever dream of, and with a collective arrogance to match.

With a speech reportedly devoid of criticism of the profession, despite recent reports of poor value from Audit Scotland and others, her love-in with the BMA was largely a throwback to the days of Old Labour, where government ministers made speeches to the unions designed to create a feelgood factor in the venue, whether one existed in reality or not. In the words of one medic "....she said what doctors wanted to hear".

The difference, of course, is that the trade unions largely financed Old Labour, and rightly or wrongly, were entitled to expect appropriate payback in terms of the policies pursued by a Labour government. By contrast, successive governments of all hues, since Bevan famously "stuffed consultants' mouths with gold" to drag them kicking and screaming into the NHS in 1948, have poured vast resources into the UK's health service, at the same time continuing to ensure those at the very top of the tree, represented by the BMA, have done increasingly well.

So while a huge proportion of NHS employees provide superb service whilst earning little more than the minimum wage, Ms Sturgeon will sleep soundly, knowing that she is at one with those that really matter to her, especially if she is able to use the situation to seek political gain by drawing yet another distinction between how the Health Service is delivered on either side of the Border.

Such political gerrymandering of the NHS by the SNP is bound to question whether health should ever have been a devolved power, such is the ill feeling and infighting which has resulted in a National Health Service, free at the point of need, becoming a geographic lottery within the UK and even within Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon should enjoy the feelgood factor while she can, but how will she respond to the understandable wage demands of ordinary NHS employees hit by the current economic crisis, and who don't command the remuneration BMA members do? Will she stuff their mouths with gold? I somewhat doubt it!

Bill Goodall, Baird Terrace, Edinburgh