Letter: Sense in cuts

Everyone seems to be wringing their hands over the reduction in public sector numbers when it's as clear as the nose on my face that there are far too many of them.

Gordon Brown's tactic of increasing Labour's voting base by employing an extra million while in office thankfully didn't work, although it was a close shave. Now's the time to trim the numbers back to the bone along with their status so that fewer will want to work for the state.

Doubtless the socialists out there will be foaming at the mouth when in truth many public services could be carried out by private companies - and more efficiently.

Without wishing to be termed a heartless thug, it seems obvious that the bigger the cut, the more we save. The taxpayer picks up the tab whether a person is employed by the state or that same person is on benefits. So if he/she was earning 25,000 and is now getting 10,000 on benefit the taxpayer is making a saving.

Socialist Scotland has been supported by capitalist England for many years now and it's time for change. The problem in Scotland is that many people cannot grasp the meaning of the term "self-reliance".

Time it was part of the curriculum in our schools so that our children realised that putting your hand out should only be to shake another, not to grasp a begging bowl.

Stan Hogarth

Young Street

Strathaven