No bonuses for cosy NHS bosses

THE definition of a classic edition of any Sunday newspaper is when there are so many articles in it which demand a letter in response, that one doesn't know where to begin: last week's Scotland on Sunday was a fine example.

My eye was arrested, however, by the sentence, "The Lib Dems are now demanding that ministers halve the amount of money they have budgeted for doctors' bonuses, from 30 to 15m", in Eddie Barnes' telling article on NHS bosses' pay.

Bonuses? What bonuses? At a time when thousands are losing their jobs through the recession, and tens of thousands are facing pay standstills and cuts, we can't afford any bonuses for this historically cossetted element of society. It's not a matter of halving their bonuses – it's about getting back every penny, and in short order.

The NHS is a devolved matter; if this is an example of governing ourselves, what chance would the ordinary citizen have under a fully devolved or independent administration? Holyrood must get a grip, and come back to the world that the rest of us live in, if our 120-odd heroes wish us to vote for them again.

David Fiddimore Calton Road, Edinburgh