Oil fund fantasies

We all agree that if we had had all the oil revenues for the last 40 years we would now 
have a sizeable holding, but we didn’t.

The UK as a whole bolstered its economy instead – and much was spent wisely, not just frittered away.

Trying to set up a fund now doesn’t seem to do much in the short term, and, as has been established previously, even £30,000 million built up over the next 30 years gives us individually maybe a future one-off £6,000 each, or maybe £240 per year ongoing. Better to spend the yearly revenue on infrastructure and welfare improvements as we go, surely.

Again, there is not a thousand thousand million pounds of 
revenue to come from the oil; that sum is in fact some people’s idea of total residual value.

Revenues will be a small fraction of it per annum, profits mainly going to non-Scottish 
enterprises.

Further, as the recent GERS figures showed, we have ongoing debt to pay off, plus interest. Even with all the oil revenues, a shortfall remains, cutting back still further any possibility of ­setting monies aside.

Joe Darby

Dingwall

Ross-shire