Readers' letters: A pocketful of ready cash remains useful in the age of the internet

The wonders of the 21st century were revealed yesterday in all their glory. In my area, Virgin’s internet went down.

When I went to a local shop to buy some supplies for lunch, I was greeted by a member of staff to say that they had no way of accepting card payments, but they didn’t know why. I explained, having received a message from Virgin. Other customers were given the same information and many went away with a stifled curse. Being antediluvian, I came with a pocketful of readies – filthy lucre; dosh; readies; dough; bread – terms which were once used daily. Now, in the era of the plastic card, probably incomprehensible to the young.

This is the problem. I have read about customers at high street banks – an almost extinct species – being told that banks want us all to use such cards. I am sure that the Treasury does too. Then they know exactly what you spent every penny piece on. That means that they can tax it, of course.

Cash comes into its own when the internet goes down (Picture: John Devlin)

When an eager beaver was trying to sell me a super-whizzo internet package for data storage on one occasion, I explained to him that I had a system that was streets ahead of his. It operated at all times of day and night and was unaffected by power-cuts and viruses. Puzzled, he asked what it was. “A book,” I explained.

Nothing beats cash, which requires things like a bank branch network, but reduces banks’ profits. After all, it isn’t customers who matter any more, it’s shareholders. A bank which actually has branches, the way RBS used to, will clean up – and good for them if they do.

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

Common sense

“There is little good news for independence supporters,” begins the excellent John McLaren in his article “Worrying picture for SNP deep in the GERS figures” (Scotsman, August 15). He says that the key findings of this year’s GERS figures are “uncontentious” – tell that to dyed-in-the-wool separatists – as respected bodies such as the Fraser of Allander Institute and the IFS agree. He concludes: “how moribund the SNP has become in putting together a coherent case on the economic and fiscal aspects of independence.” Some separatists would agree and say that they know better. They don’t.

I hope that your regular SNP correspondents have read Professor McLaren’s article, and his previous articles. If they haven’t, they should. It would be helpful if any of them could try to tell us where he has got it wrong, and how – in view of the Scottish deficit, at 10.5 per cent, being more than twice that of the whole UK – they can show how Scotland would be better off outside the UK.

I won’t hold my breath.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Spending money

No matter what side of the independence debate you are on, there are some things which the public should understand about the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures.

John Major’s Conservative 1992 UK government introduced GERS as it was thought it would help cripple the devolution debate – or at least help make the case against a Scottish Parliament.

GERS is a metric looking at total spend of Scottish and local government services factoring in estimations of UK welfare spending and pensions in Scotland. It includes UK government spending in non-devolved areas such as defence, and allocates a proportion of the UK's debt interest payments to Scotland.

For revenues, there have been complaints that the data is not collected for Scotland and has to be estimated from UK figures.

Despite unionist joy at Scotland’s perceived failure, London and the South East are the only two regions in the UK to run a revenue surplus. Scotland, in fact, comes in fifth out of the 12 identified regions. The ten per cent deficit is significantly better than the North East’s 26 per cent and Wales and Northern Ireland’s 29 per cent

GERS does not concern itself with what economists call “opportunity cost”. It is a reasonably accurate manner of assessing spending in Scotland.

It does not look at what an independent country could spend if it was, for example, to reallocate massive defence spending to welfare payments or business seed capital funding in a non-nuclear Scotland. It wasn’t designed to do that.

However, in the year which sees the 50th anniversary of women being able to have bank accounts and credit cards of their own, perhaps it is time to wonder if the opportunity cost of having to ask our partner for spending moneyat all times, is still the mostefficient way of operating an economy.

Peter Newman, Tain, Highland

Understatement

SNP apologist Mary Thomas has surely come up with the understatement of the year (Letters, August 14): “Although the SNP has made several mistakes during its 17 years in government...”

I would say it is practically impossible to put a figure on SNP mistakes. I’m afraid “several” certainly does not come anywhere near to quantifying the blunders, errors, misjudgements and indeed mistakes our country has suffered under these 17 years of absolute misrule by the SNP government.

Fortunately, it looks as though for the foreseeable future we will be spared any repeat of what we have had to put up with from an SNP, which has totally lost its way since the halcyon days of Winnie Ewing and other past giants of the cause of independence.

David M Steel, South Queensferry, Edinburgh

Monarch’s hymn

What your correspondents re the National Anthem haven’t mentioned is that it isn’t really a national anthem at all. It is simply a hymn to the Monarchy. In most versions neither Britain nor England are mentioned at all.

Michael Grey, Edinburgh

Mobiles banned

Now that headteachers have the authority to ban mobile phones in schools (Scotsman, August 16) I do believe that our kids’ concentration and exam results will improve, as has been shown in some private schools who took this decision years ago.

Please don’t let me hear parents objecting to this as they very well know when they try contacting their wee cherubs on the mobile they only reply as a last resort as it’s not “cool to chat with the rents” – well that’s what my kids used to say when they were at school many years ago .

Even further back when I was at school we didn’t have mobiles. If your parents needed to get in touch with you it was done with a call to the school office, who passed it on to the teacher.

Sometimes the old ways are best for everyone.

J Moore, Glasgow

Sensible and simple

It never ceases to amaze me how a simple solution to a problem is overlooked or fails to be implemented. Take children’s use of personal phones in a school setting, I would doubt any headteacher would disagree that their use within the school amounts to a major distraction for pupils. Add to that the problem from potential bullying and accessing harmful content, it is difficult to see why their use in a learning setting is tolerated at all.

It seems to me that banning phones in school would probably be a quick win in trying to reduce the declining education results in core subjects and closing the ever-widening attainment gap. You can be sure that those disadvantaged pupils (disadvantaged they may be but you can be fairly certain they will possess a smartphone) would be the most to benefit from not having the distraction. I am also sure that violence in schools would improve.

You just need to look at schools who have banned phones – I have not heard anything but positive comment from an educational perspective.

Why is it so difficult to implement the most sensible and simplest solutions? If you were political you might point out that after years of presiding over a declining education system in Scotland the SNP have simply run out of ideas, not even recognising the benefits of the simplest ones.

George Godsman, Perth, Perth and Kinross

Millionaires’ Row

Ian Murray MP is on record as stating the Labour line: “Why should we pay millionaires a winter heating allowance?” Now we have learned that just under one million Scottish pensioners will not be receiving the Scottish Government payment.

Perhaps Labour might care to tell us how many of this number are millionaires? I suspect it is a very small proportion and I would think that most of us know a good number of pensioners who will be seriously affected by the withdrawal of this allowance.

Come winter, I fear we will find out the real effect of this callous policy.

Ken Currie, Edinburgh

Think again

Stirling Council proposes to turn part of Bannockburn into a horse and harness racing track. This will destroy the famous gathering spot where Bruce finally triumphed over Edward’s English army and “sent them homeward” while he ruled an independent Scotland.

We can email Scottish Ministers to “call in” this historical vandalism up to and including August 26.

After that it will no longer be possible to prevent the destruction of a historical site that Scots from all over the world come to see and schoolchildren are taken to so that they can follow the battle in a way that makes the history of their country come alive.

Elizabeth Scott, Edinburgh

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