Road blocks

The apparent obsession with entrepreneurship (a cumbersome word if ever there was one), as evidenced in John Birkett’s letter (11 August), is somewhat a legacy of one woman prime minister and now is the basis of a TV parlour game, Dragons’ Den, and is common parlance from all current political parties.

But surely it lacks one key element – a requirement to remove the road block of bureaucracy that slows, inhibits, deters and asphyxiates the enthusiasms of many would-be start-up business people.

I can only think the idea of confronting potential entrepreneurs with such deterrent paperwork, licence requirements, all manner of protocols and compliances etc, is to protect those already in business and is a direct undermining of the mantra of competition that business communities always say they are committed to.

It is my suspicion that competition is a vague notion wafted like a kind of perfume in the minds of the general public but that doesn’t smell so enticing in the minds of those in business. Monopolies are more their idea of perfume.

Otherwise there would be more small and medium-sized businesses and less aspiration to become corporate giants.

Ian Johnstone

Peterhead