Vested interest

IS THE latest “rejection of the tea break pay offer” by the ambulance service an example of extreme self-interest? (Perspective 7 January).

Clearly, self-interest is one of the basic aspects of the economic philosophy of capitalist society. Doesn’t Adam Smith see how, through “the invisible hand”, self-love works to benefit the whole of society? However, what is overlooked is Smith’s warning that “all for oneself is an evil maxim”. Arguably “extreme self- interest” – without balancing it with the “common good” – could seriously undermine democratic capitalism.

Ellis Thorpe

Old Chapel Walk

Inverurie, Aberdeenshire