Politicians have led the WASPI women on

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Shona Craven: Claims of women’s pension ‘theft’ were always misleading

Increasing pension age is a frustrating fact of life. The rate/ nature of the increases were affected by governments knowing it is older pensioners who turn out to vote and they were scared to upset them. When they finally did act, it was sharper and more stark.

I am one of those (born after 1978) that is due to get mine at age 68. I would not be shocked to see that slip backwards (or for some grim means-testing or total abolition).

The publicity around equalising ages and increasing ages has been there for years – I remember my mum’s reaction to the Budget in the late 90s where she was on the wrong side of the line, and also subsequent Budgets.

I think that where changes were made, it was important for the government to communicate clearly to those affected and give them time to prepare. If that meant sliding scale/tapered changes, they should have known how to organise that. This was the failure rather than a robbery, although it definitely led to many women planning wrongly.

The government acted legally (and arguably rationally) but with incompetent communication and short timescales. I sympathise with the WASPI women and feel politicians did use them/lead them on. Our local MP certainly did – he posed for photos, promised action and then dumped them as soon as he was elected. I still think there is an argument for compensation, but also understand that complete recompense isn’t reasonable/possible. We shall see what comes out in the wash. Douglas Jarvie

Politicians of all parties have been leading women up the garden path. Some have been promising things which were and will never be acceptable to any government. If the women who are working to the same age as men were to receive compensation, this would open up the way for men to claim compensation for having to work those additional years. The main issue seems to be that women weren’t told about the changes in time. Calculating compensation for that will probably disappoint many who have been promised so much more.

Gordon Scott

Karen Adam: The cost of Westminster cuts must be made clear to Scotland’s electorate

I would like to see transparency of local council decisions and the reasons for their decisions. I would also like councils to properly consult people who are going to be affected by their decisions. All too often councils decide based on party reasons, vanity or incompetence. I suspect some councillors make decisions that they know are wrong for their constituents but they either think they know better or gain satisfaction from being bloody minded.

Bill McGregor