Missing point

There is a continued narrative from Tim Farron and others about how religious believers are being “marginalised” for their faith… often due to their lack of belief in gay equality.

If a religious person were, for example, to disagree with drinking alcohol, they would have every right both not to drink themselves and to debate others who make a different choice.

However, to condemn someone’s very identity as a gay person rightly attracts the attention of equality laws and goes way beyond the indulgence of “religious freedom”.

It is not your faith which is being criticised, Mr Farron, it’s your homophobia.

NEIL BARBER Edinburgh Secular Society Saughtonhall Drive, Edinburgh

companies. At present 97 per cent of all our money is created ex nihilo by the banks and only 3 per cent by the Treasury.

Even without fees, vendors (and hence consumers) will continue to pay to use credit and debit cards. Card companies have the legal right to refuse to issue a card or revoke an existing card without giving a reason. How would the man on the Princes Street tram function without a card? And, of course, the card companies can monitor your every purchase.

Under a cashless money system, everyone in Scotland would be given (along with their unique NI number) a unique Scottish Post Office Cashless Account (SPOCA). The only money in this account would have been put there by you, or your employer or your pension provider or friends and relations. This account would garner no interest. Think of it in exactly the same way as at present you think of your purse or wallet – in fact, your SPOCA is your purse or wallet. You would be provided with a plastic card, which you would use to purchase anything that you do now with cash (coins and notes). But, unlike using your current credit or debit card, it would not cost you (or the vendor) a penny on top of the cost of the thing you are buying. At present card companies charge the vendor (and hence you) for using their cards. Just as there is no going into the red with your wallet, so there would be no overdrawing of your POCA. Once it’s empty, that’s it.

DOUG CLARK Muir Wood Grove Currie, Midlothian

all to pull their socks up. Given that ten years of SNP mismanagement, underfunding and lack of attention has resulted in many closures and downgrades – most recently in St John’s, Royal Alexandra,

Stracathro, Gilbert Bain, Perth Royal Infirmary and a staggering 75 per cent of intensive care neonatal units - I am confident such a letter will get all these services back up to full operational strength pronto.

Once again, we are let down by the SNP government being constantly focused on tearing us away from the UK rather than managing our public sector services.

ALASDAIR SEALE