Self-interest rules
After reading The Scotsman on Wednesday 24 January I was not surprised that “a third of youngsters don’t feel in control” (your report). On page 4, erstwhile Labour MSP Susan Deacon gives full support to Michael Matheson’s unrecorded intervention to prevent Mr Gormley from returning to his job as approved by the SPA. Fair enough, as procedures may or may not have been followed to the letter. She fails to mention the obvious, namely that the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner has now had four months to interview four or five people and the Chief Constable. Surely it is a disgrace to leave the Chief Constable of policing in Scotland waiting for four months without knowing what is going on behind closed doors and with no end in sight?
On the same page we hear more about the continuing saga of incorporating British Transport Police into Police Scotland, with a lot of important issues for the individuals affected remaining unresolved. Surely any sensible person would decide now to delay the merger for a couple of years and then abandon the scheme if the business case turned out to be negative?
Then on page 7 we learn that John Swinney “didn’t want the government blamed” if anything went wrong with the tram project in Edinburgh, so he withdrew Transport Scotland from the project and left an incompetent organisation to squander £500 million of our money. Surely the best plan would have been to leave Transport Scotland in control so that they could have prevented a large part of the money from being wasted?
Lastly, on page 10 we have the newly formed and “independent” economy watchdog explaining that the Scottish economy is performing as well as the UK, as long as we cut out London and the South East. What about cutting out Edinburgh and Glasgow with their financial centres before making the comparison? It’s a bad start if this watchdog has begun to compare apples with tomatoes. The apple is reddest after we have plucked a green tomato.
Just some of a day’s problems adversely affecting a lot of people. What happened to the expression “without fear or favour”? Why can’t we get decisions that are clearly in the interest of the people as opposed to self interests and political infighting? JOHN PETER
Monks Road Airdrie, Lanarkshire Half of young Scots fear fewer job opportunities but is this justified prescience (“A third of young Scots do not feel in control of their lives”, 24 January)? Technological advancement is part of life but technological unemployment is a real possibility.
The Luddite fallacy that any job loss will be replaced with a newly-created job was proven true with mechanisation. What if this time it is different? Intellectual automation poses problems.
Transportation is estimated to employ five per cent of the Scottish working population and autonomous vehicles are currently being tested in this country. When this technology is mature, which may be less than five years away, drivers will be rapidly replaced and blame apportioned.
Thinking must take place now at government level to prepare rather than react when it has already occurred. These are hard questions without clear or easy answers but they must be worked on to bring back hope for young Scots.
TOM WALKER Fountain Place, Loanhead