Explaining economic madness of GERS

Sir, A nice simple way to understand Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS).

Imagine the scenario: there’s a hard-working, decent, diligent teenager living at home with is parents. He takes home £300 per week and his dad takes all his wages from him and hands back £50 a week, which is barely enough to cover his travel to work and food. The other £250, his dad squanders on stupid vain ideas.

All this means that the family are up to their eyeballs in debt and struggling to buy basic goods, as dad sits at night drinking Ardbeg single malt whisky and eating takeaways.

One day the son approaches the dad and says: ‘Dad, I think I’m going to move out and get my own place. I’ve held down my job for a while now and feel the time is right to go out into the world, find myself and enjoy my own independence and freedom.’

His dad replies: ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, son! You barely have enough money to get yourself to work. You obviously aren’t smart enough to make a go of things on your own. Just look at the weekly budget. You struggle by, whereas I can afford to eat and drink like a king. For your own good this family is better sticking together.’

Ladies and gentlemen, the GERS figures.

John MacFadyen, Oban.

Ailean Caimbeul