LAST Wednesday’s article about the banking system rang home to me very strongly, it being a subject which has caused serious concern since the crisis in 2008 (Banking system remains ‘an accident waiting to happen’ despite assurances, The National, September 13).
It talks about “an accident waiting to happen”. But let us not be deceived, last time was no accident. The crisis was brought about by deliberate, immoral and unethical malpractice by bankers whose personal greed justified their actions. The only accident as far as they were concerned was in being found out.
It has been reported that at this time there is £170 billion of savings, languishing in banks at low interest rates. In his book Beyond the Crash, Gordon Brown tells us how, without the knowledge of savers, banks had been betting ordinary savers’ deposits on speculative activities.
It has been the savers of this country who have and continue to bear the brunt for the last 10 years and seem to accept this sheepishly. Interest rates on savings are practically non-existent. Do people realise that it is the value of their savings that matters and that, even if the figure appears to be increasing, probably boosted by new savings, the value is decreasing by 2.90 per cent every year based on today’s inflation rate? But interest rates are not low on credit cards or weekly-payment-stores’ prices.
Bank of Scotland ATMs carry the message “Save a little, save a lot – open an account with £1”. If you do, and leave it in the account for one year, and if you are “lucky” enough not to pay tax on the interest, taking inflation into account your £1 will be worth 97 pence. “Savers” have in fact become “losers”.
They have also recently written to customers advising the forthcoming new daily overdraft fee of 1p for every full £7. This is to make it easier for customers to understand. As for me, I always found it easy to understand the usual banking terms such as Annual Percentage Rate. But simple arithmetic denies me the ability to convert the new daily fee into an annual percentage rate I can easily understand. Is there an ulterior motive behind this? Surely not.
We are accepting this situation and continuing to hand over our hard-earned cash for the same treatment so that bankers can continue to get £1 million bonuses. We put our money in banks as a safe place but are strongly advised not to exceed the FSCS limit of £85,000 in any one. That shows the level of trust, and yet the banks use our deposits to make enormous profits. They ought to be forced to pay proper rates of interest on depositors’ money.
To quote the drug baron in the film Clear and Present Danger: “It’s my money and they are stealing it.”
Robert Johnston
Airdrie
LEE Hunter’s letter (September 19) on Electric Vehicle (EV) emissions overlooks that Scottish EV drivers are 100 per cent emission-free not only at the point of use, but at the generating station too (our oil and coal power generation plants having been shut down years ago).
As for queues of 50+ seeking concurrent Rapid charging, just as fossil-fuel vehicles don’t all require a refill at the same time, the majority of our members tell us they usually recharge at home (and overnight on a cheap off-peak tariff). How many can refuel with petrol/diesel at home? Even petrol stations are now being fitted out with Rapid chargers for EVs to use.
Hydrogen refuelling requires additional measures to ensure public safety, and at the last count Scotland had only two public stations – this is long before we get to consider the high cost of vehicle purchase (even higher than an EV).
For an emissions-free trip to Hamburg, no need for sails or a miracle – the electric train through the Channel Tunnel uses power that is also free of emissions. By all means wave a flag for something that may come in the future, but our members are making a difference in Scotland NOW, not at some unspecified date in the future.
Raymond Okorski
EV Association Scotland
MAY I gently point out to Charlie Lynch of the Scottish Secular Society (Letters, September 19) that allegations are not crimes and that if the police say there is no evidence of a crime having been committed, there probably has not.
May God bless him.
John Kelly
Edinburgh
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