I WOULD like to add a few comments to Gerry Hassan’s column today (Contempt for the Greens is one thing that reactionaries can agree upon, Apr 4), regarding what he has to say on GDP versus wellbeing. As usual he hits the nail on the head.
My first thought was one he covers, quoting the splendid Alastair McIntosh on how disasters boost GDP because ambulances, fire service call-outs, hospital treatment etc all cost money and so add to “economic activity”, although in any real-world sense they are all profoundly negative costs.
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I would add, for example, early-years childcare. The parent can go back to work, the nursery worker gets a wage, so two additions to GDP there. Not counted is the parent’s missed time with the child in those irreplaceable, all-too-short early years of the child’s development. Every parent has to balance the decision for themselves, taking into account their own circumstances, but can any money measure what is missed?
I am also reminded of the late, great David Graeber’s expression “Bullshit Jobs”. In an essay about 10 years ago he argued that about half of jobs in our developed economy actually do nothing useful at all. A YouGov survey at the time found 37% of British workers felt that their jobs made no meaningful contribution to the world. They do contribute to GDP, but surely at a cost to self-esteem.
Human happiness surely has more to do with what you do than with what you buy. A wellbeing economy that I would hope to see would facilitate people to find rewarding things to do with their lives rather than meaningless drudgery just to pay the bills. The “GDP-boosters” seem to know, in the old cliche, “the price of everything and the value of nothing”!
Robert Moffat
Penicuik
WHY should Labour enter into agreements with the Tories when the agreements that they don’t have on the councils are working so well?
Look at Edinburgh City Council, where the three Unionist parties are working together as one, seamlessly sharing positions on committees without any agreements.
Last month the controlling Labour group voted with the Tories to approve the LibDems’ budget, in preference to that of the SNP and Greens.
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It contains numerous proposed increases in spending many millions on road and pavement maintenance, parks and green spaces, flood prevention and the King’s Theatre, all jam tomorrow.
However, this is to be funded in the LibDem budget by saving £2.5 million annually through outsourcing waste collection and cleaning services and a further £600,000 by introducing compulsory redundancy instead of redeployment for staff whose posts have been discontinued.
Another £2m will be saved by ending free tram travel for under-22s as the network is extended to Leith and Granton later this year.
The icing on the cake must be increasing parking fines by £20 (£40 if not paid within two weeks), bringing in at least another £3m in council revenue.
Without formal agreements, the minority governing Labour group can take the credit for it all when the elections come round again.
Labour has no need to compromise by making formal agreements when the Unionist parties have so much in common that the others are keen to help and can sometimes even drive the Labour bus, unaware that it is entirely in the Labour Party livery when it stops to pick up passengers.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
I CAN’T be the only one that is left agog with the latest proposal by the Tory Party that their supporters vote Labour to maximise Unionist seats in Scotland. Having made such a song and dance about the idea of the independence parties running the next General Election as a plebiscite, it is ironic to see the Unionist parties embrace the idea.
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With Tory polling at a low ebb, it’s possible that the party is getting its excuses for its seat losses in early.
It should, however, serve as a timeous warning to the independence movement that the opportunities to harness a majority independence vote can’t be missed. Now is the time to get around the table and agree the way ahead.
Richard Anderson
via email
PROPOSALS by the Conservative and Labour parties to urge their voters to support whoever’s party is most unlikely to unseat an SNP MP at the next General Election should hardly come as a surprise.
The Better Together band are being reunited, in a scenario already being played out across the country where they are supporting each other in numerous council administrations.
There is indeed little difference between the two parties, and it is hardly unexpected that the band is being brought together for this tactical voting exercise. Indeed, it never really broke up.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
THANKS to The National’s Notice Board, I attended an excellent exhibition held by Maryhill and Springburn SNP last Friday night. This exhibition in Maryhill Burgh Halls featured leaflets, documents, photographs and other items spanning 70 years and more, all from the archives gathered by this branch’s honorary president Hamish McQueen.
It was a compact history of the nationalist movement from 1934 and revealed the many, many heroes and background workers who have put the party where it is today. Unfortunately Hamish was unable to attend, but many did attend and many were taken a walk down memory lane as they reflected on campaign literature of yesteryear. I applaud this branch for laying on such an excellent exhibition and hope it can be repeated to allow many others to chart the history of the party as we go forward.
Catriona C Clark
Falkirk
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