Yes, Scotland needs a second chamber, but it should be elected

And precisely when were Scottish voters asked whether they support this? What election manifesto did it appear in? The Citizens Assembly is deemed a success, yet it was only doing what we already elect and pay our MSPs to do, and which they’re clearly failing to.

READ MORE: Thousands back call for Holyrood to set up 'House of Citizens'

Are politicians driving this because they know it gives the illusion of democratic accountability while the reality is it’s a toothless proposition they can easily control and that doesn’t affect their power? Isn’t it in no way democratic, rather a conglomeration of political luvvies invited by background political string-pullers pretending democracy?

Yes Scotland needs a second chamber, but irrespective of what criteria are set for it, doesn’t real democracy demand that those who attend are elected by the people? And shouldn’t any future proposals for changes to Scotland’s legislature be subjected to agreement by the Scottish people in a specific referendum, in order that we get the structure we really want, and not what politicians would inflict on us?

Jim Taylor
Edinburgh

GEORGE Kerevan’s column always makes for good reading whether you agree with him or not. His recent piece about the British honours system was incisive, informative and completely apposite when viewed through the lens of an independent Scotland (It’s astounding what the UK gives people knighthoods for, June 14).

Of course, utilising the honours system for political advantage or for personal or political rewards is nothing new. From Lloyd George through to Harold Wilson and David Cameron, all the main UK political parties have followed less-than-altruistic motives in their granting of honours and awards. Mr Kerevan’s examples of Sir Antonio and Dame Anne receiving their gongs for services mired in contentious moral and humanitarian affairs informs the reader just how breathtakingly unscrupulous the system that honours these type of people really is.

READ MORE: It’s astounding what the UK gives people knighthoods for

The honours system is simply another example of the financial, moral and political corruption of the British establishment. In post-Brexit Britain, where parochial and jingoistic nostalgia together with hubristic exceptionalism co-exist anxiously with a sense of aggressive inferiority inherent in the little Englander, the honours system perpetuates the illusion that the British Empire remains relevant in the 21st century.

Like the monarchy and the anachronistic House of Lords, such an ethically unsustainable system – as Mr Kerevan observes – must be unceremoniously jettisoned in an independent Scotland. A state based on social equality and integrity must be our priority.

Owen Kelly
Stirling

GEORGE Kerevan writes about the new Sir Antonio, former boss of the Bank of Scotland, which has closed its Kinross branch and forced us to go to Glenrothes. This is not important on a planetary scale except it illustrates the way that wealth is siphoned off from Scotland. We now have to drive much further. This transfers a microscopic sum to the bank and puts it on our shoulders. It also adds to the Exchequer of the UK by an equally tiny amount through tax, where it suffers from evaporation – the angel’s share.

If one buys a foreign car, the country of origin benefits. But so do all the agents, ferries, transporters, insurers etc which deliver it through England. Also the manufacturers that built the roads, bridges and services and so on ad infinitum. If the car needs replacement parts, the system is the same but the tax on the work itself goes south to be made use of as collateral in London’s infrastructure costs.

Every traffic cone and cat’s eye on the road north is a slight loss to Scotland as being an added expense. The Skye Bridge was a blatant example of what goes on all the time. Then the Conservatives have the gall to say we are supported financially.

The Scottish Government must act as if it is truly a government-in-waiting and nail this lie with detailed statistics. It would be fun if George could start the ball rolling.

Iain WD Forde
Scotlandwell

SOME £335 billion has been borrowed to finance the Covid experience. Added to the existing national debt of £2,000bn, we will now face tax rises to repay this debt. But these are quite unnecessary, because the money borrowed for Covid, and for most of the other £2000bn, does not have to be repaid because it was created from thin air by the banks. Just the interest on this magic money has to be paid to the rascals! That interest is now well over £52bn a year.

Proof that this debt does not have to be repaid and – indeed – can’t be repaid, is that in 1997 the national debt was £350bn, and in 2021 it had risen to £2,335bn, and at no time in that period did the banks ever ask for any repayment of that capital. But they have asked for the interest on it, of course!

For some time now, all government has been doing is trying to reduce the annual deficit as we slide even further into debt financed by magic money. It is not even real debt by definition, because nobody has lent it and been deprived of its use. It is truly magic digital money from nowhere, made by computer keystroke.

To raise taxes in the forlorn and unnecessary hope of repaying any of it will merely further restrict the economy, as any dynamic tax model will confirm. What we need now is a reduction in tax, to encourage the new investment that will speed our recovery.

Malcolm Parkin
Kinross