Sir, – Jill Stephenson (“Scottish firms shortchanged” , Letters, April 11), as usual, twists things to show our Scottish Government in a bad light.
She tells us “the Scottish Government has not entirely distributed the extra £2.2 billion provided to it by HM Treasury to support small businesses in the way intended and in the manner which is being done in England (where) a business with several branches receives £25,000 per branch, (whereas) in Scotland, the figure is £25,000 per business, regardless of the number of branches”.
Ms Stephenson’s assertion is quite revealing of the differences between the Westminster Government and our government at Holyrood.
With a finite amount of money, the Scottish Government looks to distribute the money to help as many ‘small’ businesses as possible, whereas our Conservative Government in London, true to type, has no interest in the wee man (or woman), and aims the support at fewer, but bigger, businesses, the ones which would be more likely to have the resources to ride out the storm, even if it meant cutting back on branches.
She states also that we in Scotland are “fortunate to have the massive heft of the UK economic and financial system to sustain us in this crisis”.
I wonder how she thinks other medium sized, prosperous, northern European nations, like Scotland, such as Denmark, Norway, Finland and Ireland, will manage without nanny to look after them?
Not too badly I would suggest.
Certainly, so far as I can tell, each of these independent countries, has, so far, managed to achieve a dramatically lower rate of coronavirus infection than the UK.
But then, we only pay the piper, they get to call the tune.
Les Mackay.
5 Carmichael Gardens,
Dundee.
The truth about the king’s tooth?
Sir, – I read with interest Graham Brown’s article on the virtual display by ANGUSalive featuring a tooth purporting to be that of Scotland’s longest reigning King, William I (1165-1214).
The tooth was, if I remember correctly, acquired by Lord Panmure who, as President of Montrose Natural History and Antiquarian Society founded in 1836, donated it to their museum in Montrose.
I was appointed District Curator in 1977, and my first big task was to catalogue the Montrose Museum collections. This tooth was one of the many interesting artefacts discovered then and I had John Sheriff, our archaeologist, take it to Dorothy Lunt of Glasgow, then the leading expert in ancient teeth, for examination.
From memory her opinion was that it was the tooth of a middle-aged woman of lesser birth, rather than that belonging to an ageing king who had eaten well all his life!
The Montrose Museum records will confirm this.
The letter accompanying the tooth is of interest, however, in that it describes the marble slab with the lion at its foot which lay nearby when King William was buried before the High Altar on the 10th of December 1214.
He had founded Arbroath Abbey in 1178, and dedicated it to Thomas Becket, and it became Scotland’s largest and richest abbey, owning much land in Angus and beyond. This slab is on display in the Abbey visitor centre.
The present memorial to King William was the product of The King William the Lion Society, who petitioned the then Historic Scotland to have the king’s burial place marked.
As for the tooth, I suspect it was sold to the unsuspecting Patrick Anderson, author of the 1816 letter accompanying it, by the enterprising abbey caretaker who sold such “relics”!
Norman Atkinson.
Weaver’s Croft,
Kingsmuir.
Devolution as it should be
Sir, – Newspaper headlines announcing Nicola Sturgeon “would not hesitate” to diverge from the UK Corona strategy “if needed” elicited an instant “here she goes again” response from those like me who expect her to take every opportunity to underline the need for independence.
However, she and medical expert Professor Leitch were fully in support of the cross-UK approach and at pains to say any deviation would be properly thought through.
She should be praised for this example of how devolved government should work.
Allan Sutherland.
1 Willow Row,
Stonehaven.
Money before medals for NHS
Sir, – Why are people talking of medals for NHS staff? Even hard-earned medals are, in themselves, cheap.
Would it not be more appropriate if frontline staff in the NHS were given either a pay rise or a decent lump sum paid into their public pension pots? Why not both?
That would better recognise their selfless courage and service.
John D. Ridley.
Spoutwells Drive,
Scone,
Perth.
Sturgeon is doing her job
Sir, – I never thought I’d say this but, in my view, Nicola Sturgeon is showing good leadership.
She’s not going on about independence and “climate change”, she’s doing the job she’s paid for during this corona crisis. Keep it up.
Geoff Moore.
Braeface Park,
Alness,
Highland.
