The poetic injustice of the Loch of the Lowes osprey blog kicks off today’s letters column which also delves into issues around the financial crisis and the upcoming elections.
Osprey blog hijacked by excruciating poetry Sir I fully support the decision by the Scottish Wildlife Trust to close the commenting function of the Loch of the Lowes blog.
Last year hundreds of people became hooked on this blog following Lady’s desperate fight for survival. The blog was then unfortunately hijacked by scores of people who appeared more interested in publishing poetry and commenting on various other frivolous topics than on the day-to-day happenings at Loch of the Lowes.
For those of us who were trying to follow Lady’s plight on the blog, these postings were a huge nuisance as it required spending time reading dozens of unrelated postings before being able to discover the latest information.
Criticism was not well received by these frivolous bloggers.
I believe that they did have a great interest in the ospreys but they seemed unaware that their lengthy contributions to the blog were clogging up the site and making it almost unreadable to others.
Each day would see at least one new poem about Lady followed by dozens of contributors starting their piece with, “Oh how I cried when I read that poem.” It was excruciating reading.
It became much more like a chatline than a blog.
William Robertson.Greenford,Middlesex.
Don’t blame retail bankers
Sir I must take issue with your headline (March 28) which was prompted by the letter from Dr John Cameron.
He expresses his distaste at bankers demanding obscene bonuses and by some incomprehensible means links them to the interest rates payable to pensioners of which I am one of many.
His letter is in line with so many ill-informed people these days who put pen to paper before establishing the facts.
Just who are these bankers to whom he refers in his sweeping statement?
Knowing a bit more about the subject than he obviously does I assume he means the handful (in relation to total staff) of traders and dealers in the City. These staff negotiate their own terms of employment and, yes, some of the wages are obscene.
The more than 90% of the rest, the real bankers, the ones in the retail sector, the only people who most of the public ever know, are not even well paid, never mind receiving performance bonuses and this has been the case for generations.
For the qualifications and years of training required, they have always been among the poorer paid in society.
Bill Wilson.47 Duncan Avenue,Arbroath.
Erosion of pension value
Sir Dr John Cameron’s letter (March 28) highlights the difference between the official rates of inflation and the true rate applicable to pensioners as well as the paltry rates of interest now achieved by pensioners fortunate enough to have saved a few pounds.
There is, however, another way in which pensioners appear to be losing out relative to other low-income groups. The personal tax allowance for the under 65s is increasing by £1000 or 15.4% for the tax year 2011/12 and by a further £620 or 8.4% for the tax year 2012/13.
In the case of pensioners, the increase for 2011/12 is only £450 or 4.7%. The government promise to raise the allowance for pensioners at RPI rather than CPI for pensioners for the rest of this parliament may seem generous.
However, unless the RPI rises by at least 8.4%, the differential will be further eroded in the tax year 2012/13.
The rights and wrongs of the extra allowance for pensioners may be debatable. What is not debatable is that, unless policy changes, on current trend, the differential will cease to exist. Perhaps that is Government policy.
D. S. Saunders.235 Muirfield Drive,Glenrothes.
Independence of returning officers
Sir I would like to express my dismay and surprise at Steve Bargeton’s political comment on Saturday. Management of elections should be independent of politicians and so decisions as to when counts are carried out are made by the returning officer and should certainly not be influenced by politicians.
Steve’s piece was gratuitous and groundless.
(Cllr) Elizabeth Riches.Depute Leader of Fife Council and Leader of Fife Council LIberal Democrats.
Taking heed of local factors
Sir Your article. May 5 vote count delay causes anger (March 24). quotes from an Electoral Commission statement released on February 1, by stating, “We have made clear that it is important people know who will represent them in the Scottish Parliament as soon as possible after the close of the poll and for voters and political parties to be confident that the results are accurate.”
This is correct and is why Jenny Watson, the chief counting officer for the referendum has directed that the counting of votes in the referendum will not begin until 4pm on Friday, May 6.
This will ensure returning officers can devote their resources to counting Scottish Parliamentary votes first.
However, the article fails to include the rest of the statement issued at that time which was that, “Returning officers must make their own decision about whether to start counting Scottish Parliamentary election ballots on the evening of May 5 or the following morning but that decision should not be affected by the timing of the count for the proposed UK referendum.”
Managing an election count is a complicated task. Returning officers will need to take into account a range of local factors when making their decision on when the count should take place including geography, availability of staff and venues and the volume of postal votes.
Andy O’Neill.Head of Office Scotland,The Electoral Commission.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.