Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, The general view of unemployment seems to be that the only way to reduce it is to expand the economy to create more jobs.
There is another way of looking at the problem. We have striven for 200 years to improve the efficiency of manufacturing and food production, to the extent that we can now produce all that we need in these areas with a fraction of the labour previously required.
The easily foreseen result is that if we continue to employ the same number of people we will produce far more than we need.
We then struggle to dispose of all this extra production, and the only way we can do that is to try to persuade people to buy things they don’t need.
We then end up with a massive waste disposal problem.
Would it not be more sensible simply to reduce production to the level of actual need?
Unfortunately, it would also produce even higher unemployment, if we continued our present labour policy. However, if we look back to the 1930s we find Maynard Keynes predicting that with increased mechanisation we could produce all our material needs by working an average 15-hour week.
This is clearly the present position. We could easily reduce the working week by 20% and still produce adequate quantities of goods, and at the same time maintain full employment.
This would of course necessitate a complete restructuring of the wage system.
However, such a restructuring must be more sensible than paying people to do nothing.
The simple answer to unemployment, then, is to reduce the working week to the level which absorbs all the labour force into meaningful employment.
Bob Drysdale.Millfield Star,Glenrothes.
Seer should be better known
Sir, With the current interest in apples reported in The Courier, it surprises me that there has been no mention of Patrick Matthew, known as the Seer of Gourdie.
He was owner and manager of orchards at Gourdie, and of even greater ones in Germany.
He is more widely known for his remarks on Natural Selection, anticipating Darwin and Wallace by 27 years.
In addition, Matthew was critical of the siting of the first rail bridge over the Tay, hence his reputation as a seer.
Alastair Todd.10 Gillies Terrace,Broughty Ferry.
Greggs Bakery is taking a liberty
Sir, Greggs Bakery, through Ms Gillian Wood (September 29), has been highly critical of the mobile catering community.
I was shocked, surprised and angered by this unjustified attack.
I moved from a corporate role to running a mobile catering service over 10 years ago.
With my daughter, I own and run two vans in Inveralmond Industrial Estate, Perth.
I very much resent Greggs Bakery implying that we are somehow not worthy. Their comments around ”highway safety and other environmental issues” are ill-informed.
In my time we have not had any issues of the type that Greggs seem to think categorise our industry.
The only conclusion I can come to is that Greggs were trying to influence the planners.
Could it be that if Greggs are allowed to open a retail unit in an industrial park, it would set a precedent?
I hope Greggs will respond with an apology and a retraction.
Kevin Henderson.Doorsteps Outdoor Catering,20 Mill Hill Drive,Greenloaning.
Water quango was out of line
Sir, The weather forecast comes with the first ‘snow on the tops’ comment, a harbinger of winter no doubt. Thoughts of the hardships brought about by last winter’s severity come easily to mind, specially for the residents of Blair Atholl and other parts of Highland Perthshire who went without water for several weeks.
Inadequate installation in 2007 of a new water supply in Blair Atholl by Scottish Water made the national media last year.
It exposed both the engineering and strategic management failures.
A campaign against those responsible has paid off and an upgraded system has now been installed.
It is comforting to know that we now have a more resilient system.
But it is more than comforting to know that a small community can successfully stand up to a quango and the politicians. I trust others will take this as a harbinger of hope in their own situation.
Ron Greer.Armoury House,Blair Atholl.
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.