Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, The report which suggests that large companies in the UK are getting an easier ride from the taxman than small businesses or the individual taxpayer through what has been termed ”sweetheart deals” in settling tax bills should really come as no surprise to anyone.
This on top of the taxpayer bailing out financial institutions prompt some to point out that this is a result of capitalism being left unchecked, whereby the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, a point of view with which I have a great degree of sympathy.
George Bernard Shaw quoted: ”Capitalism has destroyed our belief in any effective power but that of self-interest backed up by force.”
I would suggest we delete the last four words of Shaw’s quote and substitute ”backed up by HMRC”.
R. T. Smith.30 Braeside Terrace,Aberdeen.
Time to get into real world
Sir, I agree wholeheartedly with Alistair McBay’s letter, Mr Cameron and Co need to step into the real world and get their own house in order.
Can you imagine working for a company that only has a little more than 635 employees, and has the following employee statistics:
Twenty-nine have been accused of spouse abuse;
Seven have been arrested for fraud;
Nine have been accused of writing bad cheques;
Seventeen have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least two businesses;
Three have done time for assault;
Seventy-one cannot get a credit card due to bad credit;
Fourteen have been arrested on drug related charges;
Eight have been arrested for shoplifting;
Twenty-one are currently defendants in law suits;
Eighty-four have been arrested for drink-driving in the last year;
And collectively, this year alone, they have cost the British tax payer £92,993,748 in expenses!
Which company is this?
It’s the 635 members of the House of Commons. The same group that cranks out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.
What a bunch of crooks we have running our country it says it all.
And just to top all that they probably have the best ”corporate” pension scheme in the country whilst trying to ensure that everyone else has the worst possible!
What an appalling state of affairs.
Thomas Bryce.126 Kirke Park,Methilhill,Leven.
What became of Cardy House?
Sir, I have been a life member of the National Trust since 1968. Your recent article on the tenement flat in Buccleuch Street was, therefore, most interesting to read.
I have visited the flat and it’s good to see it so well preserved, although I suppose Miss Agnes Reid Toward had it well pickled in aspic long before that!
In Lower Largo is Cardy House, built by the Gilles family (of which Alexander Selkirk of Robinson Crusoe fame was a member).
It sits high up and always flew a Saltire from the flagpole and a statue of Atlas supporting the world sat on top of the porch. When I last saw it about twenty years ago after reading an article in the Scots Magazine, the contents were all in packing cases ready for a new venue.
The lady who occupied the house was Ivy Jardine and she had fastidiously kept it in its original state, even storing the kitchen range in pieces all numbered when she wanted a more up-to-date cooker.
It became a financial burden for her and she offered it, in its entirety, to the National Trust Scotland. The only thing she wanted was half the value of the silver.
Sadly the NTS said they couldn’t afford to take it, even for nothing. I wonder what became of it. Can anybody tell?
John Gove.Brae Cottage,Gourdon.
No evidence of any miracles
Sir, If, as A. T. Geddie states, ”ideologies which don’t work are eventually discarded” (Letters, December 22) then the dramatic decline in church attendance in the western world must say something about Christianity there.
Meanwhile, Philip Kearns (same page) should note that there is not a jot of evidence for Christ’s feeding of the multitudes, or any other miraculous event in Christian mythology.
Buddha, Caesar, Mohammed, Columbus, Newton and many others changed the world, for better or worse, without the benefit of modern media.
That Christ did so too proves little.
(Dr) Stephen Moreton.33 Marina Avenue,Warrington.
Never will be agreement
Sir, As a Christian, I have read, with great interest, the recent well written correspondence on the celebration of Christmas.
There will never be universal agreement on the historic accuracy of events, but we cannot ignore that fact that Christ, in a public ministry, which probably lasted for only around three years, made a significant impression on the people of his day, and left his mark on the whole world, and has continued to influence people for some two thousand years.
During His lifetime, according to the Gospels, enormous numbers of lives were dramatically changed, and the mainstay of my own faith is that even today.
The lives of those who follow Christ and accept His offer of forgiveness and salvation are still being changed.
Robert Marr.23 Patrick Allan Fraser Street,Arbroath.
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.