Sir, I share Gordon Kennedy’s frustration at the length of time taken to establish a credit union in Perth and Kinross, his concerns regarding pay-day lenders and the plight of people in financial difficulty at this time of year are well made.
There is a danger, however, that concentrating on the council’s failure to, firstly, communicate since March of last year with the 900-plus people who pledged their support for the credit union since and secondly, to correct the over-optimistic statements for the establishment of the credit union is simply going to turn new members off.
We need to ensure that public awareness of the vital role that a credit union can play in our community is maximised. The wait has been too long but the prize is definitely worthwhile. Just a few of the benefits of a not-for-profit community financial co-operative are: an ethical ethos, working with the best interests of its members at heart; encouraging members to save and discouraging unaffordable borrowing; and without shareholder dividends to pay and grounded in a local common bond, credit unions can provide lower interest rates for borrowing and higher rates for saving.
I have been advised that the Prudential Regulation Authority has a deadline of March 17 by which to approve the credit union, one year from the date of the original application. The Financial Conduct Authority’s vetting process and background checks are still to be completed. I can assure you I will not tolerate any delay which might jeopardise the March deadline.
Cllr Peter Barrett. Scottish Liberal Democrats, Perth City Centre.
Has shown a lack of dignity
Sir, The Provost of Fife is, albeit an elected councillor, the civic leader in Fife, chairing the council but representing all of us. Provosts, upon being appointed by all of our councillors, by custom and common sense, stand aloof from party politics whilst exercising the office. Former provosts Simpson and Melville set good examples of how to do that.
In parading with his party candidate launching the Labour campaign for the Cowdenbeath by-election the current provost has shown a lack of dignity and displayed a political profile which is unbecoming of the civic leader of Fife Council.
Mike Scott-Hayward. Sawmill House, Kemback Bridge, Fife.
Representative selection
Sir, Whether you are of the Yes, No or Don’t Know persuasion, surely no one could have failed to have been surprised by your correspondent’s assessment of MEP George Lyon’s “coontin”.
Without getting into the mechanics of it (or how to calculate percentages), any poll is conducted by questioning a cross-section of the chosen demographic in order to get a representative response.
I’m not sure where George Lyon was schooled either (Rothesay perhaps?), but I’m sure he acknowledges the Scottish public’s “coontin” skills.
Alan Shepherd. Manor Street, Forfar.
We need to take next step
Sir, Some readers seem to feel the UK still offers the best way forward for Scotland, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I would be interested to know if these readers are aware that the Red Cross is distributing food parcels to families in the UK for the first time since the Second World War such is the poverty now in this country?
However, there is a different way and that is independence. How do we know? This week in small independent Norway, closer to Scotland than geographically and politically distant London, everyone became a theoretical millionaire. It is a notable milestone for the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund that has ballooned thanks to high oil and gas prices.
Set up in 1990, the fund owns around 1% of the world’s stocks, as well as bonds and real estate from London to Boston, making the Nordic nation an exception when others, such as the much vaunted UK, are struggling under a mountain of debt.
Our lucky Norwegian neighbours have banked this money for future generations or times of national hardship.
Oeystein Doerum, chief economist at DNB Markets said: “The fund is a success in the sense that parliament has managed to put aside money for the future. There are many examples of countries that have not managed that.” Sound familiar?
At a time when Scots farmers have just been short-changed by the UK Government again, farm subsidies in Norway allow farmers, for instance, to keep dairy cows in heated barns in the Arctic.
Norway has oil and independence; we have oil. We only lack one thing to make the dream reality. Let us have the gumption to take that opportunity in September.
Henry Malcolm. 331 Clepington Road, Dundee.
Not improved!
Sir, I agree with Mr Low re the so-called Wellmeadow improvements in Blairgowrie (Nightmare to drive through, January 4). It takes much longer now to drive through the town, and for anyone coming into Rattray on the A93 and turning right towards the bridge, they will often only get into the long queue if a kind driver lets him/her in. Maybe it’s experimental, but whatever the situation, it needs to be rethought.
A M C Kirkwood. Bridge of Cally, Blairgowrie.