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Sunday Herald, The, Apr 13, 2008

Nothing to stop local income tax

THE claim by the UK Treasury that a local income tax could not be implemented in Scotland as it is outwith the powers devolved under the Scotland Act is patent drivel.

The Scotland Act doesn't refer to any details on local taxation as it only refers to reserved matters, and everything not reserved is judged as being devolved.

The Act denes 'local tax' as "taxes to fund local authority expenditure", and these are not under the category of 'scal, economic and monetary policy' as outlined as reserved matters in the Act. In essence, it isn't the locality of raising the tax that makes it 'local' it's the spending, and there is nothing to prohibit a Scottish government introducing a local income tax.

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It is also more than a little unusual that it has taken the UK government so long to come up with this spurious attempt to prevent Scotland introducing a fairer form of local taxation, but this poor attempt simply lacks any credibility, as clearly demonstrated in its own legislation.

Alex Orr Edinburgh

Difficult decisions

"WHAT a badly thought out reaction" Joanna Blythman's response to tales of children being removed from their parents' care, allegedly solely on the grounds of obesity. It is also my reaction to her article. I do not know the details of the cases to which she refers, and I am confident neither does Ms Blythman!

What I do know are the rules and processes which govern such decisions.

Despite media posturing to the contrary, children are not compulsorily removed from their parents on the whim of a social worker. Such decisions are made by three well informed and trained lay panel members in a Children's Hearing and subject to appeal to a Sheriff. The welfare of the child is paramount and the rights and needs of children are carefully considered, alongside the rights of their parents. To remove a child from their parents is a complex decision with robust safeguards in place. Obesity alone is unlikely to constitute grounds to remove a child.

As for her insulting comments on residential care? Again, I suspect, based on ignorance of the quality of provision actually on offer.

Social work certainly doesn't anticipate warm and cuddly reporting on our challenging activities by Scotland's journalists, but accurate and objective reporting doesn't seem an unreasonable expectation.

Bernadette Docherty President Association of Directors of Social Work

Measuring worth

I THOUGHT that Iain Macwhirter's article "Iceland's Big Freeze" (06/04/2008) was going to miss the big picture, but as usual with Mr Macwhirter's articles he eventually hit the nail on the head.

For all the travails of the current economic climate, neither the slowing Celtic Tiger of Ireland nor the global gambler Iceland are clamouring to be governed by their former colonial masters.

Zimbabwe has ination of 100,000-per cent and a despised (soon to be ex-) president, but they are not asking that Westminster steps in to take them by the hand. Even during the historic economic downturn of the Wall Street Crash, the USA did not attempt to join the Commonwealth, never mind relinquish her sovereignty.

That is the bigger picture: Independence is good and to be strived for, whether personal or national. That is why 36 nations have joined the United Nations since 1990 alone, eight of which since New Labour took power and none of which were opposed by Westminster.

So, for those who only measure their worth, as a person or nation, by how much money they have in their pocket, they should take a look at the 192 members of the UN, each and every one with more of a say in world affairs than our ancient nation.

Caoimhin Cordelll Dundee

Flight of fancy

IAIN Macwhirter writes with reference to the phenomenon of capital flight that, "the advantage of globalisation is that small countries can become big players fast".

With regard to the Asian banking crisis of 1998 , Malaysia, the country which was least affected and which recovered fastest, was the only country in the region which did not follow the advice of the IMF.

Its imposition of capital controls ensured that it did not suffer depression on the same scale as its neighbours, while ensuring that there were sufficient funds to facilitate "import substitution".

There is a lesson for the SNP in this if it wishes to secure separation, it must persuade the Scottish people that so-called Washington Consensus economics has its risks as well as its rewards. They cannot shout that Scotland is a great place to do business without also appreciating the catastrophic impact that capital ight can have on smaller or less-developed economies. Today, this is an issue of the utmost gravity; and waving the Saltire and shouting Freedom! will not alone be enough to convince some of the electorate of the SNP's competence in the face of such challenges.

M.E. Kelly Glasgow

Dependent force

IAIN Macwhirter's article "Iceland's big freeze is a lesson for independence" made some valid points. Last year when I was in Iceland, I took any opportunity to ask local people how such a small country was coping with independence?

MAIL IN PRINT . . . AND ONLINE

Sunday Herald, The, Apr 13, 2008

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