IT is so disappointing to learn of FM John Swinney’s decision to prevent Lynx being reintroduced to Scotland. Scotland is one of the most nature-deprived nations in the world. What limited wildlife there is constantly being persecuted.
Raptors are shot or poisoned. Badgers are culled and foxes shot. Until recently there was an annual industrial killing of Scotland’s hare population. Farmers and grouse moor gamekeepers maintain their grip on the land and succeed in only permitting the likes of sheep, cattle and grouse to populate much of Scotland’s countryside. Deer are allowed as they are shot by those people who like to kill animals in the name of sport(?).
READ MORE: Reintroducing wolves in Highlands could help native woodlands, experts say
Farmers are now complaining about beavers. Can there not be a campaign to rewild Scotland and make Scotland one of natures sanctuaries with the likes of lynx and European bison roaming free? Scotland’s tourist industry would be transformed. Many European nations such as Italy, Poland, Germany, Sweden etc have wolves roaming their countryside which coexist perfectly well with humans.
There has now been the recent killing of a few wild boar which were found in the Cairngorms.
Why should farmers and grouse moor owners/gamekeepers have the final and it seems the only say? Australia rendered extinct the Tasmanian tiger but now with the possibility of new genetic techniques would welcome its reintroduction to the wild.
READ MORE: Rhoda Meek: There are no rabbits in Tiree, and lessons of that are relevant again
What is wrong with Scotland and its land owners? Why is there this antipathy from Scots towards wild animals? How about a referendum on the rewilding of Scotland?
Why not let the people have their say? This could be done alongside the next Scottish Parliament elections to save cost.
Richard
Edinburgh
FURTHER to Shona Craven’s excellent article in Tuesday’s edition (We need action, not talk, to make Council Tax fairer).
Having been around for the change to and from the poll tax, as then was, and a number of discussions about the iniquities of the Council Tax, the reasons given for not achieving any changes may be a bit misplaced.
I recall early efforts being rebuffed by Cosla as the only alternative is a variation of income tax, which is in effect what the maligned poll tax really was but administered by local authorities. I think the real reason for rejection would have been a loss of autonomy and responsibility by councils. As anything to do with income tax has to be done through HMRC it would have meant losing all the duplicated 32 tax-collecting departments, and some loss of autonomy.
READ MORE: East Lothian first Scottish local authority to back council tax rise
I think the world has now moved on, and with the introduction of Scottish income tax variations it wouldn’t be that difficult to implement a further local tax band deduction. This would immediately address the fundamental flaw with current Council Tax, which completely fails to account for ability to pay.
Using the dubious proxy of assuming a certain capability based on what house someone happens to live in was always a flaw requiring periodic assessments (in principle) of property value as well as the extortion concept of unthinking tax demands. The amount of tax can be adjusted on a council area basis as is already done with tax codes. The duplication of roles and staffing would be eliminated with an addition to income tax instead. Ultimately meaning no separate council demands! Those staff could be reassigned to service delivery instead.
Another of the Council Tax flaws is the very limited and capped property value banding system meaning everything in Band H is taxed the same regardless. An income-based solution automatically takes into account all income, and therefore the particularly wealthy who get away with a set limit on what they pay as well as the means to avoid much income tax anyway would pay a more representative share of the overall tax burden than they do at present. After all, taxes should be levied on ability to pay rather than blanket assumptions.
Nick Cole
Meigle, Perthshire
THE SNP have the easiest cut-through message of all time and it’s being gifted – as I suggested it would many letters ago – by the crazy right-wing chaos in the US.
Farage hitched his wagon to Trump, who is hitched to the un-coolest tech-bro ever produced by the tech-bro industry: Musk, with his exploding space rockets and exploding Teslas and delinquent interns. Labour have always followed America down whatever hell-hole they whistle dixie into.
READ MORE: Ruth Wishart: Trump, Farage and Musk are a nightmare trio we can’t wake up from
So, as the Trump/Musk team – along with all the other nonsense of the last few weeks – belatedly discover that they’ve “accidentally” fired workers at the America’s National Nuclear Security Administration – 50 if you believe the Trump team (I don’t), or 300 if you believe the federal workers who received their “get lost” notices.
REJECT CHAOS. CHOOSE INDEPENDENCE. Never mind DOGE – we need to get the hell out of Dodge.
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh
Share