I FOUND Tuesday’s long letter by L McGregor thought-provoking. (My generation had to scrimp and save from the little we have) I’ve not really thought about what is meant by “generational rebalancing” before now. I always just thought of the rebalancing bit as meaning rebalancing the wealth of the country by curtailing the amount that those who are already excessively wealthy can earn, and start making them pay their fair share.
The trouble with that is those who fall into that class are also the ones who control the rates of taxation and the laws surrounding it. They’re not going to introduce laws that mean they will have to cut back on what they can shovel away into their own banks.
I would not wish the young folks of today to have to go through what we went through as youngsters some 60 to 70 years ago, although we were always happy enough, as far as I can remember. L McGregor is quite correct concerning those things he does highlight but I would go just a bit further and remind him of the many things the youngsters of today have that we didn’t.
Most kids nowadays have a mobile phone. Some have them from a very young age. We didn’t. In fact, I was well into “middle age” before I got something about the size and shape of the receiver on one of the old black telephones that I could hold up to my ear and speak to somebody from almost anywhere. Of course, it didn’t have texts or games or access to the internet and video calls. They all came later.
READ MORE: My generation had to scrimp and save for the little we have
Then there are PlayStations and Xboxes etc. Again, most kids have them. When I was wee, our play station was a field beside the burn. A shoot broken from an elderberry bush and stripped of its leaves became a sword to be wielded by the Knights of the Round Table or a machine gun to be used to play “Japs and commandos”. Forgive me if that’s not politically correct but political correctness did not exist then.
Maths exams were completed with the use of pencil and paper and everything was worked out using our own brains and our knowledge of the “times tables”. Calculators were not allowed. Actually, we didn’t have any!
Again, if I remember correctly, there were 37 or 38 kids in our primary class without any “special resources” teachers.
Our teacher just gave out some practical work for the rest of the class to complete on their own while she spent a bit extra time with those who needed extra help. Yet everybody was able to read a bit and write a bit when we moved to secondary. There was no-one who couldn’t do either. Unlike today, when I believe that is a problem.
I have very few photos of myself or my friends when we were bairns, mum and dad didn’t have a camera, but in those I do have we were all right wee ragamuffins. But we were happy. Maybe because we were out in the fresh air much more. Maybe because we met our friends face to face and actually talked to them instead of sitting alone in our bedroom prodding letters on a machine in our hand.
Maybe it’s because we had to “make do and mend”, that I am able to live frugally on the pittance that the Westminster dishes out as a pension, and still manage to make ends meet. It’s a struggle but I get by. However, it galls me when I consider that the last pay rise, (£11,000), that Westminster MPs awarded themselves is greater than the amount they expect me to live on for a whole year!
So, I’m sorry but I can’t afford to give up any of the meagre amount I am paid to redress the “generational imbalance”. Instead let’s get the land tax laws that Jim Stamper mentions up and running and get the money we need to help our essential services and our youth from those who can actually afford it and will still have a fair bit left over.
Charlie Kerr
Glenrothes
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