Letters / Bare faced cheek

Well, well, well, I’ve seen it all now.

The very architects of austerity, the very people who are directly responsible for the misery inflected on many of us in recent years, now have the bare faced cheek to shed tears over the tragic consequences triggered by their very own actions.

After years of Lib Dem/Tory cuts in our public services, after years of privatised industries gouging our social landscape and after years of little or no opposition to these attacks, the very best our Labour MSP can do is encourage our folk to reach out for help.

All we need now is a timely intervention from Alistair Darling and all our problems will disappear. Are we really being asked to take these people seriously.

Thankfully though, our very own council, sadly itself no shunner of austerity, is well equipped, along with our Charitable Trust, to at least partially mitigate the impending crisis.

For instance, the provision of free school meals for all, and the introduction of free bus travel for all – the use of our leisure centres also free – is well within our financial capability…but what we really need is the will to embark upon their implementation.

We could try it for a year and see if the world stops turning.

Of course it is a far cry from talking the talk to walking the walk. I recall the time when our Labour Government encouraged the elderly to keep warm by wearing an extra jersey in their homes.

I read now that our own MP, former Tory Secretary of State for Scotland, is suggesting that we all seek out warm places to shelter. How more pathetic can we get.

Ian Scott
Councillor, central ward