Remove this damaging burden

ON IONA, in Glasgow and indeed across Scotland the complaint is the same – end the highly damaging twenty per cent VAT surcharge placed on restoration work on old buildings.

While the select few most notable listed buildings may be exempt, too often historically important or just highly desirable vernacular buidlings are lost to the demolisher‘s wrecking ball for the simple reason that it is cheaper to knock them down and start again.

Already this short-sighted policy has resulted in the loss of far too many buildings that lent character to their surroundiings and formed an important part of our built heritage.

In these pages repeated reference has been made to the very real danger faced by historic areas of Glasgow, where whole swathes of Victorian era heritage risk disappearing.

As is noted elsewhere in this paper, even relatively modest, but important buildings on the islands are at risk of disdappearing.

Across Scotland there are literally hundreds of parish churches that are now surplus to the slimmed down Kirk’s requirements and which risk a sorry end when, as some examples are bravely showing, they could be retained, repaired and indeed developed as socially important assets.

Given the sorry financial predicament the current administration finds itself in, there can be little hope of this sorry situation being brought to an end.

The very rash promises made not to raise taxes on “ordinary people” are causing endless problems and leading to the most contorted manoeuvres.

Removing this sorry burden would not prove overly costly and could produce some very real benefits to society

(Artificial) lack of intelligence?

SIGNS ARE emerging that at last some sanity seems to be prevailing in the toxic culture of artificial intelligence, with the offer by at least one of the more enlightened companies to recognise the enormous debt owed to the creative community for the theft – no less – of vast swatches of intellectual property.

No area of creative endeavour has been safe – works of literature, music, visual art – all have been unceremoniously raided for their content with no regard at all paid to copyright protection.

Big Tech has been here before, riding roughshod over the interests of lesser mortals and seizing revenue wherever easy pickings could be found. You might think society would have become wise to their ways but, alas, the raids go on.

The great god AI needs to be treated with the greatest caution and its ways watched erxtremely closely.

We are promised endless benefits, but beware - they will come at a price.

As we have noted repeatedly in these columns, the demands being made on the world’s energy resources are truly enormous.

The present govenrment are embracing the new technology in what often seems an endearingly naive and trusting way - bowing down to Big Tech’s every demand in an almost servile manner.

Approval is being given for the contruction of giant data centres as though their contruction in our countryside was some sort of badge of honour.

The utmost care needs to be employed. For all the vague promises of endless “green” renewable energy for these monsters, sources are finite – not to mention the threat to our water supplies. Tiime to ca’ canny!

Palestine Inaction

YET AGAIN we have been treated to the absurd and shocking sight of respectable – and predominantly senior – citizens being arrested and carted off unceremoniously in police vans to be charged as terrorists.

While no one can defend causing damage to property, and particularly military property, the situation has become farcical.

What this benighted government should understand is that there is widespread horror at the treatment being handed out to the population of Gaza. They should understand that what people are protesting at is their own apparent policy of Palestine Inaction.

Forthright condemnation of a policy of starvation of a civilian population and the suppression of the truth by the targeting of journalists is long overdue.

Time for action!