Sir – What are Scotland’s most valuable assets?

Are they are our industries, our historic buildings or North Sea oilfields?

Perhaps our magnificent land and seascapes are our most admired assets?

I suggest that none of these would be worth much without people.

Our present and future generations are what make our Scotland so great.

But the outlook is not favourable for our people, who are our most precious asset.

Our birth rate continues to fall, migration into Scotland is low and we continue to provide free university places to young people from other countries.

Unfortunately, many of those expensively educated graduates leave us in their early twenties.

Moreover, our death rate is greater than our birthrate, meaning that we do not have enough replacements to maintain our precious people.

Here’s the detail. In the 12 months ending in October this year, there were 54,755 births registered in Scotland.

This is not sufficient to sustain our population of more than five million unless, of course, we all live to be 100.

Deaths recorded in the same period were more numerous than births at 56,206.

This means we are becoming a country with more and more older people, like me.

We face the prospect of shrinking numbers of people of working age left to support our growing pension and National Health Service costs.

Our most precious assets are in decline. How could we stimulate our recovery?

Andrew Dundas.

34 Ross Avenue,

Perth.

SNP to blame for police VAT crisis

Sir, – Dundee SNP councillor Kevin Cordell blames Westminster for the problem that Police Scotland is unable to recover the £76 million of VAT that has been paid in the last three years.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay had previously complained that this is a “completely unjustifiable Tory tax”.

They are either badly advised or are trying to con the public. I suspect the latter.

They both should direct their anger to their own party. Alex Salmond was warned four years ago that merging the police forces and fire services in Scotland was a mistake since they would be classed as national organisations unlike the previous regional forces controlled by local councils and, therefore, not be eligible to claim back VAT.

The cost to these organisations is an eye-watering £40m every year.

The SNP cannot blame Westminster for this one.

The SNP was warned but chose to ignore the advice and is now complaining.

Clark Cross.

138 Springfield Road,

Linlithgow.

Value of Fife jazz orchestra

Sir, – On November 27, Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra under its founder and leader, Richard Michael, met to celebrate 40 years since its beginning – 40 years of musicians giving of their time and talents to inspire young people to read and play music and to master a variety of instruments.

For that event, many now-distinguished musicians, former members of FYJO, came back to join in the day’s music workshops, celebrations and concert.

How many youth organisations of that kind are still going strong after 40 years?

FYJO has inspired many young people to go on to become professional musicians, or amateurs dedicated to the love of musicianship as taught in FYJO.

I have three grandsons, now adults, who are accomplished musicians in their own fields, three of the thousands who have benefited from FYJO.

The Courier had a great opportunity to portray this brilliant organisation, so, what did we get? A pathetic picture at the bottom of a page of someone playing a saxophone.

Agnes Thomson.

14 Vardon Drive,

Glenrothes.

Does God back Brexit?

Sir, – I read with interest that our Prime Minister has revealed that she is confident she is doing the right thing in relation to Brexit due to her faith in God. She is the daughter of an Anglican clergyman, so perhaps this is no surprise.

However, I have no doubt there are plenty of Remain Christians elsewhere who believe they are doing the right thing in opposing Brexit due to that very same faith in God.

Does God take sides? What if God wants us to remain in the EU to build bridges rather than barriers? Has He revealed this to Mrs May or is she choosing not to pay attention?

Alistair McBay.

National Secular Society,

5 Atholl Crescent,

Edinburgh.

Ukip can eclipse Labour Party

Sir, – I was heartened by Paul Nuttall’s election as leader of Ukip.

Firstly, Mr Nuttall’s election gives a clear and credible answer to the existential question: what after the Brexit referendum is Ukip for?

There is a real need for a political party to represent working-class people now that the Labour Party has reduced itself to little more than a virtue signalling middle-class cult.

The success of the SNP suggests that replacing Labour in England and Wales is a realistic aim for Ukip.

Secondly, the new leader is likely to bring an early end to infighting. Mr Nuttall commands the support of Ukip’s MEPs, as deputy leader was close enough to Nigel Farage to bring Farage loyalists with him and by his astute early appointment of Patrick O’Flynn MEP shows he intends to bring those close to Douglas Carswell MP and Suzanne Evans back into the fold.

Thirdly, his championing of an English parliament shows he recognises the need to rebalance our constitution to take account of devolution.

British politics can only benefit from Ukip mounting a challenge to a Labour Party which, under Jeremy Corbyn, seems to be stuck in a 1970s university sociology department.

Otto Inglis.

6 Inveralmond Grove,

Edinburgh.

Not all jobs are equal

Sir, – At one time in my working life I was an employer representative on a Scottish wages council which comprised equal numbers of employee and employer representatives and civil servants.

The purpose of the council was to determine, annually, wages to be paid by employers, starting at age 16 up to 21, the adult rate. There was another scale for managers. Councils existed for different forms of employment.

This demonstrates that government at that time realised that all employment was not equal and that more complex employment would attract higher rates of pay. In other words, not all jobs had the same worth.

Today an odd-job man would anticipate equal pay with a fully-trained employee. This may have an influence on the number of people who require state assistance, in one form or another, to maintain a reasonable standard of living.

AA Bullions.

6 Glencairn Crescent,

Leven.

Chris Froome overlooked

Sir, – Andy Murray heads a list of 16 – mainly drawn from Rio Olympic competitors – in the race for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Chris Froome’s fantastic achievement of winning the Tour de France for the third time was not enough.

Though some of the 16 are far from world famous, their events were shown on BBC television which appears to have become a necessary condition.

Rev Dr John Cameron.

10 Howard Place,

St Andrews.