Scottish Reivers to pay more
Much of the Berwickshire letter column is taken up with the reaction to a story in last weeks paper that Scottish residents would be charged extra for use of the Maltings Cultural centre in Berwick, England. (the rationale being that the Maltings is subsidised by the local council) An example of this is the epistle from Name and Address supplied below which looks at the decision from a potentially ethnically divisive angle. But there are practical difficulties as well. I fear for Scottish retaliation. It already costs 20p for a relief visit in public loos in Berwickshire-perhaps English visitors will be called upon to pay an extra 5p or so to compensate the local council tax payers for their subsidies to public services. And as people are asking, will visitors to the Maltings from outside the UK also be asked to pay extra? Or is it one rule for the Scots and another for the rest of the world?. Back to the drawing board I respectfully suggest to the Maltings' Trustees


SIR, - Having read your report on proposals to "charge Scottish residents more than Berwick residents to use the Maltings " I am dismayed.
No not at the proposal. As an English person living in Scotland I have no objection to paying more to use the facility than Berwick residents, after all they are the ones subsidising the venue and it is not uncommon for local council taxpayers to get concessions at theatres, sports centre and the like in their council's area. This has been standard practice on both sides of the Border for many years.
I do not like the idea that Berwick councillors appear to be trying to 'blackmail' Berwickshire residents into forcing the hand of the SBC members, but what I strongly object to is the whole tone of the news item.
I expect unbiased reporting from my local newspaper, particularly one with sister papers on both sides of the Border and owned by a company, albeit Scottish based, with newspapers throughout Great Britain.
This is the kind of story which encourages anti Union feeling along with reports of so-called "English Rievers using Scottish hospitals" stirred up by MSP Christine Grahame. (I am sure she now understands that cross Border funding applies, both for English patients using Borders General Hospital and for the residents of places at the western end of the Border who, more often than not, use Carlisle Infirmary rather than Scottish hospitals).
But the really sad aspect of the Maltings story is the final paragraph of the report which suggests that if the proposal becomes reality "we could see a further split between the two countries". Who says so? Obviously some young reporter who has not been taught the difference between reporting and commenting or should it have been attributed to someone previously quoted?
These are no longer Debateable Lands and the English and Scots have lived in relative harmony in the Borders for many years. So if there are any anti-Union stirrings (deliberate or otherwise) to be heard, let's please leave them to the SNP and the man who really is doing more for their cause than Alec Salmond - Britain's next Prime Minister Gordon Brown!
NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED.

It is particularly ironic as Berwick is emotionally more a Scottish burgh than an English borough. And indeed some Berwickers reckon they are also Scottish by geography if they live south of the border but north of Sir Morrisons. Another reason etc etc.  ¶ 11:55 AM