IT was really uplifting to read your story about the full-time jobs given to trainee community janitors by the Glasgow Housing Association.

Unfortunately, such a happy-ending is very rarely the case for those individuals stuck on Coalition -backed Workfare schemes.

Workfare schemes in the US and Australia were ineffective in increasing the chances of finding work. Yet people in the UK are now being farmed out to already profitable companies that are under no obligation to reward them with a job at the end of their placement.

The Government should be concentrating on the fact that vast amounts of money lie in the vaults of big business, precious little of which is being used to create jobs.

E Semple Glasgow

READER H Reid rightly asks (Evening Times, February 2) why is Glasgow City Council 'gifting' £60million to Buchanan Galleries to create even more retail outlets when we have shops throughout the city lying empty? The answer is - jobs. The fact that most will be short-term and pay poverty wages does not enter the equation.

Councillors are terrified of being accused by opponents of knocking back jobs.

Flash the cash, promise jobs, and our elected officials will do back flips for you, even if it means ripping the heart out of the dear, green place.

Joe O'Loan Glasgow

I NOTE that the SNP is opposed to a referendum on independence - independence from the institution that creates 75% of our laws, the EU.

At First Minister's questions their leader seemed to be saying Scots shouldn't even get a vote on whether we would sign up to the EU.

This despite the obvious fact that, with no bargaining power, the terms we get would almost certainly be far harsher, excluding the opt-outs Westminster has negotiated.

Neil Craig, Secretary, UKIP, Glasgow Branch