Sir, Don’t you get the distinct feeling that the separatists’ campaign is ending with a whimper rather than a bang?
For the last three years every effort, every penny spent, all the rhetoric, the wishful promises and every action by the nationalist Government of Scotland has failed spectacularly to fire the people of Scotland with their “vision” of independence.
Instead, we see a nation confident, affluent and at ease with itself, whilst secure in its identity within the United Kingdom.
The pragmatism of Scots , without doubt, will triumph over the reckless and ill-managed gamble that the separatists with all their wistful thinking, dodgy accounting and improbable assertions are trying to make us take, and which ultimately must lead us into the dead end of parochialism, uncertainty and divisiveness.
Indeed, we should perhaps offer our thanks to the separatists in bringing forward this referendum which allows Scots to discover just how good an arrangement the union has been for Scotland over the last 300 years yet still has the capacity to evolve in a spirit of cooperation, mutual respect and tolerance.
Perhaps we will never again take this secure and progressive situation for granted, as we observe around the world nations and peoples with acrimonious political and ethnic rivalries tearing themselves apart and who have not had the good fortune to have been born British, and by the grace of God, Scots!
You may or may not believe in national stereotyping but the sobriquet of “canny Scot” sits well upon their shoulders.
Iain G Richmond. Guildy House, Monikie.
What point is there splitting up now?
Sir, The SNP Yes camp appeals to our hearts; now David Cameron has mistakenly suggested the same. For something as vital as the independence referendum, however, deciding on what is best for the future of our country, we should all have a heart by-pass so that the brain and the gut, not the emotions, decide which way we vote.
We probably all had nationalist feelings during our immature years but most of us gave them up when we went to big school. Not so the nats.
The United Kingdom has lasted remarkably well for 307 years, a lot longer than any conventional marriage.
A hundred years earlier, in the reign of King James VI of Scotland and I ofEngland, there had been a “vision to unite two kingdoms in an inseparable Union of the whole isle in one Kingdom”.
What possible point could there be in getting divorced now? There are no third parties involved, just the confidence trick, lies, assumptions and empty promises of what Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily Telegraph, calls “the Great Pretender” at Holyrood in his pursuit of personal power.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, the saying goes. Another: “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Independence would be forever, ‘not just for Christmas’.
Malcolm Innes. Kilspindie Manse, Errol, Perthshire.
Voters turned off by now
Sir, The BBC’s coverage of the independence referendum could be disrupted by journalists and technical staff going on strike over job cuts.
For the first time in my life I agree with a union and hope the National Union of Journalists call a strike.
The reason? I am fed up with the wall-to-wall coverage of the referendum since it was first mooted.
You cannot watch TV,listen to the radio, read a newspaper or look at theletters pages in the press without being bombarded with conflicting information from both the “Yes” and “No” camps.
Then the threatening internet trolls, again from both sides, made this important issue even more sinister.
What should have been a mature debate has descended into a name-calling farce which will turn off voters and many will refuse to vote.
The plan to save £45 million by axing 415 jobs has the full support of the public who are fed up with the high salaries paid, the ever-increasing repeats, and the blatant biased reporting of the BBC.
Clark Cross. 138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
A cunning plan B
Sir, What price a national anthem for an independent Scotland?
Clearly the impoverished nation predicted by Better Together could never afford to pay royalties for Flower of Scotland to The Corries (Music) Ltd, who must be laughing all the way to the bank after its frequent outings at the Commonwealth Games.
Perhaps it’s time for Alex Salmond to announce Scots Wha Hae as plan B?
This, in addition to having far superior words and tune to Roy Williamson’s kailyard dirge, has the added advantage of being long since out of copyright!
John Eoin Douglas. 7 Spey Terrace, Edinburgh.