Sir, T Tolland, in his letter of May 16 sneers at Mona Clark’s question about whether we could negotiate a re-entry into the UK should independence go horribly wrong and asks who has said: “Please take us back under British rule?” He is convinced “nobody ever” has.
Bad news Mr Tolland. In my travels I have worked in many of our old colonies. Since independence, I think it would be fair to say that the indigenous politicians, many up to their necks in graft and corruption, would not like to come back under British rule at all. They are robbing their people blind quite nicely on their own.
The people who matter, however, and here I am talking about the ordinary working people of these countries, may have a different perspective altogether. Many of them have in fact said to me: “I wish the British would come back to run this country”.
Perish the thought that good honest Scottish politicians would be involved in corrupt practices. However, given the apparent propensity of some politicians everywhere to fill their pockets at the expense of the people, it is not altogether impossible that at some future date Mona Clark, who was incidentally my tutor in political science at university and knows her stuff on politics, may in the end be right.
Captain Ian F. McRae. 17 Broomwell Gardens, Monikie.
If Scots took alloil revenue . . .
Sir I wonder just how many people realise that most of the stuff in their kitchen cupboards and on their bathroom shelves comes from England: everything from tinned soup to toothpaste and toilet rolls?
It is also worth remembering that many of Scotland’s container shipments use English deep water ports and that road traffic from Scotland to the continent has to use English roads. So, if an independent Scotland is to have all the revenue from North Sea Oil, what would England do to compensate?
George Donaldson. 48 St Ninian’s Road, Padanaram.
An excuse to bash SNP
Sir, Jenny Hjul, May 15, voices concerns that Scottish education is being politicised. Her concerns are much, much too late. As a schoolboy in 1960s Dundee I learned of Alfred burning cakes, Roman and Norman invasions, the Tudors, a Virgin Queen and the Spanish Armada. Also the war of the Roses and the English (although it wasn’t) Civil War.
My classroom was three miles from Admiral Duncan’s Camperdown estate, yet I was taught all about Nelson and Trafalgar and “England expects”. Even up to the Second World War, with Anglo French or Anglo American initiatives, we were not given our place.
As fascinating as English history is, it shouldn’t be taught at the expense of our own rich and ancient story. Bruce and his spider and a visit to a jute factory in no way compensated for an Anglicised education. That a country’s curriculum should leave its children ignorant of its past could be construed as an overtly political act and an attempt, happily failed, to turn Scots into “North Britons”.
Depressingly, as a parent in the 1980s, I discovered my son’s curriculum mirrored my own. Jenny Hjul’s concerns, however, would be more convincing if she didn’t once again use a subject to bash the SNP. The term “knee jerk tartanisation” strikes me as an effort to perpetuate and reinforce a Scottish cringe.
She also writes: “Politicising the curriculum, whatever the subject, is the preserve of immature democracies and dictators. It is a small step away from seizing control of media and broadcasting output, commandeering flags and anthems and crushing dissenting voices.”
This sums up Westminster precisely, with it’s obscene plans to celebrate in 2014 the onset of a war where Scotland suffered a proportionally higher casualty rate than any other. A fact, incidentally, I found out after I left school.
Ken Clark. 335 King Street, Broughty Ferry.
Interpret to suit themselves
Sir, It appears that every generation of Christians fashions its own image of Christ and interprets the Bible with reference to its historical and cultural settings.
As a retired parish minister aware of my many failings I am drawn to Paul’s letter to the Romans where he writes: “Accept one another just as Christ accepted you.”
Such a sentiment chimes with the core values of the modern West: compassion and acceptance regardless of class, creed, gender or even sexual orientation.
I do not believe that some obscure parts of the Bible must be taken literally while others parts can be treated interpretively.
And the slogan “love the sinner, hate the sin”, is not merely a patronising insult, it is theologically and biblically unsound as well as being unworkable in practice.
Rev Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
Fortunate to have such care
Sir, Over the past few years and particularly the last seven months, I have been using up my NHS points at Stracathro Hospital. I wish to say a thank you to all the staff at the hospital in all the different departments who have been working hard to resolve my health issues.
On Monday this week I received VIP treatment in the surgical unit and I want to say a special thank you to all the ward and theatre staff who looked after me.
We are very fortunate to have such an excellent hospital in Angus and that is very much due to the dedicated group of people who saved the hospital from closure.
Grahame Lockhart. Myrtle Cottage, 15 Scott Street, Brechin.