Sir, While I can totally understand the rationale that Fintan O’Toole put forward in his Opinion article (June 5) on independence for Ireland, the case for Scotland is somewhat different.
In Scotland, we never had the divisive potato famine which 160 years later is still a matter of contention in Ireland. In Scotland, in the main, religion has not been at variance with the other parts of the United Kingdom. In fact, to a large proportion of the Scots populace we have been a positive contributor to what Britain has achieved. We already have our own monetary and legal system. We have, however, already proven ourselves capable of the “swaggering self-delusion” in Fred Goodwin of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Peter Cummings of HBOS. So what would independence give us, apart from the capability to swagger around in our kilts and play our bagpipes? We can do that already. So what is driving this need for independence other than a “swaggering self-delusion”?
Malcolm Mclean
Scotstoun, Glasgow