A case for integrity

Sir, – The late Douglas Adams said he loved deadlines, “especially the whooshing noise they make as they fly by”.

Perhaps your columnist Jenny Hjul heard a similar noise as she was finishing her latest piece (“Brexit bounce falls short,” October 10) as I’m not sure what else can explain her rambling engagement with, I think, Scotland’s first minister, Brexit and a march.

Ms Hjul’s anger and distaste for the current Scottish Government, the SNP, the concept of a country being in charge of all the decisions it makes, and increasingly Scotland itself, is abundantly clear.

By far the most insidious feature of her writing is her use of loaded militaristic terms with which to label supporters of independence.

To write of troops gearing up for a rally for separation is way below the standards I would expect of a journalist, even one whose whole argument is predicated on the Union as being the saviour of Scotland.

Running a close second is her assertion, without reference, of a 20,000 crowd marching in Edinburgh on October 6 whilst putting the All Under One Banner estimate of 100,000 in brackets.

Now, regardless of which figure one believes, why is it only the pro-independence assertion that is marginalised?

Of course she may well have taken her lead from the way Westminster marginalises Scottish voices in the House of Commons, but I’d suggest that those wishing for an independent Scotland, like the Scottish MPs, will not be silenced.

When it comes to talk of EU withdrawal, Ms Hjul’s writing becomes even cloudier and in the light of the arguments which were used by the Better Together and Leave campaigns, she might want to revisit the claims they made which now lie in a broken heap.

Yet by far the most worrying thrust of her latest piece is talk of a Brexit bounce.

Firstly, Brexit has not happened and most importantly we have no idea of what EU withdrawal will be like, other than an unmitigated disaster for industry, the economy, and Scotland.

But perhaps I am being too hard on Ms Hjul. It can’t be easy trying, week after week, to come up with some novel way of doing down Scotland and supporting a United Kingdom that seems to be crumbling at an ever increasing pace.

I am sure Ms Hjul is sincere in believing what she writes but, as Douglas Adams also said, “To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity”.

Graeme Finnie. Balgillo,

Albert Street, Blairgowrie.