Jenny Hjul guilty of talking down Scotland

Sir, - It was with alarm that I read Jenny Hjul’s (March 1) column, Is Scottish nationalism racist?

It it is obvious she is buying into a trend set in motion by Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s disgraceful statement directly linking Scottish nationalists with racists and sectarian bigots.

This disgusting line of argument seems to be driving the opponents of independence forward as the inevitable second referendum brought about by the material changes to the UK in light of Brexit approaches.

Sadly, we will be witnessing many more blatant smears that attempt to equate the SNP and far-right politics without any material facts on which to base such a pernicious argument.

I suppose this is to be expected as every economic argument used by Better Together has since crumbled to dust. But worse than even having a picture of Hitler to back up her specious rambling and her violent imagery of the SNP “unleashing their attacks” is her near total ignorance of the current situation.

Ms Hjul, pictured, compounds her complete misreading of the current political climate in Scotland with her bold, and utterly false, assertions that the Scottish Government have been “handed all the political powers to run the country separately” and that the SNP’s current popularity is built on an antiEngland platform.

Ms Hjul’s writing does a huge disservice to the many different communities living and working together across Scotland and to the inclusivity platform that is driving the current Scottish Government forward.

Is Scottish nationalism racist, Ms Hjul? No, it certainly is not, and I wonder how many people who were against independence the first time around are reading articles like this and seeing them as a pathetic attempt to yet again to do Scotland down and are even now rethinking their position? Graeme Finnie. Balgillo, Albert Street, Blairgowrie.