Going south

Joyce Mcmillan’s claim (Scottish Perspective 18 August) that Scotland is partly colonised reflects a partisan view of both history and life today. Given the extent to which millions of Scots, from James VI to the lowliest labourer, made their fortunes south of the Tweed, it is equally valid – and pointless – to say that England has been colonised by its northern neighbour.

Both viewpoints are absurd, of course. As the son of a Scottish mother and English father, whose friends and acquaintances come from across the United Kingdom, I can see that the lives of all of us on these islands are so intermingled that it is meaningless to claim that Scotland is somehow separate, or different from, or better than the rest of the UK. The results of the recent general election, which saw both Labour and the Conservatives resurgent in Scotland, is further evidence that we are bound together far more as Britons than we are separated as Scots.

Scottish nationalism is indeed backward-looking. If

it looked towards the future with a clearer eye it would see that unity is a better path than division, that modern realities are stronger than historical myths.

MARTIN FOREMAN Craigend Park, Edinburgh

Joyce Mcmillan highlights the many faces of nationalism; an ideology not as simple as many think – civic, ethnic, irredentist, secessionist and so on. She correctly identifies Scottish nationalism as civic, but is on a stickier wicket in describing the SNP as pro-eu. The difficulty the party has here is that a significant minority of SNP voters are anti EU, while the party officially is pro EU. This split is not being tackled, and will cause trouble. WILLIAM BALLANTINE

Dean Road Bo’ness, West Lothian