Way we weren’t

I am surprised and taken aback by Brian Wilson’s response (Perspective, 16 March) to Melvyn Bragg’s Radio 4 programme on the Highland Clearances. His criticism of the programme contributors, Professors Thomas Devine, Murray Pittock and Marjory Harper, as members of an “external elite” puts him dangerously close to Donald Trump’s attitude to rationality and habitual denigration of experts.

If Brian Wilson’s political case for land reform rests on the misty-eyed view of scottish history that he has sketched in his article, it is a weak case indeed. Too many politicians of various colours are trying to solve today’s problems in Scotland – which are clear and present – through such a lens. This is a recipe for tribalism and failure. HARALD TOBERMANN

Pilrig Street, Edinburgh