Jack it in

It seems that Laura Waddell finds that the Union Flag "gaudy" and "brutal" ("I don’t want a holiday cottage packed with Union Jacks”, Perspective, January 28).

Such epithets are clearly entirely subjective. To others the Union Flag is a fashion statement. I regularly find people in Europe wearing Union Jack motifs on teeshirts, dresses and bags without any apparent problems, as it is a bright splash of colour and representative of a liberal culture.

To most of them, it is something that contrasts with the histories of their own countries which have, almost without exception, a dark past.

Strange then, to find that anyone should have such an antipathy to the flag of their own country, a flag that was waved with such gusto throughout Scotland to celebrate the end of the last war, for example. But, if Ms Waddell has such a problem with her own flag, she doesn't have to holiday in Scotland, or elsewhere in Britain. Although she seems to equate the Union Flag with Orange marches, there are always those other ones that she didn't mention, like Ancient Order of Hibernian marches with the Irish Tricolour, or snarling Scottish nationalist marches with the Saltire.

The Saltire is now representative of Scottish nationalist politics, a big step away from the togetherness of the Union Flag.

However, I think Ms Waddell doesn't like togetherness. She would rather attack our fellow-countrymen from south of the Border. That goes with the Saltire nowadays, which says it all. JOHN FRASER Jedburgh Gardens, Glasgow