What Scotland needs
From Mr Bruce Leeming Sir: Tim Luckhurst ('Scotland the terrified', 14 April) makes the Englishman's typically wrong deduction from his experiences in Scotland about the country's readiness for independence. Unhelpful tensions in relations with England undoubtedly do exist, finding ugly expression at soccer matches (a perpetual embarrassment to all in Scotland but the mindless 'fans' involved).
And yes, devolution may well have given this underlying antipathy an edge. However, to suggest that the Scottish Executive has a 'clear ambition to formulate policies that will entrench differences' from those being pursued in England is fantasy. What is emerging, as was always predictable, is that devolution is a recipe for creating irreconcilable conflicts of interest. As long as Westminster Labour continues to interfere in the Executive's lim ited powers of action, and the Tories remain ambivalent about Scotland's constitutional future, outbursts of bad feeling will recur.
Only with proper self-determination for this ancient nation will the facile scapegoating of England become a thing of the past and warmer relations start to be cultivated. Tim Luckhurst mourns 'the sheer incompetence' of our present MSPs. Independence will throw up many candidates of a different calibre. Or does he believe that the Scots are potentially less intelligent, less capable of managing their own affairs than, say, the Finns, the Danes, the Norwegians or the Irish?
Bruce Leeming
Edinburgh
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