Sir: Ludovie Kennedy at the cross-roads pro- duces some curious
conclusions and in- consistencies. Despite Scotland's 'rich and an- cient heritage,' its 'own system of law, religion, education,' etc, he suggests that it should accept the torch from Ghana, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, etc., which had none of these things. In a previous article in a Sunday paper on 12 March last, he bewails that fact that Malawi, Malta, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man 'should be considered fit enough to run their own affairs; but that Scot- land should be denied it. He instances unemploy- ment, mass emigration, Highland neglect, urban decay, as being beyond the capacity of the central government to solve because neither Tory nor Labour cared enough, and that only Scotland act- ing for Scotland could solve them. What about local Scottish leaders who allowed these problems to arise? There was a time when most Scotsmen used to boast that their country controlled, not only their own affairs; but provided the leaders of poli- tical parties, big business, the Church in England, as welL 'We have given more than our fair share of British Prime Ministers,' he wrote earlier.
Lest some of your readers may think that Kennedy's article indicates a detached approach to a deserving cause, it is well to recall the following quotations from his earlier article: 'The current obsessions of the English with organised crime, drug-addiction, gambling, abortion [his favourite Scottish MP recently sponsored a Bill in the Com- mons on this subject], homosexuality, and illegiti- macy are not the obsessions or even the problems of Scotland': but official figures show Scotland equally to be involved. His own absorption in the Rillington Place murders will be recalled. 'Tradi- tionally,' he went on, 'we have had much longer and closer ties with the Continent than England': this despite the fact that England controlled South- West France for some 300 years, and our con- sanguinity with Danes, Norwegians, West Ger- mans and Norman French. In the same article he observed: 'The Auld Alliance gave Scotsmen and Frenchmen reciprocal citizenship, and one writer has pointed out in the Scotsman this week that should General de Gaulle visit Scotland he would there be a citizen of Scotland as well as France.'
Previous page
