Wishful thinking
Sir: Once I would have agreed with most of what Charles Moore writes about Conser- vatism ('How to be British', 21 October). No longer, for it seems to me that to dis- miss the present and recent governments' assaults on institutions like St Barthole- mew's Hospital as mere 'aberrations' is wishful thinking.
But, now that I am an Englishman resi- dent in Scotland, what I find most absurd is his statement: 'The British nation state is a coherent, working entity which has not been seriously disputed for nearly 300 years, except in relation to Ireland.' What of those events of 250 years ago which saw George II and his court packing their bags for Hanover when a Scots army reached as far south as Derby?
The disaffection of many Scots in the 18th century was, of course, defused both by a ruthless imposition of an idea of Britishness and by the great opportunities for the 'North British' presented by the growth of the British Empire. But the Empire has gone, which is precisely why the Union is now being called into question. Charles Moore himself illustrates the problem by confessing that for so many Britain simply means England and then, I am sorry to say, by declining to pursue the implications of this momentous discor- dance. For a Conservative this surely mat- ters. And it is surely proper for a Scottish Conservative — an endangered species effectively disenfranchised by the Conser- vative Party's mindless refusal to question the existing Union — to look back with interest to a time when Scotland really was a nation with her own king and parliament. There is nothing artificial about that.
Gavin Stamp 1 Moray Place, Glasgow
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