Franco exchange

Published on 09/10/2012 00:00

Comparing Scotland and Catalonia (your report, 6 October), Tom Peterkin refers to independence as possibly involving an “expensive divorce”.

At least in the case of Scotland, “annulment” of what was never a proper marriage would be a better term, given the bribery, lies and threats of force involved in securing the 1707 Union and the breaches thereafter of the promises made to Scotland.

The loss of Catalan self-government through the violence of General Franco’s rebellion suggests that the incorporation of Catalonia in the Spanish state was also obtained through means which render the term “marriage” inappropriate.

David Stevenson

Blacket Place

Edinburgh