Capital effect

Stan Grodynski (Letters, 1 March) is right to emphasise the increasing dominance of London to the disadvantage of Scotland both economically and politically.

This is the well-known snowball effect of capital cities around the world, resulting in the neglect of their peripheral areas. It is why many countries do not make their biggest city their capital city – such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Brazil and many others. It is not only Scotland that suffers from this dominance, but also the whole of England north of Watford. However, at least we can do something about it, as we already have done with devolution, although to a very limited extent.

Mr Grodynski focuses on the economics, but let us look, for example, at the Labour Party, with its administration in London and 41 Scottish MPs voting on English instead of Scottish matters – the infamous West Lothian question.

Furthermore, Scotland and England are now on diverging social and political paths that can only be satisfied by independence, with an independent Scottish Labour Party serving Scottish interests. In an interdependent world, we can then treat each other as equals in a common struggle. It is a pity that the English imperialist nationalism does not match the more friendly Scottish internationalism, but facts have got to be faced if we are to live together with an ongoing constructive dialogue.

Ray Newton

Buckstone Way

Edinburgh