Fair exchange

The recent exchange of views in your Letters page between adherents of Scottish Nationalism and those opposed has been most interesting.

Interesting in the sense that close scrutiny of the letters allows us all another glimpse of the wilful blindness on the nationalist side with regards to what was said and implied by SNP leaders during the referendum campaign and their painful inability to accept defeat. The same hackneyed SNP spin is repeated, ad nauseam, from your contributors, never a fresh or original insight. Beneath it all, always lurking, one can sense a paranoid element and a simmering and barely controlled detestation of those who do not share the same vision.

It is very reminiscent of George Orwell’s paraphrased remarks regarding patriotism being the love of one’s own country and nationalism being the hatred of others.

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh

The first sentence of my letter (Letters, 3 January), in which I acknowledged that Colin Hamilton had made a “valid point”, would appear to prove David Hollingdale (Letters, 3 January) wrong to write that I “will not read properly, or assimilate the points” made “by any critical correspondent”.

At the same time I am happy to offer an apology to Mr Hollingdale if I have misrepresented his intentions. Setting aside his fulsome support for the range of points presented in the letters of Messrs Hamilton and David Allan (Letters, 2 January), perhaps others can more objectively determine whether I did indeed make an error.

Stan Grodynski

Longniddry

East Lothian