Global forces

Peter Jones’ thoughtful article (Perspective, 3 March) raised many points, including how irrelevant constitutional navel gazing can be for an economy.

One point caught my eye; he claims Gordon Brown said how global forces basically caused the decline of manufacturing jobs in Scotland (and in the Western world) in previous decades.

Strange, I seem to recall how Gordon and his ilk blamed it all on Thatcherism (although she did make mistakes).

William Ballantine

Bo’ness, West Lothian