Island nation sets poor example for Scotland

I CONFESS I knew nothing about Tuvalu until I read John McGill’s letter (29 July). But being filled with curiosity about this independent pinpoint of prosperity, I did a little 
research. Each of its islands has its own high-chief, based on ancestry. Their powers are shared with elected village presidents. It has MPs, only one of whom has ever been a woman, and the Queen’s governor-general decides who will form the Cabinet. So it has a parliament, even if not quite the kind I would hope he had in mind for Scotland.

And that independent country’s parliament can pass any laws it likes. But it is hardly likely to do anything to upset those it relies on for aid, because it does not get along just fine on its income from farming and fishing as Mr McGill would have us believe. After the United States’ embargo on Iranian oil shipments came into effect, a number of oil tankers changed to Tuvalu flags. For years the US has been pouring in millions of dollars in aid. So does Japan, South Korea, the EU, UK, 
Australia and New Zealand. What relevance this state 
of affairs in underdeveloped Tuvalu has to Scotland’s future remains unexplained.

It is not a question of saying Scotland could not afford to be an independent nation state. We who were rightly sceptical of the “arc of prosperity” (remember that?) still await any thought-out plan for prosperity from the Nationalists, instead of the back of an envelope stuff we have had so far. They fail to tell us how they propose to have Scandinavian social services on Irish taxes.

Colin Storrier (Letters, 29 July) finds it surprising that I oppose lower corporation tax, which he believes will allow us to compete more fairly on the global stage. And the 
good fairy will cast a spell and no-one will retaliate with counter measures. Brigadoon was more realistic than this.

He says it’s not about whether we are richer or poorer, so long as we do it ourselves alone. I suspect this argument will not go down well with many on low wages, or forced to rely on benefits.

Maria Fyfe, Glasgow