Letter: Clearances myth

OH DEAR, another whinge about the clearances (Donald J Mcleod, Letters, 28 May).

These awful Clearances are often laid firmly at the door of the English. This is wrong, plain and simple. It excuses the callous and profiteering actions of certain clan chiefs and nobles during the Clearances.

It also smacks of the anti- English anti-British sentiment that seems to surface in Scotland when anybody feels at aggrieved at something or other.

Would the writer have the Queen apologise for the 11 years of mess that the last Labour administration caused the UK? After all at a senior level it was run by Scots: Brown, Darling, Reid etc.

The fact is that many clan chiefs and titled gentry preferred the comfortable life in London than that to be had in the sparce and cold Highlands.

By the end of the 18th century, 60 per cent of Hebridean landlords were reported to be absent from their lands.

ROGER PEART

Arbirlot

Angus