Letter: No apparatchik

Thanks for a superb article by Joan McAlpine (27 October). I have never seen the core ideas that drive the fight for independence articulated so effectively. It astonishes and delights me that the you carried the piece and I may have to review my hitherto jaundiced view of The Scotsman.

I would not, however, describe Ms McAlpine as "an apparatchik" as Alexander McKay did (Letters, 28 October). She is an respected journalist of long standing who has come to the very logical conclusion that independence is the only sensible way forward for Scotland.

Peter Curran

Main Street

Kirkliston