Letters: Real Reid

I DON'T often agree with Michael Kelly, but he did point out a few home truths about the politics of the late Jimmy Reid (Comment, 24 August).

Jimmy, particularly in his earlier pro-communist days, got a lot of publicity highlighting the flaws in the western system, omitting to mention, of course, that dissidents like himself, in the Soviet Union, would have been in the Gulag.

William Ballantine

Dean Road

Bo'ness, West Lothian

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Michael Kelly (Comment, 24 August) seeks to dismantle the work of Jimmy Reid.

I remember political pygmies, like Mr Kelly, seeking to devalue the efforts made by John P Mackintosh MP when he sought to create a European Community and also when he rekindled Labour's interest in creating a Scottish Parliament.

Reid and Mackintosh, each in their own fields, were men of vision, political courage, wisdom and compassion, unlike Mr Kelly. But then oo a' ken aboot him!

ARTHUR GREENAN

McCall Gardens

East Linton, East Lothian

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The late, great Jimmy Reid meant by "alienation" the idea that many persons were estranged from society. Using a simpler word, they felt themselves to be outsiders, a genuine social ill if caused by poverty or unemployment. Ellis Thorpe (Letters, 23 August) refers to an older use of "alienate" which means "to be opposed to": greed, fame, wealth and power, which Jimmy Reid was.

Iain WD Forde

Causewayend Main Street

Scotlandwell, Kinross-shire