Looking forward

Andrew HN Gray’s views (Letters, 7 June) would carry more weight if, just occasionally, he had the courage to concede a point or, failing that, keep his own counsel.

As The Scotsman reported on 5 June, an Ernst & Young report detailing significant success in attracting inward investment deals with the issue of Scotland leaving the UK and states unequivocally that there is “no sign of investors being deterred from coming to Scotland. If anything, the reverse appears to be true.”

The clue for Mr Gray is in the last sentence and to try to portray Scotland’s success at attracting inward investment as being entirely due to us being a part of the Union is to commit precisely the same indiscretion as Mr Gray levels at John Swinney, though the irony seems entirely lost on him. It also appears to indicate a very low level of respect for the Scottish business community and those organisations and government departments responsible for attracting investment.

The advantage the great majority of independence supporters have over our avid unionist opponents is that we are happy to acknowledge that there is so much to love and respect about the heritage of Britain. We simply wish to take charge of our own destiny in order to create a more fair and just society and forge a more equal relationship with our nearest neighbours and greatest allies, the English.

This is why the obsessively repeated mantras about “break up” and “ separation” and “apartheid” are dismissed for what they are: desperate and hysterical scaremongering. Supporters of independence do not live in fear. We’re intrinsically an optimistic and resilient bunch and if the vote does not go our way next year, we will not crumble.

DOUGLAS TURNER

Edinburgh