Mr Farage has a right to be heard too

Accusing Mr Farage of being a racist, the foul-mouthed, left-wing hooligans yelled at him to “go home to England”, just to demonstrate their even-handedness when it comes to xenophobia; the “I hate  racists, but not as much as I hate the English” brigade.

Regardless of one’s view of Mr Farage, or his party, this was a blatant example of a planned event, with orchestrated chanting and swearing by a group numbering about as many as the press who were in attendance.

Denials that they were a group which was pro- nationalist were disproved by their unveiling a (very long) banner saying “Vote yes for Scotland”.

This was a typical, left-wing, finger-jabbing example of the sort of behaviour we recall from the dark days of Soviet-sponsored trades union leaders in the 1970s.

I am sure that many of the genuine students who took part did so with good intentions of making their distaste for UKip policies plain.

Unfortunately, they seem to have attracted some extremely unsavoury hangers-on, turning a political demonstration into a foul-mouthed, intimidating example of the worst kind of mob rule; a small, aggressive group trying to subdue one man. What heroes!

I hope that this is an isolated example of how the Yes campaign behaves.

Andrew HN Gray

Craiglea Drive

Ehinburgh

The unsavoury incident involving UKip leader Nigel Farage in Edinburgh should serve as a timely warning to those considering a Yes vote for independence.

While I wouldn’t for a moment suggest all Yes voters are the sort involved in the hooliganism directed at Mr Farage it is clear a large proportion of mindless English haters swell their ranks. As Mr Farage said, if that is the face of nationalism it’s pretty ugly.

Donald Lewis

Gifford

East Lothian

The rise of Ukip is good news for Scotland’s increasingly part-time, low-paid, insecure labour force which has born the brunt of immigration.

It was immoral for Labour, SNP and the Tories to have welcomed mass immigration into Scotland with the main aim of driving down wages and conditions of employment.

If Scotland, either independent or as part of Britain, withdrew from the EU, immigration could be controlled and this would lead to a rise in wages and improved contracts of employment for all living in this country.

A sine qua non for a fairer, more socially cohesive Scotland, would be stopping mass immigration from Europe and the rest of the world.

Jim Stewart

Oxgangs Avenue

Edinburgh

Some Scottish left-leaning social liberals may be so used to politicians bowing to their every whim they cannot conceive that any right thinking human being could possibly disagree with them.

That’s why Nigel Farage’s visit to Edinburgh led to aggressive and abusive scenes.

There are plenty people fed up with being called “racist” if they question immigration or multiculturalism, and “homophobic” for opposing same-sex “marriage”. Fortunately for Ukip, we live in a democracy, so mobs can’t exert undue influence, and the electorate’s views will still be represented.

Tom Peterkin’s report of the incident was clearly mocking and hostile.

Richard Lucas

Broomyknowe

Colinton