Narrowest views

IT WOULD appear that Donald Lewis (Letters, 19 December) is vying with Alexander MacKay for the mantle of writer of the narrowest one-sided letters on the subject of Scotland’s independence. Both gentlemen would be declaring others “zealot” if their words were equally subjective and unbalanced, but of the opposite view. The fact the Scottish Government has a duty to inform on this subject is lost in a “rant” by Lewis that relays nothing about the costs incurred by the Westminster government in setting up its committees and constructing its reports on Scotland’s future, which are just as likely to be as “partisan” as the white paper.

Hopefully, as we enter the year of our historic referendum, our media will dwell less on the views of extremists on both sides of the debate. The prospects for all in our country, not simply those at present enjoying some form of advantage, privilege or favour, is too important to allow the debate to be hijacked by negative dissections of the personalities of our political leaders or of the policies of parties that may or may not have a significant role to play in building a society that positively reflects our common ambitions and aspirations. No-one serious about our future wishes to discover in another 40 years that we were deviously misled when voting on the constitutional arrangements that will determine Scotland’s destiny.

Stan Grodynski

Longniddry

East Lothian