Slaves to system

IT’S all very well for Richard Lucas (Letters, 5 June) to sneer at dissenters from the cringingly sycophantic Jubilee celebrations, the TV coverage of which suggested the events were taking place in North Korea rather than the UK.

I hope Mr Lucas will spare a thought for the group of long-term unemployed jobseekers bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the pageant and told to sleep under London Bridge before shifts.

Up to 30 unpaid staff and 50 apprentices were paid £2.80 an hour (yes, well below the minimum wage), for the three-day event in London by one firm. Unpaid staff were expected to work two days out of the three-day holiday.

I have no doubt all of them joined heartily in the singing of Rule Britannia!, especially that line about Britons never, never, never being slaves.

Alistair McBay

Lawmuirview

Methven

SCOTS love the Queen, Alex Salmond said so, so it must be true. After the games of 2014 we will all love the Commonwealth.

But it is salutary to consider two countries which are not in the Commonwealth and do not have the Queen as Head of state. The US is the most powerful English heritage country and Ireland is the closest, indeed part of the British Isles. This is not because they do not like Elizabeth II as her recent visit to Ireland showed, but their struggle for independence was just too acrimonious.

A Scotland which gains independence will no doubt have the Queen as head of state and be a member of the Commonwealth. But Scotland has Culloden, the clearances and the Thatcher de-industrialisation in its history. After another 20 years of increasing austerity perceived as a second bout of Thatcherism, and friction between Westminster and Holyrood, then a much changed electorate may see things differently.

David Cameron should seek to follow not the 19th century Unionists who condemned us to 100 years of Irish Troubles, nor even Winston Churchill who did not want to be the one who “lost” India, but Harold Macmillan whose appreciation of the “winds of change” led to the Commonwealth as we know it today. An enlightened attitude in Westminster should be shown by more than just one Conservative MP, and a long and happy future relationship not sacrificed for just another 20 years of dominion.

George Shering

West Acres Drive

Newport-on-Tay

Fife

WHAT a pity Richard Lucas’s letter (5 June) displaying such welcome magnanimity towards republicans should degenerate into a sarcastic rant against them. Are those opposed to a monarchy to be classified as invariably grumpy, dull and bitter? Mightn’t they have a point that a freely elected head of state is arguably preferable to one determined by accident of birth? It does no service to the cause of democracy to demonstrate the kind of subservience to the crown that allows for no serious debate over its continuance.

(Rev) Douglas Whyte

Sycamore Grove

Dunfermline