Statehood will offer certainty

ADAM Tomkins’ Another Voice piece (28 July) is headlined “Nationalism can flourish without a new state”. This suggests that the author misses the point that nationalism is a means to an end, not an end in itself. I am astonished that he has to ask: “What value is it that statehood would add to the Scottish nation?” To answer that question simply, Scotland will be its own master, it will have the certainties of independence, aspiring to better governance, it will have the governments it alone chooses and it will speak with its own voice on the world stage. With statehood, a situation normal for nearly every other nation, and no longer in thrall, Scotland will escape the insidious uncertainties of continued dependence.

He asks “Why is it, for the separatists, that Scottish nationhood can be realised only by leaving one of the most enduring and successful political unions the world has ever seen?” This combines the wrong question and a canard. Nationhood already exists and it is the realisation of statehood that those in favour of independence seek. I accept that the political union has to date been enduring but it is a measure of its lack of success that there is to be an independence referendum next year, and instead of being described as one of a number surely the union is better described as a unique anomaly.

Andrew Parrott, Perth