Too patient

I thank Peter Laidlaw (Letters, 8 December) for his courteous comments, though I am slightly puzzled by his references to the Labour Party.

Before the 1945 UK general election, Labour candidates in Scotland included a promise of a Scottish Parliament in their manifesto.

When Labour, under Clement Attlee, won that election, 
Mr Attlee said that, as we now had a Labour government, a Scottish Parliament was no longer needed.

This gave rise, for a time, to the phrase “doing an Attlee”.

Possibly, he thought Labour would be in power forever – a lasting warning not to assume that any political situation is “forever”.

Mr Laidlaw then praises patience. In the view of many, Scotland has been patient with the Union for far too long and we and the world in general have suffered as a result.

David Stevenson

Blacket Place

Edinburgh