Unity prevalent

However, he should perhaps have mentioned that most of these have come about as the result of the collapse of the post-war Soviet bloc.

There are the former Soviet republics of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia (which were forcibly incorporated into the USSR), Belarus and Ukraine, as well as all the non-European republics.

In addition, the 20th-century creations of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, also ceded to Soviet control, have split, the latter after appalling bloodshed.

It is hard to see what relevance any of these situations has to the case of Scotland’s 300-year-old union with England and Wales.

It is perhaps not surprising that the former East Germany, having escaped from the Communist yoke, should have chosen to reunite with the West rather than pursue an independent path; this despite the fact that Germany itself only dates back to the late 19th century. It may well account for much of the reduction in the number of countries 140 years ago alluded to by Mr Fisher.

What is more interesting is that nearly all the aforementioned former Soviet republics, plus the erstwhile Warsaw Pact members, have joined, or are in the process of joining, the European Union.

That would tend to confirm Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson’s assertion that political units are indeed getting bigger and it makes the Scottish case for splitting away appear even more anomalous.

Jane Ann Liston

Largo Road

St Andrews