Burns was not a poster boy for the Union. He was a true patriot

Likewise, in a letter of August 26, 1787, Burns wrote: "This morning I knelt at the tomb of Sir John the Graham, the gallant friend of the immortal Wallace; and two hours ago I said a fervent prayer for old Caledonia over the hole in a blue whinstone, where Robert de Bruce fixed his royal standard on the banks of Bannockburn."

Other pro-Unionist quotes must be interpreted as the outcome of the very real fear of the dire consequences he would suffer if he were identified as an enemy of the Union. Indeed at one stage in 1794 he was threatened with the charge of sedition. To this end Burns started to temper his writing and even wrote letters and articles under assumed names.

Like all true patriots, Burns was an internationalist, which makes him loved worldwide. He lived according to the words of the Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini: "Is labouring according to true principles for our country we are labouring for humanity; our country is the fulcrum of the lever which we have to wield for the common good."

The links between Scottish independence, and justice and peace, are indissoluble. The Scottish Radicals of 1820, John Baird, Andrew Hardie and James Wilson, Thomas Muir of Huntershill, Robert Burns, James Thomson Callender, John MacLean, R Cunningham Grahame, Keir Hardie, Tom Johnston, James Maxton, Ramsey McDonald, Hamish Henderson and many others, have all seen clearly that there can be no true peace for Scotland without independence.

Brian M Quail,

2 Hyndland Avenue,

Glasgow.

Not for the first time I find myself at odds with Andrew McKie. It is true that when Scotland becomes a normal country, one that makes all its own decisions without reference to a parliament in another country, many Unionists will be dismayed.

But then, if Scotland sticks with the Union, many Nationalists like myself will be discomfited.

This, however, is how democracy works and those who find themselves in the minority will have to come to terms with it. After all, many who fiercely opposed devolution now embrace it wholeheartedly.

Andrew McKie claims for the Unionist side Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. I will concede him Scott. Although I cannot claim to be an expert I suspect that Burns's professed Unionism was more about holding on to a secure job in HM Excise. Most of his writing suggests his patriotism was more for Scotland than for Britain.

I would contend that were Burns and Scott alive today, they would be for independence. I say this because of the way the United Kingdom has changed since the Second World War. I was born in 1940 and can recall the red, white and blue of the Victory street party we had in our wee cul de sac in Stockbridge. Then came the accession of our present Queen: the Coronation, shown on the first television sets in Scotland, and the state visit when I stood and waved my wee Union Flag as her limousine swept past.

But by then the first seeds of nationalism had been sown due to Edinburgh Corporation issuing me with a souvenir propelling pencil proclaiming the crowning of "Queen Elizabeth II". I very soon scraped off the offending numeral with my new tartan penknife.

Since then I feel that England has moved away from that wartime feeling of fraternity among the nations of the British Isles. This is more evident now than ever, with the London mayoral election being promoted as national news while the recent Holyrood election was treated strictly as local news.

If Scott and, more particularly, Burns, were alive today, I doubt if either would wish their beloved nation to play second fiddle to the Metropolitan bubble the "national" media now exist in.

It's time to be normal again.

David C Purdie,

12 Mayburn Vale,

Loanhead,

Midlothian.

I read with interest Andrew McKie's column. He states that the result of the proposed referendum will turn on how people relate to the questions of Scottish and British identities "rather than the financial pros and cons of abandoning the Union". In saying so I believe he is profoundly mistaken.

Even with the experience of an SNP Government in Edinburgh, the basic approach of the majority of Scots toward independence, in my view, will not change.

Past votes for SNP Parliamentary candidates to sit at Holyrood have in many cases only sought to put people in office who are not constrained by the diktats of UK parties based in London.

Accordingly, such votes should not be regarded as reflecting pro-independence opinion. The majority of Scots have been and will continue to be in favour of what Hugh MacDiarmid described as "the hauf-way hoose".

Moreover, there are many, unfortunately, of the electorate in Scotland, consumed by apathy or indifference, who, if past experience is anything to go by, are unlikely to approach their polling booths in 2014, if such is to be the year of the independence referendum.

Let us recall that at the 1979 referendum well over 30% of the electorate fell into that category and that at the 1997 referendum the national turnout was 60.4%. Many Scots have not been sufficiently motivated in the past to take part in deciding their country's future.

I would say that it will not be the heart, influenced by the sound of the bagpipes, or by the swirl of the kilt, or by memories of Burns suppers, or by the whiff of a favourite malt whisky, or by hearing again of the heroics of William Wallace, which will determine the referendum vote, but rather it will be the head in leading the Scots, or at least those inclined to vote, to be swayed by their perception of the fate of the pound in their pocket.

Ian W Thomson,

38 Kirkintilloch Road,

Lenzie.

The other day I saw an article sporting a manufacturer's label with a Union flag and underneath the words: Made in England.

There have been several other occasions when I've noticed the Union flag being used inappropriately, but the debate on Scottish independence has crossed the Border, and many English people are now thinking about their own sense of nationhood and constitutional future more seriously than ever before.

There must be relatively few people whose ancestral roots belong exclusively to one country and I am proudly English, Irish and Scottish, but unlike Andrew McKie I fail to see why "Independence could rob us of our sense of nationality".

Unionists tend to scorn the Nationalists for using emotional patriotism, then produce their own brand of emotional patriotism to argue their point.

Since the Union, there have been many occasions when Scottish soldiers were put in the frontline of battle during British wars, and within this gory 21st century, the Union flag has been used far too often to adorn the coffins of young soldiers from all over the UK, lost to war. A good reason in itself for making the Union flag redundant.

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road,

Stirling.