I CONSIDER the Greek vote ("EU shocked as Greek voters reject austerity demands", The Herald, July 6) as a triumph for patriotism over the fluctuations of economics.

Among possible analogies that can now be drawn is the one between Scotland's independence referendum and Greece's euro referendum, which exemplified how the idea of liberty, indeed independence, is much more powerful than threats of penury, indeed impoverishment. There was also the analogy of a biased media doing its utmost to sway the Greeks from supporting the anti-austerity government that the country's electorate voted into office at the start of this year.

David Torrance ("When it comes to Greece the SNP is all over the place", The Herald, July 6) writes: "Now, during the long referendum campaign former First Minister Alex Salmond went to great lengths to play down monetary policy as somehow unimportant, a mere formality when it came to "sovereignty" and fiscal flexibility. Unionists like Danny Alexander, meanwhile, said his proposed "currency union" would end up like the Eurozone; a tad hyperbolic, perhaps, but then he was less wrong than Mr Salmond."

Now, what happened to these two persons when exposed to Scotland's electorate on May 7 this year?

Ian Johnstone,

84 Forman Drive,

Peterhead.

FOR comparison, I've just run the 61/39 and the 45/55 results of the respective Greek and Scottish referendums through my computer's gumptionometer and subservience-meter programmes. With a degree of precision hitherto unachievable, these show that the Greeks have 16 per cent more gumption, and are 16 per cent less subservient, than the Scots.

London refuses to return the Elgin Marbles to Athens. Let me suggest that there is another relic which Holyrood might now hand over to Greece, namely Scotland's ancient motto Nemo me impune lacessit, or "Wha daur meddle wi' me", since the Greeks are clearly more worthy of it than we are.

Alan Crocket,

63 Leyland Road,

Motherwell.

WHEN Scotland voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent to stay in the UK news media such as the BBC told us this was a decisive vote and the issue was now settled.

Greece voted 61 per cent to 39 per cent to reject the offer but the BBC uistelling us that there is "a sizeable chunk of the Greek nation still unhappy with what has happened and the government will have to unite a divided nation."

Why is 55 per cent to 45 per cent "settled" but 61 per cent to 39 per cent a "sizeable chunk" that needs to be united by the government ?

Nothing to do with what we might call "elite agendas" I suppose?

John McArthur,

131 Crowhill Street,

Glasgow.

IT seems that out Holyrood government and Greece have one thing for sure in common - they both expect, indeed require, those who loaned them money to write some or even all of it off.

It feels as though when the borrowing took place (on their behalf in Holyrood's case) they never intended to take responsibility for paying it back. Some blame the lenders for being suckers, they failed to question if the ability to repay the loans was there and failed to check out the recipients' associated financial analysis.

Not a few countries have benefited from write-downs, but that does not mean it's right. Can't pay, won't pay gone riot, but should we take pity on the creditors - they could be us in part.

Joe Darby,

Glenburn,

St Martins Mill, Cullicudden, Dingwall.