Thom Cross thinks the pro-Union campaign believes Scots are not "smart/clever/rich/educated/powerful enough" to run our own country (Letters, July 4).

I have been debating with Nationalists all my adult life, and have heard this argument numerous times. On each occasion, it has been raised, not by the No campaign or by those supporting the existing arrangement, but by the Nationalists themselves. No-one on the pro-UK side believes Scots are deficient in these ways. Only Nationalists even consider it worth talking about.

A Freudian psychologist would have a field day analysing why our Nationalist brethren are so keen to bring up this idea at every opportunity. In my opinion it has nothing to do with the reality of the place of Scotland within the UK. Instead, it points to the inherent feeling of inferiority of some Nationalists which, in turn, goes a long way to explaining why they are Nationalists in the first place.

Alex Gallagher,

Phillips Avenue, Largs.

The relevant sentence in the letter from Thom Cross was missing a set of inverted commas. It should have read: "Exploiting that ancient psychology used by the powerful over the powerless: 'You arenae able'; 'You cannae'; 'You're no' smart/clever/rich/educated/powerful enough'; 'failure is inevitable.'"