IN his eloquent letter (September 1) defending the Union, Dr David Sutherland puts his finger on exactly the reason a Yes vote is vital for our country.

All my life I have listened to people arguing that Scotland is too wee, too poor or too stupid to ever take charge of its own affairs and I remain every bit as unconvinced now as I have always been.

Independence will stem the flow of talent heading south, especially in politics. Many of the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative politicians who head for West­minster at the first opportunity will scramble to be elected to Holyrood, since parking on the Commons' green benches or perhaps eventually being able to get a good snooze on the red benches of the House of Lords will no longer be available to them.

As for his condemnation of Scotland's propensity to treat the successful with suspicion, I would say this is more a healthy disrespect for privilege, a refusal to kow-tow to the mighty which has been evident in Scottish life since long before the riots that greeted the Treaty of Union or douce Edinburgh's Porteous riots.

Only by gaining independence can Scotland hope to be rid of the baleful "cringe" that has held us back for so many generations.

David C Purdie,

12 Mayburn Vale,

Loanhead,

Midlothian.

IT is with dismay that I read that David Sutherland has now added lack of self-confidence to the list of negative features used in racial stereotyping of his native Scots. We are now apparently too shy to govern ourselves effectively. I assume the fact that Dr Sutherland feels able to express these sentiments is an indication that he personally does not suffer the affliction of being backward at coming forward. Neither, I would suggest, did those on the endless list of Scots who have historically used their individual talents to improve the lot of mankind or those recently such as Messrs Blair, Brown and Darling who would struggle to make that boast but appear to have the confidence to lead from the front.

David J Crawford,

Flat 3/3 131 Shuna Street,

Glasgow.

LIKE Dr David Sutherland, I intend to vote for remaining in the Union but where I differ is in his depressing view of what he terms the Scottish psyche (Letters, September 1.) I suggest that the drain of those with talent to other airts is basically because Scotland has a small population and consequently opportunities are limited.

Those who can will go to where the jobs are and those who can do the big jobs will go to where the big jobs are.

And at the end of the day does it do us any harm to remember that we are all Jock Tamson's bairns?

With tongue in cheek I offer: "Wha's like us? Damn'd few, an' they're a' deid."

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.