POLYMATH Alasdair Gray took part in a lively debate on the issue of Scottish independence and the arts at the latest event in the Aye Write!

calendar.

Gray, the author of Lanark who is also an artist, was joined by journalist Pat Kane, River City actress Libby McArthur, and writer and critic Hannah McGill. Also contributing to the event was James Boyle, a former Controller of BBC Radio 4.

The event, sponsored by The Herald's sister title, the Sunday Herald, was the first serious public discussion on this subject before an audience of more than 300 in the Mitchell Library Theatre in Glasgow, under the chairmanship of the Sunday Herald columnist Alan Taylor.Each panelist set out their hopes and fears for the impact a separate Scotland would have on artists and the administration of the arts.

While Gray remembered that when he was a student "it was assumed in Scottish education that if you were brilliant you would get out of the country", Ms McGill stressed the fact that younger generations do not feel anger, nor in fact remember the reasons others do.

Education swiftly became the catchword of the debate, with unanimity on that subject as least, as everyone agreed that better and earlier and more sophisticated education was essential to Scotland's future and its artistic health, whether or not it becomes independent.