READING Mike Wilson's anti-British rant (Letters, September 29) made me sit back and gauge my own level of shame – which has a rather different source from his blinkered separatist agenda.

I am ashamed to see Scotland's reputation brought down by a party whose representatives repeatedly claim to speak for all Scotland, when they only speak for their own party.

I am ashamed that we have nationalist politicians and their followers unwilling to accept the outcomes of democratic referenda in 2014 and 2016 just because they didn't like the results.

I am ashamed that my country's flag in which I used to have pride has been hijacked by the separatists and daubed with racist anti-English slogans.

I am ashamed that we have a First Minister who alone among all leaders in countries worldwide affected by a global pandemic feels it is essential that she has a party political broadcast every single day as she blatantly politicises the issue.

I am ashamed that the minority party in power in Holyrood is prioritising their pursuit of separatism at all costs, to the clear detriment of health and education – both of which have seen consistently falling standards under the nationalist government.

I am ashamed that we have a party in power which seeks to blame Westminster and the UK for everything that fails in Scotland, with an inability to accept responsibility for anything – even to the extent of delaying until after the next election the production of a report into the issues facing Scottish education, and now also delaying one into the shocking scandal of the care home transfers.

Finally, I am ashamed that we have elected politicians such as Angus Robertson who celebrate in online fora the deaths of elderly in care homes as being a reduction in unionist voters ("Robertson under fire for saying elderly deaths a ‘gain’ for independence", The Herald, September 21), and that in the dictatorial culture of no criticism allowed in the SNP we have a First Minister who has never spoken up to distance her party from such scandalous comment.

Steph Johnson, Glasgow G12.

MIKE Wilson says he is "ashamed to be British". Why? All over the world people have migrated to Britain in their millions, and continue to do so, so that they can be British. They are proud to be British. Mr Wilson describes the UK Government as "insular" and "introverted". Actually the UK Cabinet is the most diverse in history, and following Brexit when the UK will again be an independent country free from EU dictats, will sign trade deals the world over.

The Union Flag has been a symbol of freedom for hundreds of years. Merchant ships flying the Red Duster are instantly recognised as being crewed by the world's most skilled seafarers. Ships of the Royal Navy flying the White Ensign fought and defeated fascism only 80 years ago – at the same time as some Scottish nationalists were banged up in Barlinnie as fellow travellers of the Reich. The BBC was listened to clandestinely by millions across occupied Europe as a symbol of hope against extreme nationalism.

We in Scotland have had policies foisted on us by the SNP such as the invasive State Guardian scheme seeking to spy on parents. We have had foisted on us the outrageous Hate Crime legislation condemned by everyone who loves free speech. We have had foisted on us Gaelic names on railway stations, police vehicles, ambulances, and road signs when less than one per cent of the population speak this technologically-minimalist language. Schools suffer under the ludicrously named Curriculum for Excellence and Scottish education has plummeted in international tables. The NHS – which is entirely under Scottish control –has had to endure major problems. Covid deaths in care homes have been shocking, and still the SNP leader (by default) is using the pandemic for political ends.

And while Scottish nationalists today strain every sinew to create false divisions between Scots and English the UK Government is supporting Scotland as never before. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has given Scotland an extra £6.5 billion to fight the pandemic, but still the SNP demands more.

I talked about flags earlier, but one of the most poignant is the badge carried by police officers south of the Border. It is a Union Jack with a horizontal thin blue line running through it. Instead of having police cars running the roads under the Poileas logo I look forward to the day when Scottish constables carry the same badge on their uniform.

William Loneskie, Lauder.

I HAVE more than a little sympathy with the opinion expressed by Mike Wilson.

For instance, I was appalled by your article “PM under fire as Moore and Dacre tipped for top broadcasting roles” (The Herald, September 28). These two are sworn enemies of the BBC.

I am further shocked that David Hunter, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at the University of Oxford can suggest that, “far from learning from previous mistakes, the Government will ask the same private companies that failed to deliver a successful test-and-trace programme to set up a mass-testing scheme”. It is alarming that these Conservative cronies could be given, once more, Covid-related contracts and jobs, without competition, with no value for money checks or penalties for repeated failures.

However I am not yet prepared to commit myself unreservedly to the independence cause in spite of having government by Johnsonian Conservatives imposed upon us. I worry, for instance, about the nature of the trade deal England, as an independent Scotland’s inevitably largest trading partner, would in all likelihood force upon us. That trade deal would reflect the much-feared deal which the Brexiters are so anxious to make with the United States.

There is, however, currently one light on the horizon, that being the Jimmy Reid Foundation pamphlet authored by Professor James Mitchell being launched on Thursday October 1 “making the case for a fuller and broader debate enriched by discussion of the kind of society and economy Scotland desires”] I very much hope this pamphlet is met with open minds instead of with the usual knee-jerk reactions from Unionists and Nationalists alike.

John Milne, Uddingston.

ROBERT IG Scott (Letters, September 29) is of course entitled to his opinions on Scottish independence in general and the SNP in particular, but when it comes to membership of the European Union, he should be aware that it is not a question of SNP politicians being "naive enough to believe that the EU would simply welcome Scotland into the fold" but rather that leading EU politicians have repeatedly made welcoming comments at the prospect of Scotland coming back into the fold.

Ursula van der Leyen, the EU Commission President, in reply to a question from a Hungarian MEP has confirmed that "any European state which respects and promotes the values of the EU may apply to join" and former EU Council President Donald Tusk, who says that he feels "very Scottish, especially after Brexit", has also stated that the EU would be "enthusiastic" if Scotland wanted to join. But of course, the only way Scotland can r-join the EU is by becoming an independent country, like all the other independent nations in Europe. And that is not about living in the past, it is about going forward confidently into the future.

Ruth Marr, Stirling.

Read more: Letters: Why I’m too ashamed to call myself British