I WOULD take issue with the comments about the Darien Scheme in Ashley MacGregor’s long letter in Thursday’s issue (Despite austerity, the UK deficit continues to spiral out of control, September 13).

I really do wish people would not perpetuate the English myth that Scotland was bankrupt (or even virtually bankrupt – as Ashley states) because of the Darien Scheme and “had to be rescued by England” – not Ashley’s words, but I actually heard Ian Hislop use those very words on a Have I Got News For You episode.

Neither Scotland nor its nobility were ever bankrupt, in that sense.

Michael Lynch, in his book Scotland: A New History, doesn’t mention Darien, but instead concentrates on Glasgow as the “boom town” of the late 17th century. This happened during the period 1680 to 1700, which was the period during which the Darien Scheme occurred. During that time Glasgow’s trade was booming with new soap factories, sugar factories and a serge manufacturing company too.

Fitzroy Maclean, in his book A Concise History Of Scotland, itemises the losses thus: “The Darien Scheme had been a disaster. Two thousand Scottish lives, and three hundred thousand Scottish pounds had been lost. And the responsibility, as far as Scotland was concerned, lay fairly and squarely with William of Orange and the English.”

In his book Scotland’s Story, Tom Steel confirms these facts and gives the eventual deficit of the company by 1706 as 232,884.00 Scottish Pounds, which was between one-third and half of Scotland’s liquid currency – but we were certainly not bankrupt.

Darien fell through in February 1700, when the Spanish fleet attacked the Scottish colony and the English Navy stood by and watched. But the company continued to trade with Africa and India and reduced some of its losses over the next six years.

What actually hit the Scottish nobility hardest was the introduction in 1705, by Queen Anne, of the “Alien Act”, which confiscated all estates in England belonging to Scots gentry. The sneaky part was that she included a clause which stated that if Scotland formed a Union with England she would return these estates and refund to the nobles the funds that they had lost at Darien.

There was a recent historical article in The National that verified this and even pointed out that it took the English over 100 years to keep their word and nullify the “Alien Act”. The nobility gave in to that blackmail and closed the company down to cut their losses and claim the rest back from the English crown.

As Robert Burns put it, we were “bought and sold for English gold”.

I recommend reading pages 135 to 148 of Scotland’s Story to get the detail not just of how Paterson helped set up the Darien Company but also the duplicitous way the English Crown and Parliament behaved towards the Scots at Darien. Behaviour that, incidentally, was very obviously repeated in Mrs Thatcher’s era and continues today.
Charlie Kerr
Glenrothes

READING that “now is not a good time for indyref2” to be announced, and that the “Tory-party-first Brexit” needs to be in play first, is just so disappointing, as once a hard Brexit is confirmed the entire UK will be bailing itself out as it settles ever lower in the water. Scotland will have to reluctantly comply with virtually any UK Ukip/Tory Brexit bail-out, else be dragged down deeper.

The so-called Scottish Tories, once convincingly anti-Brexit and now unthinkingly pro-Brexit, merely reflect the latest UK Ukip/Tory party policy, and they desperately want Scotland to get behind their “Tory Party before Scotland” hard Brexit. The Labour Party idea of a “Labour Party before Scotland” soft Brexit is the other side of the coin that completes the “Unionist Brexit” currently in play. The idea of Scotland being freely given a Section 30 for indyref2 in the next 20 years by any UK Government is simply fanciful.

Scotland must be a poison pill to both UK Brexit and to Scottish Brexit, and to the wholesale privatisation and deregulation envisaged by the Ukip/Tory party. It must be made crystal clear internationally that any contracts/treaties/frameworks developed under Brexit and for the purposes of Brexit are liable to be rescinded/replaced/amended by a future Scottish Government without recourse to compensation or similar.

Scotland must not hold its fire until it’s too late, and so must declare that indyref2 is to be promoted, in response to the Tory/Ukip government direction away from Europe, and away from a fair, clean, decent and healthy society. Section 30 should be called for and announced in October 2018, with indyref2 called for at the same time. Only the actual date of the indyref2 referendum should be in any doubt, and that should be at the prerogative of the Scottish Government.

Any remaining soft No voters, I would suggest, would have been from the Labour Unionist wing, wishing to see all the UK with Scottish Government-style policy being applied unencumbered with UK Government(s) austerity, and with a Labour-type flourish of socialism.

With the most racist and divisive anti-migrant cant the rUK will likely ever see, in the forthcoming UK party conferences and media exposés, the rUK will have its “Toxic Ukip/Tory Brexit”, courtesy of English voters, but whether Scotland is subsumed depends on whether the UK considers Scotland being in a post-Brexit UK as just too clean, too uppity, too fair, too competent and just too fundamentally honest. Indyref2 asap please.
Stephen Tingle
Greater Glasgow

WE’RE all familiar with the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, but most of us don’t realise they’re mostly riding around Westminster these days.

Conquest (or Plague): Jacob Rees-Mogg. A man who, by his stance, yearns for a return to Empire, for dominion, where the conquered or those previously enslaved by once mighty Britannia will be only too willing, desperate actually, to place much of their economic fate back into the hands of their one-time conquerors. In times past this empire cost about 150 million (easily forgotten) lives. Moggy, a bit like the domestic house cat, doesn’t appear to understand that these sometime dominions now have choices, and memories. In their position, he seems unable to fathom why they might not want this resurgent pestilence, but rather opt into their own African or pan-Asian trading blocs who would then see a far greater worth in prioritising negotiations with more significant markets like Russia, America, the EU or China. Why prioritise dealing with what is now a relatively insignificant, inward looking and comparatively bankrupt “little Britain”?

War: Michael Gove. Well, who else wielded the last of the long knives to start one, effectively ruling himself out of a leadership contest he so desperately wanted to win following David Cameron’s demise? That pretty effectively gives him the inside path for the warmonger. Yet as a strategist – well, an ostrich with its head stuck in the sand might be better endowed in that area. It does speak to the man’s lack of forward-thinking capacity. Then again, he’s also voted six times to support UK armed forces deployment overseas, quite a record as that didn’t even include Iraq, because he wasn’t actually an MP then. He has a strong history of putting folk in harm’s way for a man who’s never been immersed in the horror of war. A vote for war, no matter the cost, virtually every time!

Famine: Boris Johnson. He’s rather determined to haul us out of the EU after all. He doesn’t care to worry about medical or food supplies, his lack of concerns about feeding the poor or protecting the vulnerable in foreign prisons are virtually legendary. Buffoon or baboon, irrespective of how one cares to view him, it can be guaranteed that he will not go hungry even as the trucks stall due to border checks and food rots on the motorways or at the ports. The same will not be able to be said for his constituents.

Death: Theresa May: The PM wins this accolade hands down, not just for her warmongering voting history or her acceleration of privatisation in the NHS. We can even ignore Grenfell here – after all, she pretty much has, as with the Windrush group – but what can’t be glossed over is the disgrace which her hostile immigration policy became, all engineered under her watch at the Home Office. How many died because of that will never be known, for many were suicides after arriving here, and they just don’t count, do they? Then there’s her precious Union, where her amalgamation with the DUP and blind arrogance in ignoring us Scots have put it on terminal life support. Again, that’s another death she’ll likely deny, because although we can expect it to happen soon, surely it will not be on her watch?

Perhaps we could ask one of their apocalyptic equines to stand as next leader of the Tories, for then we might actually be treated to some real “horse sense”, which would surely be an improvement on anything this current group of alleged politicians can produce?
Ashley MacGregor
East Kilbride

THIS is the first time I have ever written a letter to a newspaper, so here goes. Single-use coffee cups and takeaway food packaging are much more than just a waste issue. They are symbols of a society that has lost touch with the values that nurture, sustain and help us to flourish. Growing up in a small Scottish town, people had family meals at home and took packed lunches to work and school. Obesity was a rarity. Chips from the chippie, a very occasional treat, were wrapped in newspaper – not polystyrene.

As consumers we did not ask for takeaway coffees or food. They were marketed to us in a tantalising way and like children in a sweetie shop we could not resist. An occasional treat soon turned into a bad habit. People eat and drink on the hoof without giving any thought to what they are putting in their mouths. Digestive and weight problems ensue.

If single-use coffee cups were banned, people would have to think more – “Do I really need another coffee? Do I have time to sit in a cafe and enjoy a coffee?” – and hopefully make better choices for themselves. Interestingly, Waitrose has just banned single-use coffee cups in their stores.

If takeaway food packaging had to be recyclable/compostable, I am sure takeaway food outlets would find a way. Going back to newspapers could become trendy/retro again or alternatively there is an excellent Scottish company called Vegware that is based in Edinburgh and manufactures compostable containers and cutlery.

If Real Foods in Edinburgh can package all of their dry goods in cellulose, then other retailers can surely follow suit.

Bring back drinking fountains in public places and promote their use. There are several in Edinburgh airport but no-one knows about them. Bring back glass-only in theatres, concert halls, cinemas. So what if you can’t have a drink in the auditorium? You are there to watch and listen, not eat and drink.

We have been misled into believing that we can have it all, all of the time. In reality, we end up feeling sick, surrounded by piles of rubbish and wondering why we are not happy. It does not have to be this way. We can create the environment we want to live in and take time to savour the food and drink that nourish our bodies and souls. Here’s to Zero Waste Scotland and Slow Food.
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