Sir, Fiona Campbell expresses her failure to understand Margaret Allinson’s ambition for an independent Scotland ‘to determine our future according to what is best for all our people living here and to be valued as a nation for what we are and can be.’ That seems to me to be a fairly succinct expression of a hope that we should have the opportunity to fulfil our potential as an independent nation to play our part in the community of nations with direct access to international affairs without our access being filtered through London as at present.

It is the norm for nations to be masters of their own affairs so far as is possible in an interdependent world. In the YES movement we are seeking normality - nothing more. It should not be a frightening prospect for anyone with any confidence in the competence of their fellow Scots.

May I comment on just one aspect of Ms Campbell’s ‘fantastic union’. The UK is a rich country. We know this to be a fact. David Cameron has told us so in connection with the sad flooding of the south of England. Two other facts are worth considering in the context of the UK’s wealth. The UK is around the fourth most unequal country in the developed world in terms of personal wealth and there is not a corner of the country that does not of necessity run a food bank. Fantastic!

It is also a fact that an independant Scotland will be rich. I have sufficient faith in my fellow Scots to believe we will have the will to address as a matter of priority these embarassing inequalities inherited as part of our union legacy.

I am, etc.

Peter McPherson The Loan West Linton