DURING the past year there have been two occasions when my stomach lurched, and I felt physically sick. The first time was when I woke up and read the result of the referendum, and the second was when I read that the Assisted Suicide Bill had been thrown out. After that I waited for some reaction in the letter pages of The National. Since there has been no reaction in print that I have seen, I feel that I must express my deep disappointment that this well-meant, if poorly constructed bill has been summarily dismissed. I have asked around among friends and acquaintances for their reactions, and almost without exception, they have been in favour of some kind of legislation to ease the passing of those who have suffered as much as they can withstand and are desperate to depart a life which has become unbearable. Margaret Sutherland Address supplied YES, our MSPs did vote for compassion, dignity and respect on May 27. To call the proposed bill for Assisted Suicide “Margo’s Bill” is emotive but not sensible. Margo escaped it, but it would have affected the lives of hundreds if not thousands of other people, especially the old and the vulnerable. The proposed legislation had been based on three fears: the fear of being a burden, the fear of pain and the fear of loss of dignity. Old people are usually not selfish and can be very easily feel that they are a burden to others. In countries where such legislation has been passed it has progressed to euthanasia, both voluntary and involuntary. But at Holyrood, the Scottish Government has sent out the message clearly and strongly that all lives are valuable, not just the able and the productive ones. The answer to pain does lie in its control in ever better and improving palliative care, and here we owe a great debt to those people who run our hospices and those who work voluntary to help them. We fear the loss of dignity, but as a priest who had attended death beds for 30 years has said, he has never seen someone die without dignity yet. Meanwhile, the man who runs Dignitas in Switzerland has become a millionaire. Hundreds of the little urns containing people’s remains have been dumped in Lake Zurich. Does that sound like respect? Lesley J Findlay Fort Augustus

ALTHOUGH I agree with Patrick Harvie’s sentiments, I can’t help but believe that he, like many other MPs and commentators, miss the point (Priority now is to protect Scotland from Tory changes, The National, May 29). It is an absolute myth to believe that we in Scotland can achieve fairness and equality while adhering to a neo-liberal economic system. We know that the SNP and the Greens are left of Labour in sentiment and in some policies, but to be a little left of Labour does not mean a great deal given that party’s centre policy ideology. If we maintain a slavish belief that only a growth in GDP can lead to social progress then we will never achieve equality and all of those people at the bottom of the ladder will remain there. Unfortunately, as many people have commented, we live in a country – a world, even – which adheres to what can only be called democratic dictatorship. In other words there is hardly any difference between the parties that are supposed to represent all sections of the communities but in fact mainly represent the rich. Both the SNP and the Greens need to be forced to stand against an economic system that has been discredited on every level. Perhaps then we may be able to achieve true equality. Alan Hind Address supplied

WHILE agreeing whole-heartedly with Alasdair Jarvie (Letters, June 1) that examinations should, indeed, be a challenge and should require candidates to utilise their knowledge in addressing problems, his implication that candidates who found this year’s maths Higher papers extremely difficult had not done diligent preparation is misguided and inaccurate. Many of the candidates who had done just that were still not prepared for the style and content of the papers with which they were presented. These candidates are teenagers facing examinations which will directly affect their future. They are not mathematicians nor scientists with years of experience in applying their knowledge to solve problems. One day many of them may become that, but it is inappropriate to expect them to be that at their stage. I know of no candidate who thought they would “waltz into the hall and regurgitate memorised knowledge to answer questions that are exact replicas from previous year’s exams”. Those days are long, long past, and rightly so. Candidates should be confident, however, that they can enter the hall prepared for the exam which they will face. If that it is not so, it needs to be addressed. Angela McEwan Media Matters Education Consultancy Ltd

MARK Harper (Letters, May 28) wishes to change our system of government, which in Scotland goes back to at least the 6th century – when (if memory serves correctly) Saint Columba anointed Aidan as King of Scots in Dàl Riata. The SNP’s support for the monarchy as an institution is, I believe, very wise as the alternative is republicanism – with all the infighting that occurs each time there is an election for a new president. In the USA the one elected is frequently the one who can spend the most money to secure his crown. However, it seems that The National is covertly republican. Your cover headline on May 28 was “Out of touch ... a decadent, dated ceremony”. My dictionary says of decadent: a state of decay, a decline from a superior state – perhaps The National will kindly tell us exactly in what century was this superior state? The truth is, many people like pomp and ceremony. We enjoy dressing up – the reason why so many of us (myself included) wear the kilt at weddings and on all special occasions too. Come on, The National, if you really think republicanism is the best government then be honest – amend your title line to: The Newspaper that supports an independent republican Scotland. And don’t be too surprised if you lose quite a few readers! Ignatios Bacon Edinburgh

I CONGRATULATE Scottish CND on their report “Substandard – The Trident Whistleblower and the safety of British submarines”, published on May 28. Today I emailed the link to this report to relatives and friends in Scotland and England, and asked them to send the link to other people they know. I encourage other readers of The National to do the same. The link is www.banthebomb.org/images/stories/pdfs/Substandard1.pdf. Let’s start a “chain reaction” to the MoD’s inadequate response to Mr McNeilly’s claims. Eileen Campbell Knaresborough, North Yorkshire THANK you for the frankly hilarious news that The National will be available in the House of Commons library the day after publication. It takes me back to visiting remote Greek Islands or staying in Poland in the 1980s, when we got the Herald Tribune always a few days late. Is this primitive speed a reflection of the grindingly slow administrative process in the H of C or does it just point up the view of Scotland as being beyond the reach of any high-speed train? Jean Fraser Edinburgh

IF Michelle Mone is so unhappy in Scotland, why doesn’t she stop repeatedly threatening to leave and just do it ? I’m sure she would be much happier somewhere else, and most Scots would also be happier, freed from her constant, publicity-seeking whingeing. Peter Swain Dunbar MICHELLE Mone uses the epithet “muppet” to describe Scots who do not agree with her anti-SNP unionist views, claiming it means “an ignorant person”. Then lives up to this moniker and that of the dumb blonde by claiming that she is leaving Scotland to escape vile Twitter abuse. James Mills Johnstone