THERE is a line in that wonderful novel The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa that has always intrigued me. The character Tancredi refers to Sicily, of course, when he tells his conservative uncle: “If you want things to stay the same, things will have to change”.

Of course, we don’t want everything to stay the same in Scotland. If we want a society that can afford to provide care, we must change. For too long, Unionist parties have conspired to mire Scotland in a dependency culture that has worked against change and progress.

The first essential change therefore is to regain the power to govern our country according to our own needs. But close behind that comes a new approach to economic development.

It’s clear we need to expand our population, perhaps by appealing to the Scottish diaspora to send us their young and enterprising.

But also by creating a business-friendly culture that will encourage entrepreneurism: almost a third of the successful business start-ups in Silicon Valley came from Indian and Chinese immigrants

Things will have to change. So let’s get on with it.
Peter Craigie
Edinburgh

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'Nationalist’ must be retained in the SNP's name

NICOLA Sturgeon must be encouraged to stick to the “National” part of the SNP’s title by the apt quotation from Gandhi in The National (Letters, August 19) sent in by Dan Hull.

This makes clear the difference between imperial nationalism and peaceful nationalism or, as it is now known, civic nationalism. Civic nationalism is a worldwide benign concept connected with culture and identity. To be persuaded that nationalism is a wholly pejorative word is an example of the use of language as a political tool. George Orwell describes this in his essay Politics And The English Language in which he argues meanings can be debased, as in the present case with the word “nationalism”.

Other writers have similar views of the quotation from Gandhi. EM Forster, in Howard’s End, wrote: “But the imperialist is not what he thinks or seems. He is the destroyer. He prepares the way for cosmopolitanism, and though his ambitions may be fulfilled, the Earth he inherits will be grey.”
Iain WD Forde
Scotlandwell

I FELT for Nicola Sturgeon when she admitted at the Edinburgh Book Festival that she wishes she could change the name of the Scottish National Party because the word “national” could be “hugely problematic”. This word and, more importantly, its unpleasant connotations were constantly used by the No campaign to smear the democratic process of the Yes campaign.

In the run-up to the referendum, No campaign literature was littered with the word “nationalist” in an attempt to crassly equate nationalism with fascism for the benefit of the less discerning voter. Scottish Labour’s then leader Johann Lamont even went on record telling her party conference that nationalism is a “virus that must be defeated”. This was party political expediency at its most boorish level and an insult to independence supporters.

Whether we consider ourselves Scottish, British or any other kind of nationalist, surely the real test is to be internationalist in order to participate in an inter-dependent world. Given that internationalism means between nations then, by definition, it is impossible to be an internationalist without first recognising that separate nations exist.
Jack Fraser
Musselburgh

IT is beyond comprehension that a person of Douglas Alexander’s undoubted intellect cannot differentiate between nationalism that asserts the rights of nations, and nationalism which denies the rights of nations.

If any party is guilty of promoting a culture of grievance it has been the Scottish Labour Party. For decades, rather than promote a positive manifesto for change it has simply demonised its opponents, leading to the hollow shell that it is today, a party that is more Billy Connolly than James Connolly.

What Douglas Alexander seems to forget, or perhaps conveniently ignores, is that Scottish Labour had a total hegemony over Scottish politics between 1959 to 2007, with political control at nearly all levels of Scottish life. Its lack of action on undermining poverty and social inequality when it had the power to do so is the most substantial explanation as to why the embittered Mr Alexander is no longer on the green benches of the Commons.

Cllr Andy Doig, (Independent), Renfrewshire Council AS regards Zero Waste Scotland calling on organisations to do their bit to reduce littering in communities (Drive to be launched to help cut back £50m litter bill, The National, August 21), I would suggest they start in schools, if schools in general are like St Peter of the Apostles, Clydebank.

At lunch break, on returning to the school from visiting local shops with their food purchases, students are followed by a couple of West Dunbartonshire employees. Their job is to pick up their discarded litter and place in bin bags for disposal.

This arrangement must be a considerable cost over the school year and, if repeated elsewhere, must contribute in part to the £50 million spent annually by local authorities in collecting litter.
Norman Henderson
via email

I WAS surprised that Kevin Ferrie would express sentiments not out of place for the Daily Mail in article about casual sexism. In Gilmour Bats Away ‘Stroppy Women’ Comment (The National, August 21) he said Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, “engaged PC mode” when defending women’s badminton.

Lee disagreed with his questioner, saying it was good for the game that women’s singles is so strong. If Ferrie thinks honesty and supporting your fellow players is PC then I dread to think what views he holds in private. While the article’s tone improved towards the end, given that it started with two paragraphs about a male tennis player doesn’t help.
Keni O’Neill
Leith

I WAS hugely impressed by the Wee Ginger Dug article on August 19 (We can imagine a better Scotland).

It was a refreshing change to hear the cultural case for independence, rather than the economic case. As a small-time author who wrote a novel for the 2014 referendum (Mightier than the Sword, under the pseudonym Alexander Tait), Wee Ginger Dug’s words – “The path to independence is a path that is hacked out by poets, made firm by novelists, given foundation by playwrights” – gave me tremendous hope and encouragement. His article was sheer poetry. I thank him for it.
Billy Scobie (Alexander Tait)
Alexandria