HOW sad I was to see evidence of the exact point I had cited in my Yessay, which The National were kind enough to publish on January 5. Hidden within the praise and delight of Keith Skeoch, Edinburgh International Festival board of trustees chairman, there it was.

He was quoted in The National responding to the wondrous appointment of Nicola Benedetti as the first Scot and the first female director of the Edinburgh International Festival: “In many ways she reflects the spirit of this festival, internationally recognised and respected but Scottish to her core…” (Benedetti to be the first Scottish director of the Edinburgh Festival, Mar 2).

It is so insidious, you almost miss it, not least as Scots, I believe, we have become inured to it. The word should have been AND, not “but”.

No wonder we struggle to believe in ourselves and that our self-esteem needs some remedial repair.

Go Nicola! I am so very proud of you because you are a woman, and BECAUSE you are a passionate Scot. There should never be a “but” in the same sentence as you name.

Jenny Pearson
Edinburgh

IT is inevitable that Boris Jonson’s “green free-trade zones”, which have been endorsed by the SNP, will multiply and expand until the whole country is a tax haven for unregulated businesses. Temporary, low-paid contracts, lack of environmental oversight and, as a result of the Labour party’s opposition to the devolution of employment law, including the minimum wage and trade union rights during the Smith Commission and passage of the Scotland Act 2016, there will be no trade union recognition and so no workplace protection rights. The political clock is being wound back to the beginning of the 19th century, whereby the struggles and self-sacrifices of the people will have been for nought.

READ MORE: This is why the SNP's Green Ports plan is right for Scotland

We are at a tipping point and in a very dangerous place indeed.

A perfect Dickensian utopia for Boris and his hedge-fund backers is in clear sight. These so-called “ports” can be sited anywhere, including fenced-off inland areas. Just prefix with “green” and all will be just fine and dandy! For the gullible, that is.

Freeport/free trade zones have to viewed in the context of the “Brexit Freedoms Bill”. So now we have the beginnings of a UK offshore Singapore-style tax-haven vision of the Tory party. A zero-tax/unregulated Britain to set free the multimillionaires, property developers and hedge-fund spivs who financed Brexit and Johnson’s premiership bid. It is now payback time. Johnson’s premiership is secure at least until the piper has been paid.

It is capitalism at war within its own ranks and it is the asset strippers, oligarchs, money launderers, newspaper proprietors and the suppliers of unusable PPE equipment who are winning at the expense of our civil liberties.

It is shocking that the SNP have been duped by this extreme agenda of the Tory far-right.

God help us if Scotland cannot extricate itself from this dystopian future that is now clearly in front of us.

Gordon Murray
Lanark

DURING a radio interview, Iron Maiden’s lead singer, Bruce Dickson, bemoaned the fact that he couldn’t choose where his taxes end up. Bruce didn’t understand that at a UK level, taxes are money destroyed. In another, non-fiat currency world, we might find that cat shelters start looking into offshore banking for the swathes of cash coming their way.

We currently live in a very dysfunctional democracy, but the elected politicians decide on their spending plans and where, whom and why to tax. I would like fiscal and monetary sovereignty in Scotland, but we currently don’t have it and until we do, we will not have political sovereignty either.

At a UK level, it is a political choice to de-fund museums and art galleries. If the museum staff are willing to work for pounds then they can be employed. As the monopoly currency issuer, the UK Government can always ensure that these facilities remain free to the public as long as the real resources are available to them in pounds. This is not the case for the Scottish Government, which is a currency user with both real resource and currency constraints.

UK Government tax breaks for fossil fuel giants and their choice to support the arts leans into Bruce Dickson’s libertarian dream of personally choosing the destiny of your tax. If this dream became a reality it would usher in a dystopia. Moreover, the low tax bills of the fossil fuel giants contribute to the GERS armoury of accounting weapons used against the concept of Scottish independence.

Kairin van Sweeden
Modern Money Scotland & Scotonomics

INSTEAD of trying to encourage the Tory party to give back foreign donations, why not get them to transfer the monies to a Ukrainian Support Fund to help offset the costs of rebuilding their country and supporting the refugees? The same could equally apply to all frozen Russian assets.

Nick Cole
Meigle, Perthshire