I ALWAYS enjoy Pat Kane’s columns. Saturday’s was certainly interesting and had me reaching for the keypad (Why Nicola Sturgeon’s taste in books does not spell disaster for independence movement, Mar 19). First off is a purely factual correction. The highly successful and energising event entitled Self-Determination And Power was jointly conceived by James Kelman and Derek Rodger with various other people and organisations being invited to come on board to further its depth and breadth of impact.

I managed to attend some of the workshops but my main role was to organise Noam Chomsky’s time outside of his two keynote speeches, to ensure he was back in the conference hall when next needed – sometimes having to get quite bolshy with over-enthusiastic followers and journalists hanging on his every word.

I became a de facto tour guide, driving him round Glasgow whilst exchanging thoughts around a myriad of topics. I admired the way in which this world-renowned linguist and fearless political analyst and commentator was equally comfortable sharing stories of our respective families. I mention this not out of some sense of self-aggrandisement but because of its relevance to Pat’s linking of the FM’s preferred book genres and what they tell us about her political persuasions beyond independence.

It has to be said that in this troubled world, with the rare exceptions such as Margaret Thatcher, wars are dominated and perpetuated by male leaders. Given the increasing number of countries electing women leaders, perhaps the prediction by the current Dalai Lama has a ring of truth to it when he said, “The world will be saved by the “Western woman”.

Jennifer Rodger

West Kilbride

I’M always taken aback at the notion, as outlined in one of your letters on March 19, that “older Scots are making ‘political’ decisions about a future that is not theirs”... thus the voting system should be weighted against them in some way – using the Brexit outcome as an example of the elderly having no idea what they were doing. Presumably, in principle any voting system can be similarly weighted by the same logic against any group which “might” be deemed to face different impacts.

This type of electoral skewing is known as gerrymandering and is deeply flawed thinking no matter what the intention is.

How would such decisions be made and by whom? Should a weighting system skew the results in favour of the property owning wealthy because the impact of taxation policy might fall more heavily on them?

At what age would the line be drawn suggesting that “older” citizens had no future worth consideration? A 50-year-old on average will live for more than a further 30 years – a rather long time to be disenfranchised.

How about revisiting the vote for 16-year-olds who will not be affected by taxation policy or prisoners or the unemployed or the disabled?

Hopefully after a little further thought we can see that this is a seriously questionable idea ... and I’m being diplomatic here.

Finding ways to rig the system because you don’t like the present or future outcome of an electoral choice is what Mr Putin is currently doing, even though he is taking a noisier and more destructive route to the same end.

The solution to any concerns here is to prepare better for any campaign you hope to win rather than complain about an undesired outcome.

Citizens the world over have strived for blood filled centuries for the right to have a say in how they are governed. Those who have won that conflict will defend the principle of universal suffrage so this idea should be left as a scribbled note somewhere.

Of course those who might wish to disenfranchise themselves at whatever age are entirely welcome to do so ... just don’t try to do this for others.

Gus McSkimming

Ardrossan

SURELY it’s time we took a good look at where we are and where we’re heading in Scotland.

Nowhere on a P&O ferry for starters, because a billionaire or two said so.

Deeper into our pockets for fuel and energy, the very stuffs we allegedly have but in fact had in abundance until a billionaire or two scoffed them through dodgy government sell-offs.

Housing – now there’s a thing. How on earth, who on earth, devised a council tax system which is punitive to the poor but hardly noticeable to the wealthy living in opulence, no doubt with foreign tax-dodging accounts?

Our land is again given over to the highest bidding billionaire as a playground while we scramble and pay through the nose to secure land to built affordable houses and allows the wealthy who own such land to sell for development then reinvest in more tax-avoiding land beyond the reach of the layman who fancies the good life, born to it or otherwise.

So to food as we watch farms multiply in scale, those working on them drop in numbers while dependence on favourable weather becomes ever more crucial amidst undoubted and dramatic climate change. Just watch, it’ll be food wars before we know it because we’ll have run out of the opportunities for enterprise and innovation to flourish in sufficiently meaningful volume to ensure five rolls and two fishes can feed the thousands.

Every citizen who seeks land on which to build a home and sustain themself must have such opportunity. Apply land value tax to all land not available for such purpose and to such a level that it becomes available – and that’s for starters, before or after independence, preferably after but pretty damned quick.

Tom Gray

Braco