IS the essence of our Brexit dilemma a) out-of-control democracy or b) a democracy over which we have no control?

This conundrum is represented by a national referendum in which there was an 84.6 per cent turnout (indyref1) and a national referendum in which 28.5 per cent couldn’t vote (British Expats, 16-17-year-olds, EU migrants living in the UK),19.8 per cent who didn’t vote, 26.7 per cent who voted Leave and 24.7 per cent who voted Remain. Hardly a resounding vote for the cause of the people; more perhaps a symptom of our callous and cynical political system.

Now why might this be important? Well it’s important if we’re to begin to understand the dilemma of Ewan MacGregor and thousands of our fellow citizens who may well have the same confusion.

For those who voted Leave there is no conundrum; their democracy reigns supreme and merely wish that the Government over which they appear to have control gets on with the job. For those of us who voted Remain, democracy clearly didn’t work but, say the Leavers, the majority voted to leave and the rest of us have to lump it.

We in Scotland live in a country that faces untold damage to our economy, our education system, our industry and not least our self-respect in the world if in 2020 we remain part of the United Kingdom. So that means that we have urgent business in trying to persuade those who are unsure of the way forward, like Ewan McGregor, that we need a government which is responsive, has empathy of purpose, shared values and vision for a future which is as secure as we can make it.

Perhaps the falling pound can bring untold numbers of foreign visitors to our wonderful country but we have no means of creating the huge investment needed to take our tourism industry to new levels given the constrained borrowing powers on the Scottish Government. But our wavering brethren are similarly affected.

Nineteenth-century Scotland or North Briton, as the movers and shakers of the time liked to call it was an enthusiastic participant in the Imperial project. But as the rest of the world moved on some time ago, jings, crivens even the Peoples’ Republic of China have no ideological problems with free economics when it comes to Hong Kong, that once emblematic outpost of empire. I for one struggle with the vision or delusion of Rule Britannia Britain and a new fabulous world market with London as the epicentre. Is this something our wavering brethren might have doubts about too?

Our collective future is full of “certain uncertainties”, to paraphrase Rumsfeld.

Whether or not George Kerevan is flying a kite in The National in advance of the Scottish Government’s counter Brexit proposals, he seems to suggest we could have our cake AND eat it and whilst Nicola Sturgeon’s honest broker approach to exploring all avenues is admirable, unfortunately reasonableness is not a hallmark of this right-wing government (It’s complicated, but Scotland can stay in the single market: here’s how, The National, October 31). Their rejection of calls for a new post-study work visa for Scotland is the latest evidence.

So there is no easy resolution of Ewan MacGregor’s dilemma and that of thousands like him.

We can take the advice of elders and betters and remain a vassal state in continual thrall to Little Englanders. Or we trust our own collective judgement based on self-respect to take responsibility, warts and all, and rise to the challenge of carving a place for ourselves in the European project by exploiting our well-regarded native nous. Hopefully something that right-minded doubters would sign up for.

Self respect or deference? What choice will you make?

Iain Bruce
Nairn

THERE has to be a balance in terms of political correctness. Having read Lari Don’s article where she changed a children’s traditional story to make the girl the hero, I could understand that she wanted to motivate girls not to be passive and a “reward” for male bravery (Children’s author Lari Don on why killing monsters is not a male preserve, The National, October 31).

On the other hand there’s a tendency nowadays to pretend that women and men are the same. Well, physically they aren’t. An average man and woman of the same height have a disparity in favour of male strength, 50 per cent additional bone density and muscular attributes due to male testosterone during adolescence and a corresponding oestrogen surge in females in order to acquire the necessary fat and breast development for future maternity. Males rarely have osteoporosis or varicose veins. For women this is common.

It doesn’t do females any favours to expect them to equal males in terms of strength. It just lets men off the hook for doing what they’re designed to do, and women get a double whammy of over-stretching themselves physically. A reasonable degree of exercise and fun physical activity is one thing – pretending that women are men is something else. It’s one reason why all the research has shown that even exceptionally strong females are a weak spot in the army – they can’t equal the exceptionally strong males on the other side in hand-to-hand fighting and have to be protected. Even female senior army officers say this. However, the politicians are too cowardly to accept biological truths. Let’s have some appreciation of what women are actually good at!

Jacqui Lewis-Hall
Address supplied

YOUR paper comes into our house as my family’s into Scottish independence.

But Lari Don just doesn’t get it as far as me and my friends go. We’re all 15 or 16 and we’d love to be rescued by heroes. Not one of us wants to be facing the burglar while a wimpy boyfriend hides away. AND we’re sick of being told by no-fun feminists that we shouldn’t be romantic and should be doing traditional masculine stuff.

OK, it’s fine for Lari to be writing for tomboys of ten, but here’s the truth … girls of our age like to watch films with heroes doing the rescuing. And all of us are fed up with our dreams being rubbished. We want GUYS to be masculine as well as nice, we’re into romance… we’re GIRLS and we enjoy being girls.

Maybe Lari needs to find out why feminism’s not popular with our age group. Maybe it’s because we actually like being FemININE!

Rosie Lucca (and Laura P, Carmyn, Evie, Laura MacD, Joanne and Katie)
Address supplied

I WAS saddened by Lari Don changing a children’s story to make it feminist. The National should publish more articles from traditional ladies.

There has been an increase in conversion to my religion by females despairing that the West devalues conventional gender roles, especially maternal nurturing and male protective responsibilities, leading to the term “man child” and fatherless babies.

Amina Ahmad
via text

IT is heart-wrenching that growing numbers of Scots children are driven to seek NSPCC help because of their worries for the state of the world. (Anxiety help on the rise, The National, October 31).

But should this not be a wake-up call to us adults, not just to reassure the children but to do something about the issues they see? Because as so often (think of the Emperor’s New Clothes), the children are seeing the world as it is and cutting through the issues, habits and prejudices that seem to blind adults.

We all know about climate change – there is no “debate” any more about it. But we choose to ignore it, to pretend it isn’t going to bring massive change to how we in the West live, or that we can leave action to the next generation. No wonder they are anxious!

Maybe seeing adults taking seriously and trying to tackle the issues we face might help the children cope better with their anxiety. Who knows, it might help adults too?

Ken Wardrop and Eileen Duke
Glasgow


Letters I: Mark Carney’s critics were oddly silent before now