Letters - 19 September 2014
From the Scottish referendum to Quaker faith & practice
Scottish referendum
Nigel Dower (12 September) sees a deal to keep Trident in Scotland as a certainty. This does seem unduly pessimistic, although, obviously, the pressures to get this outcome are very great. I would expect a Scottish government to be persistent enough to make the champions of nuclear weapons fatigued and ready to listen to those who think aircraft carriers a more convincing symbol of naval power than US-dependent submarines.
I am appalled by the complacency with which the world has acquiesced in the maintenance of nuclear forces in nine nations. Henry Kissinger and three other US elder statesmen have rightly called this nuclear ‘madness’ (Wall Street Journal, 4 January 2007). The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) requires states with nuclear weapons to enter into negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons altogether. This commitment has been shamelessly ignored.
If Britain ceased to be a nuclear weapons state, it could maintain its self-respect by championing the NPT. I see a Yes to Scottish independence as a nudge in that direction, an opportunity to bring democratic pressure to bear on an intractable international problem.
Of course, we may have to wait for Islamic State to plant a ‘dirty bomb’ in New York or London. That would certainly change attitudes.
Geoffrey Carnall
Let’s transcend racism. It aggravates world problems if we pay much heed to the culture we were born into, our ancestry, our domicile and the financial fortunes of our individual countries. Relying on fossil fuels for an income is shameful. Please contact anyone you know in Scotland with this simple message and ask them, gently, to vote ‘No’.
We need Scottish vision on economics. The world needs a cataclysm in the UK and a state that pays more heed to the welfare of its poorest people than the fortunes of the nexus of banks and international corporations that rule the West. Bring it on, you Scots. No wonder Scottish Greens are all for it. Let’s hope you show us all how governments can bypass the commercial banks and set up a citizen’s income. Please contact anyone you know in Scotland with this simple message and ask them, gently, to vote ‘Yes’.
Alick Munro
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