OTTO Inglis (Letters, October 26) is correct in voicing his fears of the Scottish Government's authoritarian tendencies and contempt for civil liberties. Why were the warning lights not flashing long ago as we saw its agenda unmasked with successive encroachments on our personal freedom?

The worst, to date, is the Named Persons Scheme which he pertinently mentions. This is a gross curtailment of parental rights and title to their own children. There seems to be an elementary ignorance of the bases of our classical freedom. This is based on the counterbalance of three sovereignties, the sovereignty of the home, the sovereignty of the state and the sovereignty of the church. As soon as one invades the other our freedom is reduced and tyranny raises its head.

Now we have a state that believes it has unbounded sovereignty. When it chose to change marriage laws there was no considered attempt to arrive at a consensus with the church though the church, undeniably, has a role in marriage. Now the state proposes to transgress the sovereignty of parents over their children. This is outrageous and one can only ask: "What is next on the totalitarian agenda?"

Rev DS Fraser,

191 Sandyhill Road, Glasgow.