I READ with great interest Kevin McKenna’s interview with Professor Sir Tom Devine. I initially found your headline somewhat discouraging (“’The times we are living in are the most challenging I have encountered’”, The Herald, March 3). However, he goes on to offer hope to those of us who feel powerless in the face of "the hard Right hi-jacking of mainstream Conservative thinking" and who despair at the unbelievable ineffectiveness of those politicians who cannot find the courage to challenge the zealots in the Cabinet. These politicians are terrified at the prospect of being accused of defying the so-called "will of the people", those of us who suggest that, at the appropriate time, that will be retested being accused, in standard hard Right terms, of being enemies of the aforementioned people.

However I for one am going to pin my hopes on Sir Tom’s belief that "it's inevitable that a powerful political movement will emerge to represent the so far unrepresented in England 49 per cent Remainers", thereby filling the current "yawning political vacuum".

We majority Remainers in Scotland must recognise that it is not at all in our interests for the will of the Brexiters in England to prevail and must therefore enter the UK debate and not concentrate solely on the Scottish context.

John Milne,

9 Ardgowan Drive, Uddingston.

MY friend Sir Tom Devine is justly recognised as a very distinguished historian, but I feel that he is on more shaky ground as a prophet “discerning the signs of the times”. He tells us that his decision whether or not to vote Yes again in a future referendum may depend on the performance of the SNP Government. Whilst that decision for us all may well be speedily advanced by the appalling policies of our political masters (or mistresses) in Westminster, surely there are many other sounder and better reasons than the present Scottish Government's record for seeking to control our own political destiny in Scotland. After independence (which now must be “when” rather than “if”) the whole political configuration may very well change, with the possible dissolution of the SNP or the rise of different parties.

Advancing the cause of independence cannot be subject to a present political party's record in power.

Iain Whyte,

14, Carlingnose Point, North Queensferry.

I DO not share the view of Alan Fitzpatrick (Letters, March 3) that the House of Lords has let down expats such as his daughter. The general consensus of opinion is that both EU citizens living within the UK and UK citizens living within the EU should be able to live where they are currently living post Brexit. The House of Lords, if their amendment is not reversed, have ensured that such a marker has been clearly put down by the UK in that we are allowing EU citizens living in the UK to remain after Brexit.

Allowing people to stay in the UK does not mean that these individuals will remain here. The fall in the value of the pound means that it is less attractive for many EU citizens to stay in the UK if they hope to build up sufficient wealth to allow them to return to their country of origin at a later date. Similarly if the EU were to consider itself morally obliged to follow the UK lead and allow UK citizens to remain there is no guarantee that all would remain in the EU. Most UK pensioners currently living in an EU country will want the UK to secure a social security agreement with all the other members of the EU which will ensure that state pensions paid to them will continue to qualify for the annual increase in the pension. Otherwise there could be a steady flow of expats returning home in order to secure their full entitlement to the state pension.

Sandy Gemmill,

40 Warriston Gardens, Edinburgh.

OVER the years, the Labour Party has taken great delight in telling us that Tom Johnston was not in favour of independence for Scotland, but only a kind of Home Rule.

However, comparatively recently, when thinning down the contents of a file, I came across an article written by Alastair Dunnett, one-time editor of the Scotsman; the opening sentence read as follows: “It wasn’t until lately that I heard for the first time Tom Johnston declaring his belief that Scotland’s future rested upon her obtaining full political Independence for his country. A fragment of film in one of the episodes of a television series about post-war Scotland caught him in a passionate declaration that this was the true and only way forward for his country.

Called into the cabinet in 1941 by Churchill to the office of Secretary of State for Scotland, he was showing us how this could be a powerful instrument of office in the right hands. He swiftly put together what he called a Council of State, consisting of all the living and fit ex-Secretaries of State for Scotland, and got Churchill to agree that if this body came up with a unanimous recommendation the Government would see it through.”

Dunnet continues: “I remember him telling me once after he returned from a Cabinet meeting where he was thrusting an action upon them, how he had said to Churchill : “Prime Minister, if this disnae go through I’m gaun tae tell the 51st Division when they come hame tae bring their bloody bayonets with them.”

Oh for such another Secretary of State for Scotland

Ann Yule,

Brae Tulloch, Dingwall.