BILL Wilde's critique of the SNP is puerile and absurd (October 18). To my knowledge, the Nationalists have never made a secret of their ambition to form the government of a newlyindependent Scotland. It seems to me a perfectly reasonable aim for any political party. In general, government is the aim of all major parties. I doubt whether many people would vote for the SNP if they did not trouble themselves to develop a full manifesto.

It appears fair to assume MrWilde is a Unionist. Like many of that ilk, he treats membership of the UK as a boon whose specific benefits need no elucidation. Personally, I have never been able to discern the advantage inherent in being treated as a mere region by an imperious London regime. Frankly, I have always found it patronising and frustrating.

The comparison of the peaceful, democratic movement for Scottish independence with the fascist parties of Germany, Italy or Spain is idiotic and plays into the hands of the SNP. Those who make this inane analogy ask us to believe that to seek selfdetermination for Scotland is fascistic, whereas the British government doggedly clinging to Scotland as a source of cannon fodder, oil and ports for nuclear submarines is not.

The SNP differs from, say, the Nazi Party in such minor ways as its total lack of violence, racial condemnation or a leader who is clinically insane. It is baffling that anyone could fail to see these distinctions, whatever his prejudices regarding Scottish nationhood.

Duncan McLean, 22 Ronald Place, Stirling.

BILL Wilde hints darkly that nationalism in Scotland will lead to the same terrible consequences as European fascism; this is as logical as the prediction, in the early twentieth century, that moderate socialism would lead inevitably to Bolshevism. In fact, democratic socialist parties were a bulwark against the influence of the undemocratic left. Similarly, the thoroughly democratic SNP will, as it has always done, resist those who try to foster hatred in the name of nationality.

He also suggests that retrieving Scotland's sovereignty from Westminster means "breaking away from the rest of the UK". Independence means that a self-governing Scotland will arrange its relations with the rest of the world, as far as possible, on the basis of peaceful co-operation. This will be done through associations such as the UN, the EU and the Council of Europe. Relations with its nearest neighbours, with whom it will always share close ties of history, culture and kinship, will be structured on the basis of common sense, friendship and new kinds of mutual institutions. This means a reorganisation of the former UK, not separation.

Those who believe that only Westminster stands between Scotland and chaos have a very poor opinion of their compatriots. They also have a huge job to do if they want to convince others that they intend to debate the issue of independence on the basis of logic and evidence.

Dr Bob Purdie, 28 Slade Close, Oxford.

IAN Bell should have checked his facts before writing on October 17 about religion and politics.

First, the Liberal vote did not collapse in 1918. At that year's General Election, the combined Liberal vote in Scotland was 385,105 as against a combined Labour vote of 279,991. Indeed, the Scottish Liberal vote in 1918 compared favourably with such in 1906 (336,400) and 1910 (354,847 in January and 306,378 in December). The Labour vote in Scotland did not exceed the Liberal vote until the 1923 General Election. Further, excluding the Alliance votes in 1983 and 1987 and until last year's General Election vote of 528,076, the highest Liberal vote ever recorded in Scotland was 407,081 in 1929. So, rather than the Scottish Liberal vote collapsing in the five General Elections after the First World War, what really happened was that the Liberal Party held on to its vote but failed to secure the support of a reasonable share of newly enfranchised voters, particularly in 1918 and 1929.

Secondly, the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland on the basis of having "700,000 to 800,000 adherents" cannot "lay claim to being the largest faith group in the country". In the section on Current Religion in Scotland's Census 2001, the number stating their "religion" as Roman Catholic was 15.88per cent or approximately 804,000, and the number stating their "religion" as Church of Scotland was 42.40per cent or approximately 2,150,000.

Finally, may I ask Ian Bell and others not to use the single word Catholic to describe the Roman Catholic Church. The Church of Scotland is a Catholic Church (as affirmed in its First Article Declaratory and as confirmed as lawful in the 1921 Church of Scotland Act) and, indeed, it is the largest Catholic Church in Scotland.

Dr Alexander S Waugh, 1 Pantoch Gardens, Banchory.