Owen Jones writes with decency and honesty about the disconnected working classes who have voted for change (24 June). I wish I shared his magnanimity. Instead, I feel nothing but anger. Anger against those who have actively voted for successive domestic governments intent on demonising their kith and kin, enriching the few at the expense of the many and playing politics with the serious issue of immigration. Anger against those who have too easily become the willing enablers of and participants in dog-whistle racism. Anger against the assumption that being poor means you can’t or shouldn’t see past the specious headlines about foreign invasion dreamt up by non-dom billionaires to misdirect them as to the real cause of their misery. In Scotland, it has given rise, for the most part, to a progressive civic nationalism embraced by communities rich and poor, of diverse creeds, cultures and nationalities; in England the same issues have bred a narrow and bitter retrogressive resentment, culminating in this debacle. So, sorry Owen, forgive me if this time, I won’t roll up my sleeves and join battle with progressives across these isles to defend a better vision of Britain - that Britain has been rejected time and time again by those who need it most. So they’re welcome to the country they want to live in. For me, Scotland is the future now.
Colin Montgomery
Edinburgh
• The English and Welsh vote to leave the EU, and its opposite in Scotland and Northern Ireland, spells the end of the UK. We should accept this with grace and goodwill. Since Scotland’s independence is now inevitable, it would be better for Britain immediately to negotiate an amicable departure. Not only might this allow Scotland to retain its current EU membership, it would also encourage Scotland to reach a favourable agreement on the retention of British armed forces in Scotland, including nuclear arms, as part of the Nato alliance. The inevitable corollary of Scotland’s departure is the unification of Ireland. This would provide continued EU membership for a people who voted in favour of it. Those wishing to retain British citizenship would be welcome in England and Wales. To act now during Britain’s secession from the EU would spare us all unnecessary pain later on.
David Hughes
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
• So a surprise for most people, including a lot who voted leave. But thanks to the journalists at the Guardian who wrote eloquently about being undecided in the referendum, and intelligent arguments for leaving, as well as for remaining. A very complex, multilayered vote for many people. A prediction: a referendum in Scotland in 2017 with a vote in favour of independence and remaining in Europe, precipitating another referendum in England on the EU, with a remain vote. The conclusion of three years of democratic revolution: an independent Scotland.
John Barrett
Edinburgh
