Letter: Decision makers keep their distance
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Might I add to Andrew Marr's article on the spirit of Scottish devolution (15 December), that one of the main reasons for wanting self-government is that Scotland is already distanced from the decision-makers in Westminster. Consider two examples:
First, the roads. Nearly every city in England is connected to London by motorways, yet the capital of Scotland has only A-roads and delayed plans for (partial) dual carriageways to link it to England: the physical link is not deemed important by 'central' government.
Second, the poll tax. This was introduced a year early in Scotland as an experiment. It failed - yet this failure was either dismissed or ignored: the guinea-pigs suffered in vain.
There is much rhetoric used about the historic links between Scotland and England; the problem is that these are now intangible, while Westminster's lack of interest in Scotland is not.
Yours faithfully,
G. M. BLAIR
Edinburgh
16 December
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