Letter: Suffering behind Scotland's emptiness

Sir: Julia Plumptre (Letters, 27 August) glories in the emptiness of her native Scotland:

stunning hill and mountain scenery and lochs of surpassing beauty stretched as far as the eye could see - and the only visible sheep were of the woolly kind.

There is a good reason why Scottish hills appear empty of anything but sheep.

Maybe, in later years, the British government will introduce new edicts, and major landowners in Derbyshire will find themselves forced to augment their income in ways other than allowing other people to use their land, as happened in Scotland after 1745. The burghers of Baslow and Bakewell will be seen, with faces drained of emotion, clutching small bundles of pathetic possessions in the departure lounge of Manchester airport, waiting for the transport that will take them to their new life.

The Peak District will once more comprise 'huge empty tracts of land' and the Dales will rival the Glens in their beauty: loneliness achieved at the price of untold human suffering.

Yours sincerely,

W. JEFFCOATE

Edingley, Nottinghamshire

28 August