Land and freedom
By chance, in the same issue, you reported an attack by landowners on the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Review Group (LRRG). This included an astonishing page of free publicity for various lords, dukes and earls, a class described by the late Tom Johnston, Labour’s great Scottish secretary, as “the descendants of successful pirates and rogues”.
Some 50 individuals own 20 per cent of Scottish land. Estate owner James Carnegy- Arbuthnot said: “One of the principle reasons why land in Scotland is owned by fewer people than elsewhere in Europe is because so much of the land is unproductive wilderness.”
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Hide AdInformed opinion holds that the very opposite is true: our land is unproductive because of the extremely concentrated pattern of ownership. Independence is a prerequisite for significant change. The referendum dialogue provides an opportunity to consider what sort of society we wish to live in. Nothing to debate? Really?
Malcolm Kerr
Brodick
Isle of Arran