-----Original Message-----
From: J Middleton (Edin Staff)
Sent: 22 April 2008 10:24
To: 'lett
...@dailymail.co.uk'
Subject: A new desperation?
Sir,
While I do not generally find myself in agreement with the political
direction of the Daily Mail, most of your articles nonetheless come
under the banner of fair comment and in a democracy all honest opinions
are obviously welcome.
Nonetheless there is a fine line between comment and libel and the
article entitled a New Racism in which James Grant accused all
nationalists of being bigots crossed that line.
As I am certain your correspondent and the Editors of your paper must be
aware there are two types of nationalism.
There is the imperial type where adherents believe in the superiority of
their country to others and also the civic type where the people of a
country join together in a common democratic cause.
Scottish nationalism is clearly civic and is also clearly not imperial
and therefore your argument has no justification whatsoever.
If unionism can only justify itself by making such deliberately false
assertions about its opponents then one can only conclude that the
arguments for the continuation of the union are not strong enough on
their own.
Independence is normality. Independence supporters run our Government
and the cause of independence has strong support across every political
party and at every level of Scottish society.
If the Daily Mail wishes to insult a possible majority of the Scottish
population then go ahead but you can logically expect your readership
figures to drop like a stone.
In truth a printed apology to the SNP and their supporters would not go
amiss and I would urge you to consider that option seriously.
If on the other hand you prefer to continue in this vein then you can
expect to have your day in court eventually at which point you will be
expected to provide actual proof of your allegations or pay the
compensation required.
Yours faithfully,
Joe Middleton
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