Rafael Behr asserts that the case for Scottish independence is as “flaky and dishonest” as the Tory Brexit prospectus once was (Sturgeon and Johnson have made Scottish independence seem inevitable. It isn’t, 9 February). By flaky, he seems to refer to issues of currency, national debt, a budget black hole, a customs border with England and how much it would all cost. By dishonest, he seems to mean that Scots are being deceived about these issues. If Covid has proved anything, it is that it is long-term, not short-term, economics that count. Scotland’s future includes self-sufficiency in the essentials of renewable energy, water supply and food production at a time of climate crisis. It can become an exporter of products based on such resources, for example, of hydrogen as a key fuel of tomorrow. It has a green future, which has the potential to bring with it a way of life that is of the community and at a distance from the exploitative global economy. It is clear that automation will diminish the value of cheap-labour economies and that the future lies with human services and production at regional and local levels. You only have to say these things and then ask if short-termist, centralised and financialised UK governments will recognise what is coming, let alone have the foresight to plan for it. It is conceivable that a Scottish government could. Scots are prepared to put their faith in future generations who will, hopefully, have different values, based on what the good life could be in Scotland. Roger Read Troon, Ayrshire • Rafael Behr has misread the mood music in Scotland. The indie movement is not about “anti-Brexit/loathe Boris/hate the Tories”. It is certainly not built on the “flaky and dishonest” Brexit campaign. It’s not even all about the SNP. Most importantly, it is not nationalistic, with all its fascist connotations. Behr misuses the words nationalism or nationalist five times. It is about democracy. Scotland never gets the Westminster government that it votes for. Ordinary Scots, old and new, from all corners of the globe, of all political persuasions and none, want a basic human right that the Guardian would normally support: the right to self-determination. Yes, we want a Scotland that is fair, open, welcoming and prosperous. But most of all, we want the right to choose how we are governed. Val Machin Kincraig, Invernessshire • Rafael Behr conflates the vote to leave the EU with a vote for Scottish independence, common to most journalists on both the right and the left. When England and Wales voted leave in 2016, the UK was a full and equal member of the EU; Scotland has never been a full and equal member of the UK, as evidenced by the outcome of the EU vote itself. And as long as it is governed by a party that has never had a majority in Scotland since 1955, it never will be. Labour may well be the union’s saviour, but going on recent proposals to wrap itself in the (union) flag, I wouldn’t bet on it. Fiona Raffaelli Glasgow • Rafael Behr should ask himself what, politically, does the union have to offer a left-of-centre, social democratic and anti-Trident country like Scotland? Only, it seems, a Tory party that leans towards Faragism and a Labour party that wraps itself in the union jack. Scotland neither voted for Brexit nor for the government that pushed it through. Maybe if Behr lived in Scotland he’d find this democratic deficit as unacceptable as I do. Alastair McLeish Edinburgh