NEIL Mackay ("Look around this nation and you will see hatred everywhere", The Herald, December 11) paints a very gloomy picture of Britain today. On a personal basis it is a picture I do not recognise as while my friends and family may be on opposite sides of the debate there has been no nastiness or falling out. There has simply been an understanding that there are different views about and an acceptance of this fact.

Most of the bile has come from politicians of all hues and the media which has played a major part in where we find ourselves today. The problem from the beginning was the refusal by the Remain side to accept defeat and those on the Leave side to accept they could not get everything they wanted and this was exploited by the EU.

Mr Mackay has an interesting solution to end the deadlock. In his opinion its all the fault of those who voted Leave. If they had not been so stupid as to vote as they did we would not be where we are today. Never mind that around 17 million voted Leave his solution is to ignore the vote and cancel Brexit.

That's democracy for you.

J S Morrison,

1 Arran Drive, Kirkintilloch.

NEIL Mackay writes with ample justification on the dangerous polarisation in UK politics, mainly for the moment at least, along the Leave Remain divide. The 2010 Westminster Tory/Liberal Democrat Government, supported by Labour, delivered austerity with drastic impact on those least able to fight back. That is, and was always going to be, a huge driver of inequality and social unrest, which in turn helped deliver the protest vote which swung the EU referendum in favour of Brexit. If it goes through, whether Mrs May’s Bad Deal or the No Deal she is presenting as its only alternative, it will be disastrous for the UK. He is right that a second referendum is probably the only way forward which might defuse some of the tension and achieve a vastly better outcome, but with Tory and Labour leaders both favouring Brexit, it is hard to see how we get there.

Mr Mackay mentions along the way that Scotland is not immune from these divisions, with our own extremes politically. However his article expressly omits to mention independence, a solution to most of these problems. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to Remain by a 24 per cent margin, every constituency, yet our parliament and Scottish MPs are ignored and held in contempt by this Tory Government. The withdrawal of powers from Holyrood is justified by the Tories as essential for negotiation of further trade treaties, but look no further than the behaviour of their Scottish MPs and MSPs to understand that their agenda is for Holyrood to have few significant powers at all.

Even if by some miracle Brexit is averted at the 11th hour, the status quo that influenced many in 2014 to vote No, no longer exists. It is clear Scotland will never be respected by any Westminster government. We can be an inclusive, welcoming nation and a member (if we choose, following independence) of a European Union which supports its member states, or we can be an increasingly ignored and marginalised region of a country rent by division, economic incompetence and political self-interest.

Dr Ron Dickinson,

Kirklee Gate, Glasgow.

WHETHER one believes that the deal negotiated by our Prime Minister is the worst deal ever or whether one thinks that Theresa May is the most ineffective Prime Minister of all time does not excuse the way she is treated and questioned in parliament. The bad manners, finger pointing and downright rudeness of the vast majority of MPs' questioning was appalling and the recent personal comment by our own First Minister has also let her down very badly.

It is my opinion, for what it is worth, is that a male Prime Minister would not be treated in this manner.

Shame on our elected representatives.

Dr Joseph Fell,

Barcapel Avenue, Glasgow.

IT is not necessary to support or even to like the Prime Minister to feel empathy for her at the moment. I for one do not support her Brexit aims. Yet seeing her, the wounded lioness, being nipped and sniped at by a swarm of cowardly, baying hyenas brought on not only sympathy but admiration also.

Watching her supposedly know-all and smug opponents being interviewed brought on only revulsion. Labour, most certainly, is as split at as the Tories and the ever-opportunistic SNP scrambles and snuffles for scraps and merely tries to turn it into another reason to break up the UK. Political pygmies, one and all.

David Cameron should be reflecting long and hard on what he brought about. The UK, from one end to the other, has never been more divided.

Alexander McKay,

8/7 New Cut Rigg, Edinburgh.

DO we remember French wine producers adding ethylene glycol (antifreeze) to bad wine and shipping it to the UK? asks Gregor Egan (Letters, December 11). I surely do remember this. It was in an episode of The Simpsons. For Mr Egan’s benefit, I should explain that this is an American cartoon and not real life. What he may be confused by is the Austrian wine scandal of 1985 when some wine was adulterated by merchants adding diethylene glycol to give false sweetness and body. Diethylene glycol is not antifreeze but a small amount is in antifreeze and it is toxic in quantity. I recall that it was the EEC that banned the importation of Austrian wine – Austria not being a member then – thus preventing it from being shipped to the UK.

Mr Egan asks if we remember French farmers burning British sheep alive in their trucks. During the "meat riots"’ of 1990 French farmers hijacked trucks and behaved outrageously. They burnt some meat trucks. They released sheep to run loose in a village. They ran one load of sheep through an insecticide drench to render them unfit for slaughter. They took another load of sheep to the abattoir (where they were headed anyway) then dumped the carcases outside a French government office. It was more than a quarter of a century ago, so memories dim but the “burning of sheep alive” story seems to have been what we now call Fake News.

Another piece of fake news would appear to be Mr Egan’s assertion that President Macron has said that France will ignore any agreement and gain fishing access to British waters by force. He didn’t say that at all. What he did say was that France would insist on fishing access as a quid pro quo for other concessions when the full trade talks finally start. He is talking about reaching an agreement, not ignoring one. Whether he will be successful in getting what he wants, we will see in time. Mr Macron did let the cat out of the bag in one respect by saying that the notorious Irish Backstop was a "lever" that could be used to force future concessions. Not, then, the remote insurance policy that will never be needed as Theresa May says.

Russell Vallance,

4 West Douglas Drive, Helensburgh.