Double standard
Sir: For crying out loud, where does J. W. M Thompson (Spectators Notebook, 29 Novem- ber) live, in Tibet or the Fiji Islands? He does not know that ten days after Armistice Day 1918 (crafty, wasn't it?), when nobody war thinking about 'education,' the Roman Catholic hierarchy persuaded the then Prime Minister. Mr Lloyd George—was there any politician in Europe more blackmailable than this scoundrel? —to put Roman Catholic schools in Scotland on the rates and taxes. Since 1918 every penny spent on building and maintaining state-owned Roman Catholic- schools in Scotland—with the exception of about half a dozen or so fee-paying RC schools—and there are dozens of them. primary and secondary, has been supplied by the public.
It is almost unbelievable that a man in J. W. M. Thompson's position does not know that since 1918 he has been contributing to state schools in Britain where the Roman Catholic religion is taught! No wonder there is a Scot- tish Nationalist party, because J. W. M. Thomp- son confirms what the Scottish Nationalists de- clare, that the people south of the Cheviots know nothing about what is going on in Scot- land.
The Westminster Parliament which passed the 1918 Act making the state responsible for providing the Roman Catholic schools in Scot- land, had no mandate for this from the electors of either Scotland or England. Like nearly all the major political decisions taken in my time. and this shows what a farce the English brand of 'democracy' is, the public was never asked to agree to Roman Catholic schools being built and maintained in Scotland by the overwhelm- ingly non-Roman Catholic public.
Might I add that these Roman Catholic schools, built -for Irish immigrants, for only about 2 per cent of Scotland's Roman Catholi- Cism is native Scots, are the only state schools in Scotland where denominational religion is taught. In other schools, the non-Roman Catho- lic ones, popularly called 'Protestant' schools, no denominational creed, Presbyterianism, Scottish Episcopalianism, Methodism, Baptism, Congregationalism, etc, is taught.
The fact remains,' therefore, that irrespective of what I or anybody else thinks, including J. W. M. Thompson, about teaching the Sikh religion in state schools, what is good enough for Scotland should be good enough for London or the English Midlands. The Sikhs, remember, are not foreigners like the Irish, they are Com- monwealth immigrants, and when they demand
that their religion be taught in state schools, the); are only demanding what has been a practice in Britain, in Scotland, for roughly half a cen- Andrew Sinclair
17 George Fourth Bridge, Edinburgh 1 I W. M. Thompson writes: I cannot quite keep up with Mr Sinclair's galloping indignation, but if as I suspect he is accusing me of living in England I must plead guilty to the charge; if he further alleges that I described the situation concerning religion in state schools in English terms I must admit that, too; if he is also ob- scurely recommending the establishment of state schools for Sikhs in Scotland, then I admire his initiative.
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