The Highland Clearances produce different reasons, causes and results in the writings of historians and, in the letter about the impact of crofting legislation from Nigel Dewar Gibb (April 25) the whole dismal story is still with us.
Regeneration of the Highlands will not come about by ignoring local people, importing different attitudes, advertising for "new" crofters or discouraging long-term owners from actively contributing to long-term regeneration through the crofting traditions.
The Highlands need the apparently current dead hand of bureaucracy no more, whether it is called the Crofters' Commission, the Crofters' Foundation, the Scottish Office, the Scottish Parliament or committee of inquiry.
For those of us with Highland roots, we do not want our ancestors' spaces to be treated as quaint tourist attractions, great for scenery and B&Bs, but characterised as empty, unworked land, with few job opportunities (only service work) and occupied by declining elderly populations.
Commissions and lawyers are self-protective, delight in extended discussions and seem more interested in delayed and lengthy hearings requiring mountains of paperwork instead of decisive, positive, democratically-accountable results.
The necessary regeneration of the Highlands is an obligatory duty of us all. If what Nigel Dewar Gibb describes is true, the matter should be a priority for the appropriate Scottish Government minister, Michael Russell.
M E Mackenzie, Peebles.
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