OF course prisoners should be awarded compensation without having to prove their innocence beyond reasonable doubt, when their guilty verdicts are quashed, especially when police corruption or negligence is involved.

The situation hitherto prevailing runs counter to all that this country supposedly stands for, so it is hardly surprising that some of our more enlightened – in this respect and many others – Scottish brethren are contemplating independence.

If they achieve it, I somehow also rather doubt that individuals will be obliged to demonstrate that they possess no device for receiving television programmes.

Anyway, in the extremely unlikely event of their opting for a complete break, notwithstanding the resounding success of the SNP in the recent election, should the rest of the UK have a say, and would such secession be worthwhile in a climate in which we seem to be, for better or worse, increasingly governed by Europe?

DAVID DIMENT, Riverside Court, Oxford