THIS past weekend I was in Glasgow meeting with Northern Friends Peace Board (Quaker group meeting four times a year with representatives coming from the North of England, Wales and Scotland). This organisation has worked for peace for more than 100 years. In any conflict seeing what love can do is the first step for reconciliation. To listen with care to each other.

What struck me particularly at this meeting and in the preparation for it was that there is a lot of misunderstanding in the rest of the UK about what is happening in Scotland. The fear of nationalism can only drive us further apart. People in Yorkshire also feel disengaged with Westminster politics but we are not able to express it in a way that is positive.

The Scottish voting system with proportional representation bringing candidates closer to the public and making for easier engagement and a feeling that that elected politicians are doing what the electorate expect has resulted in far more voters going to the polls including young people.

The lack of knowledge about how Scotland is dealing with social justice is not helpful. For many of us concerned with the UK government's stand on austerity and cuts to the welfare system leading to those least able carrying a heavier burden, looking to see how it is done elsewhere is helpful.

Many of us in Yorkshire do not think it right that nuclear weapons are manufactured and deployed from our shores. In fact, a lot people I have spoken to do not to know that we still have them and wonder if the billions spent on them couldn't be put to better use in the NHS or our schools. In Scotland there is a big party that says, "we do not want nuclear weapons" and the people are more part of the debate about them.

Keeping up talking about these issues and learning where we can is something we all can do. Every one of us wants to live in a peaceful society and we need to listen to each other carefully and with love recognising where we are different and how we are alike.

Jette Howard

Skipton Quaker Meeting