Stalking the Highland hills, Sir John Nutting QC surveys his estate. Everything he sees belongs to him. Yet this may all be about to change. If the newly formed Scottish parliament have their way, Sir John and others will be selling their land to local people, whether they like it or not. Labour MP Alan Wilson sees the bill as an attempt to "right historical wrongs" - to open up land tenure to rural communities in order to bring about economic development and re-population. The landlords look on the bill less favourably. They compare the bill to the "Mugabe land grab" and communist revolution, arguing that such "social engineering" would be disastrous for Scotland. For Alan Wilson such arguments are unconvincing. He asserts: "Call it social engineering... I would call it liberating for future generations the land in which people live and work".

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