I BELIEVE Scotland should be an independent country. Forty-five percent of voters agreed with me. My belief is 25 years in the making, hardening to conviction only in the last decade. I follow the arguments, accruing facts and figures that bolster the case. Increasingly friends agree. So far, so much inside my comfort zone.

However, if you are one of the 45 it is arrogant to claim your agreement. Your reasons for independence may be different from mine but our differences will only embroil us in politics. Then we will take sides. Taking sides will identify us with party politics. Now I am outside my comfort zone.

I believe the independence movement has no more to gain from party politics. This seems counter-intuitive. The SNP, the main proponents of an independent Scotland, are the most successful political party in Britain. The narrative is familiar. They are experienced, competent, talented and well funded. Landslide victories are commonplace and two percent of the population are members of the party. If we want an independent Scotland we need them to win elections. But I still disagree with some of their policies.

My point? No matter how expertly the game is played, party politics ultimately lets down some people some of the time. It is easy to adopt a superior tone and opine that it is the nature of the game. Let us not be superior and let us not demean as a game the system by which we manage our lives. If the system is inferior then let us maximise the possibility of improving it. Let us win independence for Scotland.

If the beliefs of Yes voters are unknown to me then it is daft to second guess the beliefs of those who voted No, particularly if my reason for doing so is to question their beliefs and dismantle their opinions. That is justified within the context of party politics, where beliefs and opinions should be tested, but beyond that arena questioning a person’s beliefs and dismantling their opinions does not win friends and influence people. So let me say this loud and clear: if we want an independent Scotland we are in the business of influencing people. Not fighting with them, not arguing with them, not complaining about them and certainly not ridiculing them. Simply trying to influence them.

I know more about politics than is probably healthy: the main players, the famous cock-ups, the facts and the figures. I can bring all to bear when wanting to win an argument. I met many similarly afflicted people during the last referendum. My message to those people and anyone else who is passionate about an independent Scotland is this: let’s go easy on the heavy weaponry, let’s leave that to the party politicians. So far they have been successful in that particular field of battle.

The late Charles Kennedy said that most people, most of the time are not interested in politics. For a man submerged in party politics this seemed a refreshingly keen observation. Those of us striving for an independent Scotland should bear it in mind.

So let us get personal, using our own experience to highlight why the case for an independent Scotland is relevant to our daily lives. Handle with suspicion the off-the-shelf issues chosen by politicians and the media. Quoting party lines, statistics and economists will not cut it with what will be a decisive number of people. The subtext is “I know more about this than you do”. It is not engaging, not persuasive. Instead let us offer guidance through the maze, quiet time amid the noise. Away from the aforementioned battlefield we can do that in our local community with family, friends and neighbours. What took me around 15 years they will have to do in around half that time.

That is the measure of the task ahead.

Mike Combe, Lochmaben

I WAS not only horrified to read your front page and article today concerning the Brain family but also absolutely disgusted (Australian family face another blow in fight to stay in Scotland, The National, July 25). It seems to me that the Westminster lack of integrity and downright dishonesty is contagious. John Mckenzie is now retrospectively wriggling out of his much publicised promise of work for Kathryn Brain, in just the same way as The Home Office has wriggled out of their commitments, on the specious excuse that circumstances have changed.

Does he not realise that his crowdfunding efforts for his new distillery were more than likely boosted by those who saw it as rewarding him for his faith in Kathryn and his stand for justice, and this element may well have been the reason that, in its last few days, his campaign well exceeded his target figure? This fact alone should indicate that he certainly has the financial means to continue to support her. He is now letting down not only the Brain family, and possibly helping to send them back penniless to Australia, but also those who were prompted by his integrity and humanity to show support for him by adding to the crowdfunding for his distillery.

This is certainly true within my own family, who are now considering blocking the collection of their promised contribution if it has not already been debited. Perhaps more who signed up for this reason should look at doing the same, as it seems that the honourable Mr Mckenzie now himself needs the same lesson in integrity and good faith as Westminster.

L McGregor, Falkirk

SHE’s a dab hand at exploring all options, is Nicola Sturgeon. So maybe she’ll find a way to keep the Brain family in the Dingwall area, and Red Cross/NHS volunteer the Rev Mondeke Monongo, in Glasgow – while sending Theresa May to

Oz, the Congo, or homeward to think again.

Jack Newbigging, Irvine

MAY I add to the words of Joe Cowan (Letters, July 22)? Cycling on pavements has, for some time now, been an absolute menace. Recently I have witnessed a pair cycling side by side, with no care for pedestrians. Also, a man bowling along on the pavement with his dog on a leash, galloping to keep up. Both of these incidents took place on a road on which City of Edinburgh council recently installed cycle lanes on both sides!

A couple of summers ago, a neighbour of mine who walks with a stick was knocked flat by a cyclist speeding round a bend on the pavement. Bizarrely, many of the transgressors wear all the safety equipment including helmets, when in reality it’s the pedestrians whose space they are invading who should be wearing armour as well as helmets.

G Foulis, Edinburgh

THE alleged fiscal piracy of Sir Philip Green, in connection with the collapse of BHS, is nothing new for the money men. When I worked in the City in the 1970s I sat in on many a merchant bank meeting where companies were bought and sold, their assets disposed of to release cash, and lifetime employee careers ended as a side effect that was never even considered.

But nothing was said in those days, and the people who perpetrated these atrocities were even regarded as heroes. I am pleased to see their actions are now properly questioned. The City and its tacky cohorts are in the same league as the operators of a rigged roulette wheel.

Malcolm Parkin, Kinross

SO, let’s get this right, if I worked for BHS and I decided to take a few items home with me each night without the bother of paying and got caught? Could I expect leniency from the courts? Would I keep my job? Could my defence be that I was just testing security? Answers on a postage stamp please.

Jim Gibson, Selkirk

WHAT’S this I read? A synopsis of Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s Gift and no mention of the voluptuous Renata (Real-life faces behind Bellow’s fiction laid bare, The National, July 25)? Shome mishtake surely!

Tom O’Hagan, Felletin, France


Letters I: It will be time to rest when No voters are convinced