WHAT a great way to start the week with your front page on Monday: “New indy case will be built on ambition”, as compared to the likes of “Brexit shambles”, “at risk”, “Cabinet division” and more.
That the UK is in its current state is due mainly to the political ambitions of some Tory politicians and their belief that they could put the EU question to bed for at least another generation. Then there was the failure of politicians to sufficiently defend and talk up the benefits of the EU. Our relationship to the EU must be determined post-independence and not the current scenario where we are dragged out, undemocratically.
We were informed that EU membership could only be guaranteed through being one with the UK, yet Professor Sir John Curtice was quoted recently as saying, post the last General Election and the latest local elections: “The Conservative Party now finds itself supported by a predominantly pro-Leave electorate”. What an irony, since the Scottish Parliament finally united, with the exception of the Tories, in rejecting the ridiculous terms of the Continuity Bill.
Just imagine the furore if rUK agreed to Brussels maintaining control of essential rUK matters for seven years before “taking back control”, and without that time span even being guaranteed!
That our future will be different is not in doubt. But what will that future look like? One we address and control for ourselves, or one dictated by Westminster with the local Scottish Tories (currently) out of step with all other parties in our Parliament?
Whilst it will be good to hear the First Minister start the second indy campaign, we need to hear from the Growth Commission and find ways we can demonstrate the positive, and not just counteract the negatives that will be thrown at us. Our ongoing relationship with, say, public services, health, education and housing, demonstrates how we value those crucial aspects of community and citizenship.
Keeping control with accountability to us, the public, before bending to the dictate of the private sector is essential. The public refused to roll over when the Home Office threatened those who have chosen to come and live here, contribute to the economy, raise their families here. Our notions of social justice have to be maintained, developed, and uncoupled from the convoluted processes of rUK government. We’ve mounted “Keep Scotland the Brand” campaigns, publicly taken on supermarkets and brand names. We know the value and worth of who and what we are. Surely then we can parley that even more productively.
The relatively short first indy campaign saw a galvanising and politicisation of the public, across divides such as gender, age, class and race, that motivated participation and continues even now, so if there is any truth in the rumours that PM May’s coat is on a shoogly peg, we might be in for, yes, yet another General Election, making it a very exciting, very busy summer.
Better be prepared then!
Selma Rahman
Edinburgh
ON Saturday my partner and I were having a quiet pint in a Paisley pub when an elderly gentleman came in and sat at the next table. A short time later another elderly gent came in and joined him. The first gent said: “I don’t expect to see you today, I thought you would be home watching the royal wedding on television.” “Aw naw,” replied the second gent, “that’s nothing tae dae wi us, that’s jist an English thing.
I said to my partner: “Remind me to buy that man a pint before we leave.”
Thomas Steel
Paisley
THE BBC is not only failing in its duty to “reflect, represent and serve”, it is deliberately producing reports that show Scotland in a bad light (BBC is failing in its duty to Scotland, SNP tell watchdog, May 22).
Today in a BBC report on Release Scotland, set up to help people who have been in prison to get back into work, it claims that about a third of men in Scotland have a previous conviction and that research shows three-quarters of companies in the UK would not consider recruiting an ex-prisoner.
The BBC appears to have equated “previous convictions” with prison sentences and UK employers with Scotland. Is it in fact true that a third of Scots men are considered unemployable by three-quarters of the country’s employers?
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
I FREQUENTLY hold the BBC to account over stories and have never once had an acknowledgement that they are listening to the licence-payer or interested in my submission! Instead I receive a standard reply about how great a job they are doing, how fairly and objectively they operate.
A “nothing to see here” response, never once trying to improve or take on board my comments.
Christine Smith
Troon
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here