It's time for Yes voters to stop doing rest of the UK’s dirty work for them

You do realise that that is the rUK establishment across the Rio Tweed? You know, the ones that are past masters when it comes to divide and conquer!

So what actually gives that some people on social media are doing Downing Streets work for them?

Obviously there are those that are doing it because that is what they are there for but then there are others, notably those that have failed to gain position within the SNP, and so deep is their grievance that they have placed their ego above achieving independence.

Well, here is a wake up call. There was a good reason you never got selected and your egos are broadcasting it for all to see. Now just because some blogger with a chip on their shoulder, well to be truthful there is more than one like that, posts up their opinion it does not follow that it is accurate, unbiased nor in the best interests of the independence movement but they seem to have developed a small but loud fan club that try to ram home their message.

Fortunately they are a minority, unfortunately they are the ones the MSM will concentrate on as will the rUK government agencies.

Now, as I will never stop saying we are at a pivotal moment in our history, one that could oh so easily be lost and lost because of the division caused by the egos of a few.

People are obviously entitled to make up their own minds, but all one needs to do is look to the RUKs involvement in the independence movements in Egypt, Iraq and Iran to name but three.

We have one party organised enough to get us to that referendum and they will need maximum support to do so. Put away the egos, put away your moans, stay focused on what we are trying to achieve and we will get our Independence.

Failure by us at this moment and we will be held up to ridicule by generations as yet unborn.

Scotland’s future is bright, independence is right.
Cliff Purvis
Veterans For Scottish Independence 2.0

IT was 1741/42 and no time had seemed more propitious for the Jacobite’s cause since 1707.

Unpopular Hanoverians on the throne and unpopular Hanoverian wars abroad.

The Stuarts meanwhile had produced sons and heirs that filled friends with hope and foes with dread.

However, concerned at internal wrangles, King James VIII saw fit to write the following to Lord John Drummond:

“for God’s sake, let us stifle as much as possible all little views and animosities... Let us have nothing in view but the common good, and let every one join heart and hand to promote it in our different capacities. This will be the most effectual way to encourage foreign powers to assist us, and to animate our friends at home to act their part also.”

Wise words that should perhaps be heeded by some now in this present circumstance with independence closer than it has been at any time since 1745.
Henry Malcolm
Dundee

I WAS pleased to read the view of your reader from Fintry, Thomas I Inglis that he presumed the Conservatives were not using the term Unionist in their bumph.

Earlier in the week, however, I received a questionnaire from The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party from an address in Albany Street in the capital.

Since there was no such political party registered with the Electoral Commission the last time I checked can I presume this is a new breakaway faction ( similar to the SLP formed by Jim Sillars in the 1970s) or is it a simple misnomer meant to hoodwink the electorate into thinking they exist legitimately.

When I receive my postal ballot paper I hope I do not see any candidates standing for non- existent parties, and just to be on the fair side, these include such fictions as “The Scottish Labour Party, The Scottish Liberal Party as well as The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party” all at this stage figments of the imagination and in my mind quite fraudulent if used .
Richard Easson
Dornoch

I DON’T know why people are getting so upset at the new Tory pamphlet; it contains a number of truths. The Tory Party is the only party that can prevent another Scottish referendum. This is a reflection on the other parties. Everyone with a sense of social justice, not blinkered by jealousy or self-interest, has abandoned the Labour Party.

The overwhelming bulk of the LibDem support was sickened by the betrayal of Nick Clegg and his cohorts. The Tory Party is totally undemocratic and is prepared to ignore the expressed desire of the Scottish people to decide their own future.

The Tory Party has acknowledged that they would lose an independence referendum and are pinning their hopes on preventing one rather than winning it. The Tory Party has realised that their leadership in London is toxic to the voters and has abandoned Boris Johnston and his lap dog Alister Jack.

The Tory Party has understood that their policies are anathema to the Scottish electorate and has concealed them. The Tory Party has conceded that their nationalist departure from the European Union has been a disaster for both countries and has given up trumpeting it.

The Tory Party has conceded the relative success of the Scottish Government in containing the coronavirus and can mount no meaningful criticisms.

The Tory Party does admit that it has nothing to say to the people of Scotland and can offer them no policies. The Tory Party has become nothing more than a one trick pony.

I look forward to receiving more communications from the Tory Party in a similar vein.
Ian Richmond
Dumfries and Galloway

MANY historians believe Alexander Boris de Pleffel Johnston ,the out of touch bumbling elitist, will be remembered for years of austerity, the demise of the NHS, increased cronyism, taking the UK out of the EU (getting Brexit done) his mismanagement of the coronavirus and causing Scotland to leave the UK (fingers crossed!)

Sir Keir Rodney Starmer KCB QC MP, leader of the so-called opposition, will be remembered as the man who did nothing to prevent this or provide a proper alternative. In Scotland he’ll also be remembered as the man that contributed to the demise of Scottish Labour. He talks of proposals for a Constitutional Convention (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 but it’s still to happen!) And if it does I fear will be no better than a chocolate fireguard against the rise of English nationalism.

Labour’s Unionist paranoia about not letting the people of Scotland decide on a referendum will surely come back to haunt them. The Unionist parties are clearly out of touch with the Scottish people’s aspirations of providing an inclusive fairer country and certainly don’t deserve any consideration in the up and coming May elections. So do not waste your second vote. Please!
Robin Maclean
Fort Augustus

IN last week’s Sunday National Gerry Hassan, writing about the BBC programme “Class Wars” quotes an academic as saying that “Glaswegians pronounce their R’s as the French do”. This is classic BBC intentional cultural ignorance. The reason that all Scots speakers and the Scottish speakers of English pronounce their r’s with varying but positive degrees of stress is because both these languages are Germanic. The Scots not only pronounce their R’s but the velar fricative in loch, just as the Germans do in Bach.

This made me think that if a programme about the working class in Scotland which could evade the fact that one of their badges of identity was the Scots language might have another agenda than just understanding the working class. Until recently Scots was defined as “Scottish non-standard English – working class”. So obviously the idea that the national languages of Scotland have been replaced by English since the Union of the Crowns, starting with the nobility and well-off and resisted by the working class is not a road to be pursued.

Perhaps the recognition of the role of the church the schools and now broadcasting in carrying out this re-educational process is too tricky.

Therefore one is forced to consider the possibility that Darren McGarvey, despite his strong moral compass, is being used to call attention to the great gap between the disadvantaged and the rest with a subliminal political aim. In times of instability leaders often use the idea of “others” to create fear and obedience in their population.

That a future radical government of an independent Scotland would do something about adjusting the great gap between the haves and have nots is possibly very worrying at an unconscious level to the conservative elements.

We are approaching an election and a referendum. The more voters are unsettled and made unsure, the better. This is the function of the BBC in this battle between Scotland and an unfair Union.
Susan Forde
Scotlandwell

HOW about a series that dissects the Scottish cringe? The (mostly middle-class) voices that are deeply conflicted about their identity and express it in negativity about everything Scottish, especially the SNP.
Michael Lloyd
via thenational.scot

I UNDERSTAND that some people dislike Wings Over Scotland website. Stuart Campbell who runs the site can be “direct” and less than subtle when getting his point across. However, all those complaining of him now were happy to applaud him in the run up to the indyref of 2014 when he focused his aim on British Unionists.

Now that he has started raising concerns about the internal strife in the SNP, their attitude has changed. If you don’t like his website, don’t read it.

However, the attempt by Glasgow councillor and Lothian list candidate Graham Campbell to attempt to make it a disciplinary issue to even read this website is nothing short of fascist. How dare anyone tell the public what they can and cannot read?

This may have been fine for Mr Campbell when he was in the Socialist Workers Party, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, the Labour party or even Solidarity but who is he to tell SNP members what they can and cannot read! I will continue to read Wings and would encourage others to feel free to read whatever they want.
Willie Bruce
Stirling

JUST read the article in the National football pages where Steven Gerrard talks of his respect for Neil Lennon and states “I’m sure once the dust settles in time, we can share a pint together again”. You would think on their salaries Steven and Neil would be able to afford one each!!
Alan Woodcock
Dundee