I MAY not be as eloquent in expressing my thoughts and feel regarding independence as many. But as I am now in my eighth decade, and having lived with a government I did not elect for a large part of my adult life, my greatest hope is that by becoming an independent country we will have our seat of government within our own borders, and therefore be far, far more accountable to the Scottish electorate.
Can I therefore make this appeal to my age demographic: please don’t be scared off by the barrage of lies and misinformation spouted by our self-interested and biased media, but grasp the coming opportunity to make Scotland an albeit small but confident outward-looking, thriving independent country. Let our near neighbours wallow in their increasingly insular, xenophobic and myopic world.
Derek Attfield
Port Glasgow
TELL US WHAT SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE MEANS TO YOU
I WAS born in Ayrshire 1958, but in the 60s we had to move to middle England due to lack of work at the pits. My dad thought it would be best for the family, I was five.
When I was 11, due to personal reasons us children were moved back to Ayrshire and my grandparents finished bringing us up.
I married in 1978. After my marriage broke down in the late 80s I moved to London then onto Essex. I worked hard and made a new life for myself. I lived there for 30 years, but I was always homesick and in 2012 I made the decision to come back home.
I couldn't believe the difference between North and South.
The quality of life down south is so much easier and when you hit hard times it only takes having a second job to get you back on your feet quickly, I've been home now for eight years and I'm still struggling to get on my feet.
I then began to look at the reasons why.
Westminster take more than they need from the Scottish. They give us a pittance and have convinced the English public that they keep Scotland.
TELL US WHAT SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE MEANS TO YOU
They portray it as them giving us more per head than England, and that we as a nation drain the English resources. I was astonished to see how they treat us, as if we are the vermin of humanity.
I want our independence to allow us to live our lives with the pride, dignity and respect that we so rightly know we are worth. Westminster fight to keep us on our knees, we fight to stay standing tall and proud as we should be. Scotland's independence is well overdue.
Mary Taylor
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