FOR some time it has been apparent that columnist Kevin McKenna does not like the SNP, which I had surmised may stem from some peculiar attachment to historical SNP-related grievances. Perhaps council and Holyrood seats lost to the SNP in areas which Labour had for generations considered to be “theirs” had left some residual resentment?

However, Kevin’s admission that he “loathes” the SNP confirmed my suspicion that he has a long-held hatred of the SNP which now borders on obsessive – and no, I don’t accept his dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin- type qualification that it’s only “Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP” he loathes (I’m happy to be the wrong type of nationalist, Mar 12).

Regarding his views on other matters, Kevin appears to share the outlook of Unionists such as Alister Jack and George Foulkes, etc ie utterly London-centric and insular.

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I refer to Kevin’s assertion that he “liked” the Queen, at that time the very pinnacle of the British state and establishment, and also his assertion that independence is not overly important to him because he “loves England and the English people”.

Is that an implication that committed SNP/independence supporters somehow don’t like English people? If so, I consider that grossly insulting. My late dad hailed from the English Midlands and was a hard-working family guy who, in World War Two, did more than his bit, of which I am proud. He is remembered fondly. For the record, I am at ease with all my European near neighbours and especially like Italy; its culture, food, architecture and people.

Finally, the headline above Kevin’s column stated that he is “happy to be the wrong kind of nationalist”, however his oft-repeated assertion that he won’t lose a moment’s sleep if we never become independent suggests to me that he may not only be the wrong type of nationalist but also the wrong type of columnist for an independence-supporting newspaper.

Malcolm Cordell
Dundee

IN Sunday’s National, the clear inference in Kevin Mckenna’s column (“If we were never to gain our independence, I’m not going to lose a moment’s sleep over it. It’s not as though we’re being held against our will...” etc, etc) was that life under the Tories wasn’t that bad. On Wednesday, though (because it suits the tenor of his article?), there appears to have been a marked deterioration in the state of the land and the status quo that wouldn’t cause Kevin to lose a moment’s sleep three days earlier, which had suddenly become the “most corrupt, extreme right-wing and racist government in modern UK history”!

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I agree with Kevin when he describes the phrase “standing up for Scotland” as inane and meaningless, but is it any more so than terms such as “the sacrament of marriage”? Although Kevin’s articles sometimes infuriate me, I have to confess that I look forward to them every week. I will repeat, though, what I have said before. If Kevin wishes to refer to the SNP as “a deeply unpleasant and poisonous entity” etc etc, he should be backing this up with specific evidence!

Alan Woodcock
Dundee

REGARDING Kevin McKenna’s Sunday column, I think he is being a big over-sensitive. If I had sulked at every insult or nasty criticism I had endure as a shop floor union official or chairman of my newspaper chapel (workplace print organisation), I would have borne a bagful of grudges as well as had an enormous chip on my shoulder.

Kevin chose to devote a column to one criticism and included some insults of his own. A while back he wrote in a petted-lip attitude about some journalistic event to which he wasn’t invited. OK, answer insults etc if you consider them to be untrue. In fact it’s even better if someone else does it in your defence, which doesn’t appear to have been the case with Kevin.

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Understand that insults are part of life – a nasty, unfortunate aspect of it that all of us have to live with – while at the same time understanding that there are more important issues to contend with.

Bobby Brennan
Glasgow

I’VE written previously about Kevin McKenna’s articles, but Sunday’s plunged to new depths. I don’t wish to read “if we were never to gain our independence, I’m not going to lose a moment’s sleep over it”, and “I have come to heartily loathe Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP” in a paper which purports to support independence. I object to my subscription going towards paying for this. There’s plenty of other Unionist rags that would be delighted to print this rubbish. Constructive criticism it ain’t!

Angus Ferguson
Glasgow

PERHAPS it’s time to institute a “competence index” for writers in The National. The first question might be: “Please describe in what way your articles in 2023 have contributed to the cause of independence?” As far as Kevin McKenna is concerned, his woeful score on question one would render any further questions superfluous.

Alastair Hay
via thenational.scot