EXASPERATED is the word that comes to me.

All the efforts, all the marches, all the posts, all the letters, all the money spent in membership fees and raffles. All the branch meetings and chapping the doors and stuffing leaflets. All the wonderful legislation that has made Scotland better these past years despite the constant attacks from Westminster.

You know the TV cop show thing where the lead character is suddenly accused of some misdemeanour? For the past 20 episodes they had been without fault. Then, suddenly there is a suggestion, unproven, but in an instance the whole cast turn upon them and they then have to dig their way out of the false claims?

I never understand why all the good that they did is washed away and the one, unproven allegation thrashes their life and record. It is not only in TV shows though.

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Am I the only one feeling battered and bruised and unsure of where I should go next?

Only a few weeks ago I thought we were still fighting Westminster for our independence. Now I feel that I have been dropped into the midden, the super record of what we have achieved trashed and the Labour, Tories and LibDems gleeful whilst the Greens must be wondering what the heck their place is at the moment.

I am maybe just too old now, maybe all the experience is worth nothing any more. I will tell you this, though – the naivety I have witnessed in these past few days is breathtaking. With all that the Tory government are doing and have done these past months, all the ammunition they have provided, and all we do is turn on ourselves. Impatience is like pushing string; it gets us nowhere. Maybe the youth has got something to teach the old but there is, heavens alive, still nearly a week until the votes in the leadership contest are announced – then are we set to have a dispute of the results and be dragged deeper into the pit?

We should have all been gathering for the special conference on Sunday to discuss how to push independence forward. Instead we are like the Starship Enterprise and the Klingons have successfully transported on to the bridge and ... beam me up Scotty.

Cher Bonfis
via email

The SNP leadership election is proving problematic.

One of the candidates is standing on a platform of progressive continuity whilst his two rivals offer change. So far, so good. However, it transpires that AFTER the voting opened, information on membership numbers showed a drop of 50,000 since 2019 and 30,000 in the last year alone. This amounts to a drop of about 41% and 25% respectively from its peak.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: SNP 'mishandled' members row but 'perspective' needed

There are many reasons why members may have left, but it is without doubt that the present progressive policies will have played a significant role. There have been “challenges” in a number of areas. The Gender Recognition Reform Bill, the deposit return scheme, the ban on alcohol advertising, the ongoing saga with the ferries, the indecent haste with which the oil industry is being abandoned and even the lack of progress on dualling the A9 and A96 are all policies which have recently raised eyebrows among some of the membership.

Thus we find that members may well have voted for a candidate whose policies will see membership haemorrhaging even more in the future. But there is another aspect to this saga. At the very least, the 30,000 ex-members who have left in the last year alone should have been given the opportunity to express, via the ballot box, the reason why they left.

Name and address supplied

THE SNP leadership vote is being held over a two-week period. Perhaps it would have been fairer and easier to verify the vote if old-fashioned paper voting papers, sent out and received by post, were used and not the electronic system now bathed in controversy. SNP members for whom SNP HQ does not hold an email address are actually voting by this method, although the papers are being posted to Southampton to be counted in conjunction with the electronic votes.

READ MORE: Ash Regan calls for SNP members to be able to change their vote

I have no idea of the costs of the electronic ballot – possibly an all-postal ballot would cost more. Perhaps, at a very rough guess, to print a ballot paper, put in an envelope, post, and send back in a prepaid envelope might be around £2 a vote. An expensive business, you might think. However, about a week ago SNP HQ sent out by post a financial appeal to members. Enclosed was a letter, 20 raffle tickets and a prepaid envelope to return the raffle tickets and cash/cheque/bank details to SNP HQ.

Would it not have been possible for SNP HQ to have “doubled up” this financial appeal with the voting papers? All the voting papers could have been returned to SNP HQ where representatives of the three candidates could see them opened up and counted. Clearly efforts would have to be made to separate any returned raffle tickets and paperwork from the ballot papers so that they remained anonymous. This happens at every local government and parliamentary election when postal ballot papers are separated from the voter ID paperwork.

It might even have had the additional fringe benefit of increasing the number of raffle tickets returned and money donated.

John Baird
Largs

ANENT the logo of the Scottish National Party, it is a very clever logo and envied by Unionist parties as it is easily recognisable to everyone. It doesn’t need the letters SNP added on. It is formed by the Saltire and by joining the two bottom sections of the cross with a crescent shape it then gives a thistle shape. Simply brilliant.

Joe Wallace
via email

READ MORE: Now is the right time to change both the name and the logo of the SNP

I WAS slightly amazed at the letter likening the current badge to rabbit ears or an onion. The earlier version [white and magenta on a blue background] shows it as stylised thistle!

I have also the previous button hole badge, a lion rampant on a saltire. I see that that is still available as a pin badge.

Struthers Symington
Member since 1968