I’M writing to express my complete agreement with the analysis of current political trends by Mark Brown in his column (Jun 27). I’ve been saying this for the past few years and have been pooh-poohed for it by several folk. What the fascists failed to achieve with tanks, aeroplanes and artillery, they are now doing with political misinformation and chicanery.
Sadly, vast numbers of people in the so-called UK are so busy celebrating “our heroes” of D-Day and other conflicts, that they seem to have forgotten what their “heroes” were fighting against.
They weren’t just fighting the wee guy with the Charlie Chaplin moustache, they were fighting against the whole fascist, bigoted, racist ideology! – and that’s what’s rearing its ugly head in the 21st century.
No jackboots, just velvet slippers with money behind them, worn by the same Nazis my father fought against. Ignore them at your peril.
Barry Stewart
Blantyre
PERHAPS Bill Drew (Letters, Jun 26) would be interested to know that his constituency is not the only one where Labour has imposed a candidate from down south.
Melanie Ward is standing for them in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Eva Kestner from Lewisham is standing in Caithness, Sutherland and Wester Ross, and I believe there are at least two or three others.
What do they know or care about the areas of Scotland in which they are standing and whose interests will they serve if elected – their constituents’ or the party’s? Will they travel the distances from Westminster every weekend to hold surgeries and fulfil other local duties?
Is this simply because the Scottish branch of Labour cannot find enough candidates in or close to such constituencies who can be guaranteed to toe the Starmer party line, or a deliberate attempt to ensure that as few as possible Scottish voices are heard at Westminster? Whichever it is, it surely indicates that Labour, in spite of any promises, will use the English landslide, that they are certain to get without Scottish votes, to “keep Scotland in its place” and “kill independence stone dead”.
Perhaps those considering switching their vote from the SNP to Labour or staying at home, and those who support independence, should think long and hard. However disappointed we are about lack of progress, the SNP are still the only party big enough to take us forward and the only one that Westminster will heed at all.
Once this sham of an election is over, let us look at the optional, legal routes to independence that do exist and push them to investigate these. NOT voting SNP now can only strengthen our Unionist opponents.
L McGregor
Falkirk
AS your great rugby columnist Martin Hannan wrote in Tuesday’s National, Glasgow Warriors’ fantastic triumph in winning the URC Championship in South Africa (pictured) was woefully ignored by much of the Scottish sporting media.
As Martin so eloquently put it, this is probably the greatest victory ever in Scottish rugby history. It is, as always, depressing that the Scottish Unionist sporting media ignored this achievement and focused on the vastly under-talented and overpaid Scottish footballers under-performing and embarrassing the country. BBC Scotland was particularly culpable in the almost total disregard they have for the Warriors’ achievements.
One Scottish journalist attended Bulls v Warriors in Pretoria – Mark Palmer of The Times. I appreciate the National’s resources may not have been able to replicate this but BBC Scotland had the resources to send numerous journalists to Germany to cover another embarrassing sporting outing. How can this be a justified use of licence payers’ money?
David Andrew
via email
ALTHOUGH Holyrood passed the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill by 116-0 this week, the London-based parties still had to have a go at the SNP (Charges for single-use coffee cups on table as Holyrood passes bill, Jun 27).
Labour’s Sarah Boyack felt that the Scottish Government should have seized the opportunity to deliver “the circular economy our constituents, our businesses and our planet needs”.
She seems to have forgotten that the Scottish Parliament’s previous attempt to deliver on recycling was stopped by a Section 35 order from Alister Jack because recycling glass in Scotland might have affected recycling in England and Northern Ireland – if they ever got round to recycling glass.
Equally forgetful Tory MSP Maurice Golden argued that bold and decisive action needed to be taken by the Scottish Government, apparently unaware that the outcome of any such action would almost inevitably result in another Section 35 order from the Scotland Office, whichever party is in power in Downing Street next week.
The Scotland Office has already become the window through which our MSPs can watch events in the outside world but cannot take any action that might benefit Scotland because the door is blocked by a London-controlled doorman.
Massive support for the SNP in the General Election would give our MSPs the back-up they need to brush aside London’s lackey and take Scotland’s influence into the outside world.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
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