YET another giant of the independence movement passes before the dream is fulfilled. Condolences to Moira Salmond and all the family at such a sad time. A sad time not just for the independence movement, but also for Scotland.
My memories of Alex Salmond go back some 50 years, seeing a young, fully inspired and committed Scottish nationalist take to the rostrum and inspire and fire up the independence movement. Inspiring nationalists to take to the streets and challenge voters, something he never shied away from himself.
READ MORE: Watch as MPs pay tribute to Alex Salmond in House of Commons
And what about all the achievements of the governments he led? No tax on the sick in Scotland with the abolition of prescription charges in 2011, no tuition fees for our students at university, Scotland committed to go on the road of renewables, and a government with an overall majority secured at Holyrood, something that was deemed to be impossible under the additional member system.
But we must also give Mr Salmond credit for achieving the 2014 referendum. I feel, like many of us, that Mr Salmond never quite got over the disappointment of the result.
Alex Salmond did for the independence movement what Jimmy Reid did for the trade union movement: took it to a whole new level, a level that got the public listening and a level that brought the public with them.
In ending I must quote Mr Salmond and attribute it to the independence movement going forward: “the dream will never die”.
Catriona C Clark
Falkirk
THE sudden death of Alex Salmond is a huge blow for Scotland. He most definitely raised our heads to believe in ourselves and in Scotland. I always felt pride when he was centre stage promoting Scotland as capable of dealing with whatever we faced.
The tributes have been many but the media seem to feel it necessary to continually refer to the court case and the fact Alex was taking the Scottish Government to court. Joanna Cherry, Kenny MacAskill and David Davis were sounding very bitter, aided and abetted by Radio Scotland.
READ MORE: National readers share their memories of Alex Salmond
Surely this has not to be the legacy of the man who gave his all for Scotland and her folks?
Alex’s most recent comment about Labour’s setting up of a “council of nations and regions” talking shop with an envoy should be in our hearts and minds – “Scotland is a country not a county”. We don’t need an envoy or talking shop.
Now let’s raise our heads, get our independence and allow Alex to take his place in Scotland’s history.
Jan Ferrie
Ayrshire
THERE has been much comment recently on the early abandonment of socialist principles by the incoming Labour government at Westminster with a huge majority to enact whichever progressive policies it deems appropriate. The fact that the deception of the electorate has been accompanied with generally perceived government ineptitude has not aided a favourable assessment of Sir Keir and his party in government over the first 100 days.
The “big issue”, though, for the Labour Party in Scotland is the other lie that was conveyed before the General Election by Anas Sarwar and his gang of political charlatans (not the one about there being “no austerity under Labour”, nor the one repeated by all Scottish Labour MPs that they would stand up for Scotland). That all roads lead to Holyrood, in spite of Wes Streeting’s honest appraisal that “all roads lead to Westminster”.
READ MORE: Alex Salmond, Sean Connery and the student project I'll never forget
In Scotland, instead of admitting that Brexit Britain is broken and attacking the actual culprits, the Tory government, disingenuous Labour politicians spent their time lambasting the SNP at every opportunity in the full knowledge that under devolution with very limited financial powers there is little the Scottish Government can do to reverse decades of UK under-investment in Scotland. The NHS, state education provision and local council services have been underfunded across the UK and this is evidenced in every corner of Britain but especially in Labour-run Wales, regrettably a fact on which Labour politicians are rarely challenged.
If there was any truth in claiming that the SNP Scottish Government was “incompetent”, what does that say about the Labour Welsh government?
It is no coincidence that public services are struggling across the UK but it is duplicitous for the Labour Party in Scotland to only now begin to criticise the previous UK Government for the catastrophic mismanagement of the public finances. With the introduction of Winter Fuel Payment means-testing (backed by most of Labour’s MPs and MSPs) that disproportionately penalises poor Scottish pensioners, and the failure to lift the two-child benefit cap, the utter hypocrisy of Labour in Scotland has been revealed.
Hopefully those complicit in grossly misleading the Scottish public will get the condemnation they deserve at the next Holyrood election.
Stan Grodynski
Longniddry, East Lothian
73; 13; 4.2; 37. Me; indoor temperature; outdoor temperature; number of Labour’s Scottish MPs; who I challenge to turn off their central heating for a month to begin to experience the misery of existing in a cold house, where it is impossible to sit without adding many layers of clothing. They might have to wear extra layers in bed too, as many older folk do.
If your MP is Labour, please pass this challenge on to them. They deserve it.
Andy Pearson
Carnoustie
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