I WRITE this as a plea to all independence parties. I often wonder why it is so hard, especially as we reach a this vital crossroads in the fight for Scottish independence, for all parties pursuing the same aim to get their acts together for the good of the country.
The Scottish Parliament was deliberately set up in such a way that coalition government would become the norm. We have examples of this already, with the Labour Party working alongside the LibDems, and later the SNP working with the Greens. How successful these coalitions were is debatable, especially the latter, but these coalitions served their purpose.
READ MORE: My conversation with Alex Salmond on his economic journey
At present there are several independence-seeking parties, all of whom will be seeking our
votes at the 2026 Holyrood election. Surely, now is the time to work together for their and our common cause.
It works – you just have to cast your eyes back to 2014 to see what happened when three Unionist parties, all with different agendas, worked together: they won. Afterwards
it was back to the usual party politics like nothing had happened, except they stopped independence.
Of course, there are the grievances that exists between the independence parties and these must not be ignored, but they must be put aside, not forgotten, as the country fights not only for independence but also for its democratic existence.
READ MORE: SNP's treatment of Alex Salmond 'Stalin-esque', Fergus Ewing says
If Scotland was to lose, it wouldn’t just be a loss to the parties, but could also be the end of Holyrood and all the good it has brought and has still to offer Scotland. Here are three questions you have to ask yourselves.
• Would working together, for a cause you all claim to support, be too hard a pill to swallow?
• Is an independent Scotland not worth the effort?
• Will Scotland ever forgive you for not trying?
The alternative is Labour or Tory or even, heaven forbid, Reform UK running their colony from London.
Serious times need bold decisions. I’m an SNP member, but I’ll work with anyone, any party, to gain independence. Will you?
Bill Golden
Forfar, Angus
I CAN’T see how Alba will progress further without their charismatic leader. An Alba faction within a rejuvenated SNP, however, might just give the mother party the kick it needs.
Robert Fraser
via thenational.scot
STARMER and co come in for much well-merited criticism in our paper, but let’s not forget who’s really to blame for Scotland’s current situation.
It’s not the crooks masquerading as politicians. It’s the hundreds of thousands of Scots who either didn’t vote or gave their votes to Labour. These people are, and always have been, willing to sell their own country, and I’m not sure what can be done to change their minds.
Jim Butchart
via email
SO not only are the Port Glasgow ferries further delayed, the much-vaunted Glasgow drug consumption room has now suffered the same fate. I have tried and failed to explain to my neighbour that these are possibly not a “state-financed drug den”, as he calls them, but as time goes on it is becoming just a wee bit harder to resist his point of view.
I understand the running costs alone are almost £2.5 million. Yesterday, my neighbour was
quick to point out that nearly 3000 Scots with type 1 diabetes are waiting for insulin pumps from the NHS. One of them of them is his young nephew.
READ MORE: Opening of UK's first drugs consumption room in Glasgow delayed
Children and adults with type 1 diabetes have to monitor their blood sugars on a regular basis and inject insulin multiple times during the day and night. Insulin pumps do this automatically.
Children with type 1 diabetes and adults who have severe symptoms, even with attempts to manage the condition, are eligible for an insulin pump provided by the NHS but some Scots are waiting more than five years for one. Only 38 people got a pump last year in Glasgow.
“Politics is all about your priorities” is my neighbour’s mantra. I find myself hoping he has not noticed the Scottish Government pledge to provide free bus passes to asylum seekers in 2026.
Glenda Burns
Glasgow
OUR government and others are expecting us to believe six impossible things about the Israeli atrocities before, during and after breakfast, and Jonathon Shafi has just made it clear that we don’t have to (Israel is laying waste to the very idea of liberal society, Oct 15). Brilliant article, thanks and respect.
Grae Chilles
via email
INHUMAN things have happened, are happening and still will happen, but some inhuman actions seem to be less inhuman than others, which makes me wonder about the humanity of these humans.
Richard Easson
Dornoch
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