I SEE Charles Mountbatten-Windsor is presenting himself at a meeting of “Commonwealth” presidents and prime ministers in Samoa as some kind of leader. I would like to point out to all involved that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor is not elected to lead anything nor even does he have any right to claim to represent me or my country. His inherited privileges that set him apart from the entire population of this country (outside of his family) and the British state have no place in 21st-century democracy.
If the remnant of the English/British Empire known as the Commonwealth is to have any continued relevance then the two-thirds or so of member states that no longer consider the English monarch as their head of state should lead the rest in rejecting him as head of their organisation.
READ MORE: Calls for UK to end its 'embarrassing' involvement in the Commonwealth
I should say that I consider the name Commonwealth to be an insulting throwback to the days when it granted the colonial power the right to cart off whatever resources it desired due to some presumed shared ownership. There is a clear parallel to the relationship between England and Scotland there.
Once the Commonwealth of Nations has thrown off the leadership of the English monarch, perhaps they should give their organisation a more fitting title reflecting their recent common history as liberated former colonies. Maybe Scotland will be able to join in the not-too-distant future.
Ni Holmes
St Andrews
SHOULDN’T the sentiment expressed by indigenous Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe, when she demands “Give us our land back”, resonate with we Scots and apply equally (You are not our king, October 22)?
Doesn’t even a basic understanding of Scotland’s historical being part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain reveal how we too are colonials, subjected to control by a foreign power and denied our rights to ownership of our country and fundamental democracy to right the wrong being perpetrated on us?
READ MORE: Commonwealth Games' history a 'significant issue', says John Swinney
Watching BBC’s The Interview: Fighting for Justice with Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Alexei Navalny, the opponent of Vladimir Putin who died in suspicious circumstances while incarcerated in the harsh regime of a Russian jail in Siberia, her message was one of hope for Russia: the country she loves, was born in, married and raised their family in, and to which she fervently hope to return.
Her simple message is: “Don’t give up. Do something every day to bring this regime to an end. Definitely one day this regime will end. And our country will become free and democratic, a normal and happy country.”
Isn’t that a message of hope that we Scots can also attest to?
A clear aspiration for right and justice to prevail after over 300 years of a Union that has consistently failed to deliver the kind of society that reflects Scots’ values and the real prosperity we know we should enjoy?
READ MORE: Queen Victoria statue vandalised in Sydney hours before King Charles visit
We’re heading to the next major opportunity to show this British Empire we’ve had enough. Working united, and if we begin now, the Yes campaign can use the platform of the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections to build the consensus within the electorate to demand our Scotexit from this iniquitous UK union that ignores our voice.
All that is restraining us is the political dithering by those who have the power to make a difference; those who for whatever reason are holding back and fail/refuse to attack the injustices visited upon us on a daily basis by this Union’s Westminster government.
The message to them surely accords with Alexei Navalny’s words, when he said: “If your convictions mean something you must be prepared to stand up for them and make sacrifices if necessary”.
In our Scotland, political will has been weakened by petty politicking and degree of personal ambition subsuming the imperative for independence.
Let’s heed Lidia Thorpe, Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia, and those who led more than 60 countries and territories to freedom from British rule. Let’s work to make Scotland a “normal and happy country”.
Jim Taylor
Scotland
IT is a political oddity that in the special relationship that exists between Malawi and Scotland it is not resource-rich, relatively wealthy Scotland which has autonomy.
This week an old family friend, who was a child in 1964 when Malawi became independent, phoned my sister from Malawi to offer condolences on the death of Alex Salmond. He had met Alex on more than one occasion when he lived and studied in Scotland some years ago. He has experience of that change.
READ MORE: Glasgow confirmed as host city for 2026 Commonwealth Games
I think it behoves us, those of us who know that “independence is normal”, to look to our friends in countries now free of (some of) the shackles of the former British Empire for advice and support.
How many nations taking part in next year’s Commonwealth Games will not already have achieved that goal? Am I alone in believing that Scotland’s role as proxy host is more than a wee bit ironic, especially as Australia (the intended host) is likely soon to become a republic?
The media attention surrounding the Games is an opportunity that should be seized on to show our friends and neighbours who still doubt it that independence is normal and also to demonstrate the anomaly that is the unequal “union” and how life without Westminster is absolutely possible.
Willie Sinclair
north of Kirriemuir
HOW long before the penny drops – the King person is wearing the Emperor’s clothes. Scotland (and all other countries that are not England) will be so much better off, in all respects, when free from this Colonial rubbish.
Tim Warner
via thenational.scot
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