SNP must not act as bystanders in run-up to next year's election
READ MORE: Every plan to achieve indy must be subject to the test of practicality
On the same day, I believe Selma Rahman spoke for many thousands of SNP voters when she said: 'I'm beginning to consider myself voting fodder for the SNP, the way Labour took so many of us for granted in the past.' She'd still vote SNP in 2026, 'but the grassroots/Yes movement and civic society need to come together, speaking out with the (very broad) independence movement.'
John Swinney, widely admired for personal qualities, has become rather like a coach addressing his sweating team as they collapse on the benches at half-time of a home game down 0-6: 'There's still time. We've missed chances and conceded gift goals but our tactics are sound. Don't despair! There's still time, plenty of time...'
READ MORE: Supreme Court's sex ruling 'rolls back progress for all women', SNP members say
And there is still time; nine months until the Holyrood election, and nine months, as we all know, is a long time if you're expecting a delivery (though it's nearly always wonderfully worth the wait). But all John is promising to deliver, as we earnestly hope for a rebirth of our nation, is a prolonged extension of expectancy.
So the SNP need to stand up and sharpen up, remember their genetic responsibility and join up with other parties and agencies together to declare in their manifestos a common resolve, given the authority of a majority of the sovereign people, to leave the 1707 Travesty of Union and at last take our rightful place at the table of the world's free and independent democracies.
Let's see Holyrood 2026 as more than exciting; its potential is epic.
John Melrose
Peebles
IT is certainly correct to say that a vote for independence in a plebiscite election will not sway Starmer. It is probably true to say that dangling him by the ankles from the Forth bridge will not make him accede to a second referendum (not that I'm suggesting we try that – it would probably pollute the water if he fell).
Nothing in our lifetime will make Westminster pay anything other than lip service to the democratic right of the Scots to secede from this pseudo union, so it is time to stop wasting our efforts in trying.
READ MORE: Holyrood 2026 is the first step in regaining our political mojo
A plebiscite election, whilst it will definitely not persuade Starmer or any other 'elected' dictator to accept our rights, will convince the rest of the world that we are being held prisoner in this farcical facsimile of a democracy.
We should have withdrawn our MPs from the palace of hypocrisy when we swept the board. No, it wasn't a democratic majority but under Westminster rules it was a victory. Remember a majority of votes in this 'democracy' never happens but the chancers soldier on regardless. We should have told the world that we were open for business then, and not waited for the electorate to be disheartened by failure.
I once knew a retired civil engineer who said: 'I have built bridges, roads and dams in every former British colony and they all had one thing in common with Scotland. The Raj only left either when the fighting became too hot or there was eff all left to steal!'
You will never get the thief to leave your house by asking nicely. This one is going to stay until there is eff all left to steal and, given their shortage of water and greed for electricity, that could take a very long time.
They won't go until we throw them out, especially given the number of 'patriots' who would rather be serfs for a price than freemen for a fortune, so, whatever we do, begging for a referendum without making it obvious that denial is going to hurt, is not going to work!
Les Hunter
Lanark
THERE are many in Scotland who, despite the prevailing fragmentation of the efforts of popular and party political movements to emancipate us from the current multi-faceted dystopia, retain the grace to be willing, if not able yet, to fully forgive Nicola Sturgeon entirely for wasted years and squandered momentum towards a more hopeful legacy for our children. There is no doubt that her attempts at a qualified apology for errors of strategic judgement, particularly in the distracting domain of gender recognition and the debilitating 'pacts' it necessitated, have made a good start in rehabilitating her posterity.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon is still as strong a voice as ever for those in need
I suspect and hope it represents the understandable human tendency to 'own up' in instalments to more extensive and wide-ranging incompetence. In the case of Nicola et al, the acquiescing to long-term devolution and substandard governance latterly are more difficult to hold hands up to, in addition to matters of judicial/political boundaries being compromised.
It is counterproductive in the long run to rehash the derelictions of fallible human beings. The epithet of 'humanum est errare' and to forgive divine is apposite and also an urgent matter in Scottish politics if the current parlous state of the NHS, public health, education and mental health and the devastating inequalities that stalk the land are to be meaningfully transformed in the coming decade in an independent Scotland.
While I am suspicious of political auto justifications as per Robin McAlpine's article of August 16, I nonetheless provisionally salute Nicola's gesture and wish the remnant SNP party a full return to health and vigour after their period of malaise and lack of clear vision.
Andrew Docherty
Selkirk
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