AT Tesco, where every little helps, I noticed they were selling iceberg lettuce “grown in Scotland”. The provenance was clearly and distinctly printed on the label with the indication it was “packed for Tesco Stores Ltd, Welwyn Garden City.” To my shock and horror it also had the Scottish Saltire clearly visible on the label.
So, I wondered, what is the difference? Scottish strawberries are denied a Saltire because some xenophobes dahn sath object, yet it is affixed by Tesco to lettuce grown in Scotland.
There does not seem to be a policy at Tesco or perhaps its strategic labelling and marketing gurus have not realised this.
What Scots need to realise is that “British Haggis” and “British strawberries” are ways the UK, aka English businesses, operating north of the Tweed are really mocking you, irrespective of whether you voted Yes or No during indyref1.
The saddest thing is the Unionists over the Tweed remain silent. They are being mocked at too. And still they revel in doing their country down when these skewed Gers figures are published. But, I suppose a hard Brexit awaits them too.
John Edgar, Blackford
Candidates will make vote for SNP depute leader a close call
ON Friday evening I attended a hustings in Stirling for the depute leader of the SNP. Alyn Smyth, Angus Robertson and Tommy Sheppherd spoke as candidates. I went into the hustings with an open mind prepared to be persuaded by each candidate’s personal statement and responses to questions from the floor. However, it became apparent that each candidate had his own excellent oratorical strengths, qualities and policy visions that the SNP will greatly benefit from if allowed to be applied in the near future.
In short, the SNP has an embarrassment of riches in the quality of their candidates. It will be an extremely difficult decision to cast a vote favouring one candidate over another. While these candidates need absolutely no coaching on live performance I wonder if all of our MPs and MSPs receive expert support in how to make the best of their spoken contributions in Parliament broadcasts or in live TV interview techniques? It is common practice for professional teachers, sportsmen and women to record, replay and benefit from professional coaching on how to improve their live “performances”. Do all of our professional politicians do the same and have access to professional coaching?
As Tommy Sheppherd said recently in the press, he would advocate that the SNP spend more money on more professional staff. I would – if not already done – include a move to recruit experts on oratory for the few politicians who recognise in themselves a need for some support.
Dave Whitton, Dunblane
SOMETHING’S not right! How come we got nearly the whole of Scotland to vote for SNP parliamentary candidates but yet the YouGov poll indicated that there is a majority of Scottish people still voting against independence? (Poll finds slight rise in support for independent Scotland, The National, September 3).
I suspect that there has been a sinister type of gerrymandering of the voting figures to favour the UK ideology. They did exclude the under-18s after all.We probably have uncovered the fact that there is a secret “Ministry of Propaganda”.
Firstly: just recall the disgraceful huge Union Jack smeared over the heart of Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle at the recent Festival Tattoo together with the “in-your-face Jock” empty royal carriage.
Secondly: recall the BBC’s flagrant bias towards the Tories. They recently showed in a news item their leader being applauded for eight seconds by their sycophants whilst a street demonstration of thousands in Scotland against the Tories was never mentioned at all!
Thirdly: there is the shocking manipulation of the image of Scotland being made to look tiny and insignificant compared to England in the BBC’s weather forecasts. I would implore all Scottish people to watch out for these and other flagrant manipulations.
Harry Schneider, Newton Stewart
NICK Clegg’s condemnation of George Osborne’s cutting of the welfare budget for short-term popularity is entirely self-serving and cynical (Nick Clegg says George Osborne ‘cynically’ cut welfare spending to boost Tory support, The National, September 3).
Clegg is speaking as if he bore no responsibility for any of the brutal attacks on working people mounted by the Coalition Government. Clegg broke his 2010 electoral promise to oppose university tuition fees. If Clegg had genuinely been disgusted by these cuts, he would have walked. Instead he and his LibDem cohorts enjoyed the trappings of office too much.
Clegg banged on the Cabinet table when the bill to privatise the NHS for England was passed, they introduced fees of £1200 for employment tribunals and it was LibDem Vince Cable who sold off the Post Office for a fraction of its true value.
Most cynical of all was when Clegg pledged to be the “guarantor” of extra powers for Holyrood.
Alan Hinnrichs, Dundee
I HOPED that the indy2 consultation would give me a chance to explain that I am not against independence. The SNP wasted their opportunity in
2014 but if they did things differently I could be persuaded (Listening exercise will canvass opinion on independence in wake of Brexit vote, The National, September 3).
I have serious concerns about the content, intent and compliance of the online survey. Section 4 asks: “If there was a referendum on Scottish independence, how important would the following (13) issues be to you in deciding how you vote?” On the 1-10 scale I’m sure most people would rate as a “10” the importance of topics such as “feel Scottish”, “economic stability”, “public services”, defence and security of Scotland, “protecting Scotland’s environment”, “protecting human rights” and “immigration”, irrespective of whether they voted Yes or No.
Scoring 10 just tells them that the issue is important, not your opinion of the issue. It is therefore no different to housebuilders’ planning “consultation” surveys which ask you to rate the importance of room size, insulation etc and give you no chance to say what you think of the actual development.
If I am right, this survey is just a cynical ploy to identify “soft No” voters. Its failure to explicitly say so, and the mandatory requirement to fill in most fields, including contact details, may be against
Data Protection laws and the guidelines of The Market Research Society.
Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven
Letters II: Establishment power is maintained by oppressing and controlling women
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