AS usual, Robin McAlpine gets it absolutely right in terms of his assessment of the timing of the next referendum (If you are agonising over when the next independence referendum should be held, you are asking the wrong question, January 27).

We have much to thank Alex Salmond for in pushing forward the cause of independence over the years. He was the strong, charismatic character needed to deliver the first referendum. However, even this astute political campaigner got his strategy inarguably wrong (the result did not lie) when it came to convincing the Scottish electorate.

READ MORE: This is the question we should be asking ourselves about indyref2

Like many others who read The National, you could have come up with the most convincing arguments that independence would set us on a road to disaster and I would still have voted in favour. Robin identifies that it is neither me nor others like me who need convincing. It is the soft “No’s” we need to convince.

A 450-odd page White Paper was never going to be enough to do this job and Alex Salmond’s assertion that we would be an independent nation, standing on our own feet within 18 months of a positive vote, was disingenuous and persuaded the soft “No’s” that they were being asked to jump but weren’t guaranteed that the parachute would open.

We should be learning a lesson from the chaos the Brexit vote has wreaked. After 30-odd months we haven’t even agreed on a withdrawal plan never mind have a fully formed new agreement in place. There was a Brexit vote without a plan, and look at the abyss into which we now stare.

Along with inspiration and vision, we need to have a very boring five- or even 10-year plan in place (what’s the rush – independence is worth waiting a little longer for) that can convince voters that this would be no disorderly march to independence but instead a structured, thoroughly thought-out road map. There must be a comprehensive economic plan which addresses as many scenarios as we can reasonably foresee. In 2014 so much weight was based on oil, and post-referendum with the oil price crash so many people could point the finger and say we had dodged a bullet.

We need to lay out how we see our relationship with the rest of the world and the UK, and we need to have a Plan B if for whatever reason EU membership is not open to us (remember how Spain reacted to our quest for membership of the EU. The Catalan question is still a difficult one for them).

And, importantly, the next campaign, as Robin so rightly says, must be inclusive of all interested parties and not the SNP-centric campaign of 2014. That was a serious mistake.

An indyref2 at this current time would be lost in the fog of the current Brexit chaos. Let’s approach it with a clarity and vision that the UK has never displayed with Brexit. Show how we in Scotland can govern ourselves so much better than any rabble in Westminster can.

We are fortunate to have this second opportunity. This time the result will stand for more than a generation. It might be forever. We need to get it right.

William Thomson
Denny

WHAT a very good article by Robin McAlpine on Sunday. For some time now I have been unconvinced by opinions about a unilateral indyref or expressions that political conditions created by Brexit offer us an opportunity that we may never have again if we delay an independence referendum. I think timing and legality are crucial.

Apart from all the varied large and small events that are happening in the indy movement at present, essential and integral though they may be, Increased and unrelenting emphasis is required to win to our side those who voted No in 2014 for honest reasons. Robin’s intelligent and logical analysis informs us of what requires to be done and the conditions in which it should be done.

He also tells us that the main purpose and work of the Scottish Independence Convention will be to convince voters who are unsure of independence of its necessity and value for the future of our nation (an excellent aim and very important part of the indy movement). Winning the honest doubters is a major task which requires the correct attitude towards them, and is imperative

if they are to be won for the independence cause.

Bobby Brennan
Glasgow