Tories are set for their titanic moment ... and we need to escape

The kind Tories in government have pointed out that we should all share the iceberg situation. No, we should not! They are welcome, as far as I am concerned, to their self-induced Titanic moment, but we must take whatever action is necessary to ensure that we do not join them.

Last week’s statement that the Westminster government will not “allow” a Section 30 application to take place is nothing new. We must, however – and the current Scottish Government is the only organisation who can do this – make sure that a clear route to either a new referendum or declaration of independence is decided upon and in place. This should extend, in case of need, to very detailed and accurate study of the minutiae of the Act of Union itself.

It is imperative that any vote taking place should include 16 and 17 year olds. They are, after all, the generation which, within a very few years, will have to make everything work and run both the country and our place in the world.

Various things need to be in place. Firstly, any vote should be a very simple affair; basically a yes or no. Please don’t muck it about with things like “should we be in the EU or not”, or whether there should be a monarchy or president. These are decisions to be taken by the electorate or government after independence has been achieved.

It is vital that plans are in place for a Scottish currency, how it will work and its banking support structure, again at time of independence. True, during the time between a successful vote and actual “independence day”, there will need to be a period of transition and intense negotiation when all details of the separation are worked out, but the new currency arrangements should be up and running very soon after that date. Make no mistake, if any of the present extreme Conservative politicians are in charge at Westminster at that point, every dirty trick in the book will be brought into play to try to make an independent Scotland fail.

Control over our own immigration policy is vital also. Plans for co-operation with the EU on this matter should be a top priority so that, even if there is a gap between being dragged out of the EU (if we are) and rejoining as a full member, arrangements for travel could be quickly activated.

One other point which has been raised ... it has been suggested that, were Scotland to have its own currency, Scotland would have to build its own mint! This is, of course, nonsense. Various countries in the world have facilities to turn out coins, and mostly they do it for any number of countries. I am sure that even rUK with its Royal Mint in Wales would be quite keen to quote for the extra business!

There are lots of priorities which are becoming more urgent by the day; the National and Sunday National newspapers are a vital asset in this situation and we must all do all we can to drive forward and achieve success.
George M Mitchell
Dunblane

I VERY much agree with Robin McAlpine that Scotland should stop talking about referendums and start talking about independence.

There are still important issues left over from 2014 that helped to lose that independence vote. Issues such as the state pension and currency being the two at the forefront of lost debates. In fact, I do not recall much being said about the state pension in an independent Scotland at the time.

Okay, so currency is now on the agenda, but we are having to wait until Scotland is independent and for that independent government to establish it. This has already raised concerns as to why Scotland has to wait for whenever that might be.

When I joined in the 2014 campaign, it was because MPs and MSPs and others were going around the country giving talks on the important issues at the time. There was a substantial period of time of campaigning for independence which helped to educate the population and to vote in whichever way it saw fit. Leaflets were delivered and doors chapped and stalls erected where people gathered.

Since then, the now established Yes groups have grown to high proportions, as seen on the Yes marches around the country. We have organised vehicle convoys and flown the Saltire from many bridges over busy roads. The Yes groups have kept the flame burning these past few years. Now IS the time for those MPs and MSPs and others to deliver persuasive arguments to win a majority Yes vote. Now IS the time for Nicola Sturgeon to fire the starting gun with an independence dateline given, for a suitable period of time, to persuade those others to vote Yes who might have done so in 2014.
Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife

SO Sir Galahad (aka Mr Donald Tusk) is trying again to rescue his beloved (Mrs Theresa May) from her impossible situation by laying a scapegoat at her feet in the form of blaming Russia for meddling in EU and British politics – thus leading to the Brexit fiasco as one example. Will she accept this way out of her predicament and go for a”re-run” of the referendum, or is the banking capital of the world (London) so knee-deep in Russian gold that it’s too late to do anything but trust herself to the tides of fate?

Another week and we’ll be reminded of the Ides of March, the Roman religious observances, one of which was to offer a scapegoat to the gods, and another to settle debts, either of which might be too difficult for Mrs May – with her ability – to contemplate.

Janet Cunningham
Stirling

WITH bitterness bordering on hatred and violence as generated on social media and elsewhere, there is sadly little mutual respect left in Scottish or British politics, as demonstrated by the utter contempt which Westminster has for the SNP and indeed the Scottish Parliament Westminster is no longer credible, with two poorly led Unionist parties hopelessly divided on Brexit and now riven on religious and racist grounds – Labour tainted with anti-Semitism and the surfacing of Conservative Islamophobia.

While the democratic wishes of the Scottish people and its parliament are ignored and Westminster is driven by blind British nationalism and its imperial past, the UK is undoubtedly broken.

As the disaster of Brexit deepens, can we really afford Westminster to govern Scotland? The Unionist party’s mantra that Scotland and its people are too small, too poor and too stupid to govern themselves, has never been valid. In comparison to small independent nations like Iceland, Ireland, the Nordic counties and many more, Scotland is in fact big enough, rich enough and smart enough to govern itself and decide its own destiny with Europe and the world.
Grant Frazer
Newtonmore

I TOTALLY support Maria Carnero when she says that it is for the people of Scotland to decide on an independence referendum and nobody else (Website Comments, March 8).

To require “permission” from our English partner in government is to subvert the foundation of the Treaty of Union, and this treaty is the reason there are MPs from Scotland in the House of Commons in the first place. Theresa May might have numerous ideas above herself, but the power to withhold any right for Scotland to consider withdrawing from the parliamentary union of 1707 is not one she possesses.

While there have been umpteen examples of countries, such as the USA particularly, taking the law into their own hands in recent times, the old adage about two wrongs not making a right always applies. It was just a few days ago that the International Court of Justice at its regular meeting in The Hague ordered the UK to restore the rights of residence of the Diego Garcia islanders and have them return to their Chagos Islands home – a ruling that has been ignored by the UK repeatedly. In presuming it has the power to reject Scotland’s indyref, the UK Government under Mrs May again shows its renegade credentials. In pulling out of the EU, the same government was hoping there would be no treaty-absconding repercussions, but facing the combined opposition of 27 EU countries this was a frail hope.

However, Scotland becoming again a self-governing independent country is, as Maria Carnero says, a matter for the people of Scotland to decide.

The Treaty of Union was never entered into on the basis of a boss-servant relationship. There has to come a time when countries must honour whatever treaties they have entered into unless such treaties by common consent are discarded. What is called the rule of law depends on it. The alternatives scarcely deserve thinking about.
Ian Johnstone
Peterhead

IF Michael Fry is going to make suggestions as to ways to improve the NHS, it would help if he did some research first before criticising the use of “snail mail” and the “clerical staff” (what have they done to annoy him so?).

The NHS does indeed send out millions of communications by post, because it is still the best way to ensure it reaches its target and is read by someone. There are still many people who are not, for a variety of reasons, computer literate. There are also many people who are computer literate but cannot afford to be connected to the internet. He may say they could use their local library; a good idea if they can find one open and with decent opening hours and can then sit there until a message comes through. There are also a group of people who cannot read (the reasons for this can vary from having never learned to illness and brain injury) but rely on others to help them. A letter is a tangible thing that can be handed over. It can also be pinned to the fridge door, be redirected and needs no equipment to access.

In this case, the NHS, which has a duty to communicate with all varieties of people in a reliable way, is recognising reality, even if it is not the reality Mr Fry lives in.

Susan Howie
Via email

MIKE Herd’s letter in the Sunday National (March 3) regarding Aberdeen Council’s frankly appalling plan to close all but one of the city’s libraries fairly struck a chord with me. What an act of cultural vandalism! Like Mike, I owe a huge debt to the library service, and have been an enthusiastic user from an early age until the present day (way more than 60 years). Indeed, but for the library service, I couldn’t possibly afford to sustain my reading habit, and my quality of life would thereby be greatly reduced.

Luckily, I live in West Dunbartonshire, where the SNP-run council is actually investing in libraries. Just the other day I watched an enthused group of primary school children (41 I’m told!) emerge from Alexandria Library following a story-telling session. The same library also houses a huge variety of organisations on a regular basis: smoking cessation; adult literacy; a writing group; a reading group; Bookbug sessions for young children; a drama group for teenagers; author events; MacMillan Cancer support, etc. I feel privileged to live in such a forward-looking local authority. Well done, West Dunbartonshire.
Ian Baillie
Alexandria