Let’s keep the faith: SNP are following best path

Westminster and its state media have played every rotten and dirty trick in the book in an attempt to destroy Scotland’s independent future. So it is with some amusement that recently on social media I have been reading post after post of “SNP members” claiming Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t want independence or isn’t listening to the voters or doesn’t stand for the wider Yes movement etc.

These views are almost always followed by a call to ditch the SNP for some “other party” and/or to declare UDI at the next opportunity. That the huge majority of the profiles spouting such nonsense are fake doesn’t bother Facebook. Nor does their stance bother the electorate going by the often hilarious comments to these posts.

Strangely, however, this same bile seems to have found its way into The National’s letters page. I suppose one drawback of using old-school media made of paper is you cannot easily check the credentials of the author so we must assume they are real people.

I would point out to them that the SNP have played a near perfect hand thus far. The Union is falling apart around our ears, the Tories are in full-on emergency mode with nothing but plastering flags on every public space and a Scottish Secretary that makes Rees-Mogg sound like Rab C to relay their increasingly hysterical “No, never, no way!” message.

To all the genuine indy supporters out there, I say keep the faith. The lies and false claims (as well as letters) are merely signs of the desperation descending upon the Unionists. We hold the momentum, history is on our side. Scottish independence is inevitable and Westminster knows it. Do not believe the lies.
RJ Bulloch
Glasgow

JUST when you thought it was safe to go back to The National’s letters pages, Julia Pannell (July 24) is back with another anti-SNP and pro-Leave rant.

In fact, the pages today are so littered with negativity and faintly silly calls for UDI which would never have any legitimacy that it’s hard to believe that the writers and the paper truly have the greater good of independence at heart. Frankly, I can without this.

Douglas Turner Edinburgh THE actions of Westminster detrimental to the wellbeing of Scottish life have been thoroughly catalogued in your columns. From the opening address of the new UK Prime Minister it is beyond doubt that no greater regard will be given to Scottish concerns by the new government than by the last.

The effort now required by all those inclined towards Scottish independence will be to secure the position that no further accusations of Westminster’s failings will themselves be relevant. Irrespective of opinion on whether we should be in or out of the EU, as part of the UK it is inevitable that Scotland will be out.

The target then will be, as it always has been, that of freedom from the servitude of the last 312 years. Achievement of that will, given time and the inevitable difficulties of disentanglement, remove all of the constraints, calculated insults, suffocating preferment, nepotism and the rest of Westminster’s well-known characteristics which are no longer to be endured by Scotland, and will provide the overdue opportunity for securing a successful future, the birthright of succeeding generations.

England’s Parliament, for that is precisely what Westminster is, has no intention of changing its habits, even temporarily. The advantages which will open up to Scots’ lives through independence now more than ever need to be advertised authoritatively and regularly, as a counter to the hackneyed expected Unionist outpourings regurgitated from 2014. The love-in which then fooled too many Scots has been exposed for its blatant insincerity.

Equally relevant will be the Scottish desire to develop truly friendly, permanent relations with its southern neighbour, the joint advantages of which are only too obvious.
J Hamilton
Bearsden

TRUMP’S man in the UK sacked what was left of PM May’s Cabinet, of which he used to be a useless member, with the speed and ruthlessness of someone who has been planning this for years.

The new people, some of whom stood against him because they thought he should not be PM, have suddenly found the price of a seat at the table is agreeing to sign up for a no-deal Brexit if needed.

The new Secretary of State for Scotland thinks Brexit will be ok.

Well, two weeks ago, for the first time, I attended my MSP’s surgery to ask if my medical equipment and medication will be secure post Brexit.

We never thought we would be sitting discussing possible medical shortages in Scotland.

Boris has moved to put in place a Cabinet of “Yes, sir” people, and he has moved into No 10 the people who ran the Leave campaign .

And he has moved to take control of the civil service .

When that motion of no confidence is put down, and if we have a General Election, it’s up to all of us to get out and get the Tories out.

David Mundell would not promise to support a no-deal Brexit and got sacked .

And what about the new Secretary of State – how can he support Brexit when no area of Scotland voted for it?

And what is the official position of the Scottish Tories – Remain or Brexit? We the public need to know.

And what is the position of Ruth? Remain or Brexit? We need to know that as well now.
David Ritchie
North Ayrshire

DAVID Mundell is yesterday’s man – and thank heavens for that!

What a screaming bore! What a scratched record! What a one-trick pony! Boris Johnson has just boosted support for independence with his choice of Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister “Union” Jack! Who understands the tax breaks enjoyed by landowners with estates in Scotland? I expect this is key to millionaire landowner Union Jack’s support for the Tory Party and his dislike of the SNP. Loss of political control by the Tories could seriously damage Union Jack’s wealth!

But with a hard Brexit, Union Jack sees transforming the UK into an offshore tax haven, to benefit the super rich like himself, as being within reach! So why on Earth would Brexit not boost support for independence?! Unless you support the ideology of millionaires like Union Jack, to give every tax break possible to the uber rich, including through land ownership of Scotland’s vast estates, while dismantling our NHS and our systems to support the vulnerable, be they children, the poor, the sick or the elderly, why would Brexit not boost support for independence?!
Thom Muir
thenational.scot

IF any undeveloped or developed country in the world elected a leader on the vote of only 0.2% of the population, the UK would be asking, “where is the democracy?” Yet this is exactly what has happened in the UK with the election to the highest office in the country of Boris Johnson, now the Prime Minister!

Here in Scotland, going by reports, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has given Mr Johnson a cautious welcome, begging the question, are Scotland’s Conservative MPs singing from the same hymn sheet as Ms Davidson, or is there some division in the camp?

Catriona C Clark Falkirk WATCHING Boris the Spider’s early performances as Prime Minister I was struck by the fact that I was not watching a politician, I was watching a performer. This was not politics, this was theatre, bluster, braggadocio, and windbaggery.

Acting directly from the Potus and Steve Bannon playbook, he left me contemplating how on earth any intelligent creature could envisage a Johnson premiership with anything other than horror, when I was reminded of a Biblical passage that tells us: “This is a rebellious people, lying children, which say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.”

What we must come to terms with is that there is a substantial portion of our people who know Boris for the lying, incompetent, sinister, and dangerous individual that he is, and welcome that. They do not want to hear facts or truth, they want a liar, someone who will tell them what they want to hear; they want a bad person in Downing Street.

What I find most unnerving is that such people know that Boris and his whole programme is wrong and destructive, they know him to be a moron, but simply don’t care, so consumed with hatred and prejudice that they will gleefully damage their own self-interests to satisfy their lust for revenge on imagined enemies, demons of their own creation – the EU, immigrants, Muslims etc. This is the British version of America’s descent into white supremacy.

From a Scottish point of view, yes we should fear Boris, but our greatest threats will come from an English electorate who have completely abandoned reason and happily support the unsupportable.

No-one can be under any illusion that Boris Johnson is a fraud. He is manufactured, a walking lie, and his projects are lies and subterfuge as his stint as London mayor demonstrated.

There is no longer any doubt that Brexit is a lie, free-market economics are a lie, but they are eagerly consumed by an electorate who thirst for lies, for smooth things and deceits, whilst embracing the scapegoating of others to give their beloved lies some measure of respectability. They are simply incapable of accepting the truth: that they have brought the country to this state themselves.

Characteristically, Boris has staffed his team with like minds, with full-blooded ideologues, a devil’s brew of toadies and lickspittles who will say or do anything required of by him and drawn from those who believe they are entitled and must not be held accountable by the lower orders. He has sealed himself off from reality and discarded anyone who may seek to bring a semblance of honesty into his deliberations.

We must brace ourselves for right-wingery gone mad, supported by every lie in the book. We are entering government by the braindead, the unthinking. Rational argument will never prevail against the irrationality of the Brexit-supporting masses and we must therefore stand up to the bullies and take our independence from the madhouse that Westminster now represents.

Like every self-entitled bully, Boris has shown he will be ruthless in his own interests and Scotland must deal with him and his ilk in a like manner. To do otherwise is to invite catastrophe.
Peter Kerr
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