IN the general chitchat of debate who amongst us – we many activists, we band of close flying thorns in the side of the elitist establishment – can say that they are privy to the inner workings of the SNP?

I know I am not, and to be honest I like what I do by way of being an activist.

I am certainly no politician nor am I a QC or other such legal expert. I do take time out to read manifestos as and when politicians publish them, and I will always defer to a subject matter expert should the occasion arise.

With all that said, can I now please ask people to stop saying or implying that the SNP are not seeking independence. There is absolutely nothing that they have said nor indeed done that indicates that – nothing at all. All that is achieved by making comments like that is showing division to the establishment which they will use and agitate to enlarge.

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So the SNP have not thrown barricades across the border crossing points and declared UDI. Good, I am glad because nothing would shut Holyrood down quicker than that action and please do not say “we fight”, because with whom do we fight and with what and from where?

Those that wish for civil war either do not know what it is truly like or they have no care that Scotland would go up in flames along with our hopes for independence.

I really do not care that the SNP are sitting on a gazillion unused mandates because they only need to use one when the time is correct for our dreams to be realised.

Yes, I know we are asked election after election to put our trust in them and I am fine with that because no other party, not one, has the infrastructure here in Scotland and the respect abroad to deliver our referendum.

It is then up to us to persuade people that this time we need them to vote in favour of independence.

True, it was mentioned in that rancid House of Commons, and the government of the day agreed, that the people of Scotland are sovereign. Unfortunately but true to form, what else is true is that the establishment did not make clear in any way our right to choose seen in the broader terms of a UK-wide decision-making capacity or unilaterally as a country in our own right. Again I think that that cursed Act of Union as ratified by Scotland plays heavy on us now.

One thing that is absolutely clear is that as far as international law goes, the UN and The Hague recognises only one sovereign power in the Union and that is the UK Government. As much as we find that distasteful, it is the truth. It is also what the SNP are up against. Sure, we could go early and have the Unionist parties withdraw from the referendum – and that is all it would be, a referendum without any legal enforcement of result. Now the First Minister has said that come the May elections she will ask the country to give her the mandate. By that time I am sure that the rUK Government will have used up all its excuses to deny Scotland its choice both at home and in the eyes of the world – not a favourable position for them.

We are, as others have said, close to realisation of what we have been campaigning for. Whether that campaign has been a life-long labour of love or can be measured in single-digit years, we are close. Absolutely everything can still be lost and in many respects I expect the establishment to kick up a few gears in its smear campaigns and other dirty tricks.

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We now need one more time to steady the line. I am convinced that the SNP leadership is well aware of our frustration, but then so is the establishment. So let us not be played by one against the other.

Our future is very bright. Independence is right.

Cliff Purvis

Veterans For Scottish Independence 2.0

I AM glad to see the SNP has set up a committee to examine the NEC as I was very surprised to see that it consists of 42 members, which seems very large. In my day the NEC amounted to 12 people, consisting of six members from the cabinet and six elected at conference, which was more than enough.

Hamish MacQueen

Glasgow