WHERE have all the great leaders gone! At times of conflict, upheaval, countries have been blessed with leaders who have become world icons. Mandela, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Churchill, Luther King, to mention a few. But as the dust settles in America, Biden or Trump is the best they could find.
In the UK we have Boris. In the latest poll (Nicola not included) Angela Merkel proved to be most popular. New Zealand’s leader was also not included. There surely must be better people available in America, there must be some senator somewhere that has the qualities needed.
Britain seems also void of talent. There is certainly no-one in the present Tory Cabinet that could set the heather alight. Where are the people blessed with the necessary qualities of integrity, presence, charisma, communication, influence, empathy, self-awareness, humbleness, righteousness, sacrificing, fair play?
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon now more popular in England than Boris Johnson
In Scotland again in the opposition parties (apart from the Greens) nobody comes close to look anything like a leader. What’s happened? What’s gone wrong? Is it because big international businesses really run countries and any puppet will do? Maybe a fellow National reader can shine some light on this issue!
Robin MacLean
Fort Augustus
WILLIAM Purves’s letter on Thursday outlines several positive answers achievable when we regain our self-governing status. A Scottish central bank that issues our own currency, border controls like other self-governing countries, control of all our own assets and produce, all taxes raised in Scotland available to use for our benefit – unlike at present where more than one-third of our taxes are directly under UK Treasury control and other viable answers.
Our political leaders appear reluctant to stick their heads above the parapet and take the decisions that at are required now. If you or I were to work in this fashion, we would very quickly be looking for new employment. There are many issues that could be debated and clarified to remove doubt and answer doorstep questions. So, why don’t – we the people – debate, decide and provide these answers in the form of a draft written constitution?
A Scottish registered charity Constitution for Scotland has been set up solely for the purpose of enabling you and everyone in Scotland to share your views and opinions on the shaping of a future Scotland. You can comment, debate, and propose amendments on the internet-based consultation at: www.constitutionforscotland.scot.
Come and join in this unique opportunity not only to help shape a future Scotland but also provide a job description for our elected representatives as well as the means to hold them more accountable.
Robert Ingram
Constitution for Scotland
I AGREE wholeheartedly with Maggie Chetty (November 5), in that there is no likelihood of a round table amicable settlement of our withdrawal from the UK.
Such negotiations are possible and successful only when each side has respect for the other and is not influenced by animosity. There is no recognition of the first and ample evidence of the second of these essentials in the attitude of Westminster’s parties towards Scotland. The conduct in the House, now visible thanks to TV, establishes that for all to see.
That situation could of course be improved but would require a radical change in the behaviour of Westminster.
John Hamilton
Bearsden
WHILE the Scottish media was (understandably) focussed on the US election and the furlough scheme, the Westminster Parliament was quietly shutting the door on child refugees. Lord Dubs’s amendment to the latest Brexit bill, which would have continued the right of child refugees to rejoin family members already in the UK, was defeated by 333 votes to 264.
Four Tory MPs showed they had a conscience, but five Scottish Tories dutifully backed the inhumane Brexit-obsessed, fortress-England line of their party.
READ MORE: Immigration Bill: Scottish Tories vote against child refugee protections
It seems Scottish Tories are as keen on compassion as Donald Trump is on climate change.
Scotland has a proud tradition of welcoming refugees. My father was one of a group of Kindertransport kids in Selkirk in the war years.
He’d be disgusted by the attitude of the Tories to the child refugees of today.
John Dennis
Dumfries
I’LL take KM Campbell’s word for it about Sean Connery’s film The Hill as written in the letters page of this paper (November 6), but to say Connery rejected British Imperialism is stretching it.
The clue is in Sean Connery’s title, Sir Sean Connery!
Where does WM Campbell think the title Sir comes from? What role does WM Campbell think the British Royal Family play in British imperialism?
These are questions we must all ask ourselves if we are to move to a truly independent Scotland.
Paul Packham
Helmsdale
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