WELL done to All Under One Banner (AUOB) for their successful online assembly using the Hopin system. I’ve used this process before with the Believe in Scotland event, but I believe AUOB went a stage further and started to show the real potential of this system.

This was especially so with the focus group sessions, where a moderator and up to five speakers were present on the screen at any one time. This process could easily be used at the upcoming SNP virtual conference to not only have the chair of the resolutions sessions but also ensure that movers and seconders of various resolutions and amendments were lined up and ready to speak as their turn arises.

READ MORE: George Kerevan: AUOB openness stands against SNP’s stifling of debate

It would seem there would be no problem with using such technology to replicate the traditional SNP conference as closely as possible, if only those responsible for setting the agenda allow the members to have real, open debates rather than the mishmashed composite nonsense that has been suggested.

AUOB’s assembly was professionally run, expertly managed and helped to keep the voice of many independence supporters to the fore. Here’s hoping enough SNP mandarins were paying attention so that we can have a decent online conference that allows genuine debate.

Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley

I AGREE with Alan Crocket’s letter in the National yesterday. I also found the AUOB conference at the weekend both down-to-earth and so encouraging, especially the contribution of Angus MacNeil MP. He suggested that the Scottish Government ask for a Section 30 order before the May 21 Holyrood elections. If Johnson says “no”, this then transfers the pressure onto Johnson and away from Scotland.

The 2021 Holyrood election then becomes the de facto referendum on independence, as it is the Westminster government which has denied the Scots any other means of expression. This seems like total sense. Will the Scottish Government go for it?

Susan Grant
Tain

I AM not a constitutional lawyer but I am capable of reading in the English language. I have not discovered any statute or precedent supportive of the contention that only a Westminster decision can authorise or legitimise a referendum to determine Scottish people’s rights regarding the future government of Scotland.

The persistent dwelling on trivialities like “how long is a generation?” does in fact underline the poverty of Westminster’s dwindling ability to counter what is increasingly being acknowledged by the whole of the UK, which is the absolute determination of the people of Scotland to decide for themselves how they will be administered in the generations to follow.

READ MORE: Indyref2: Poll shows two-thirds of Scots want another vote

The boast by Westminster that our unwritten constitution is in this context to be relied upon is unrealistic, it being little more than a constitutional sieve.

The plethora of anti-Scottish comment by government-influenced supporters of the status quo demonstrates conclusively the certainty of Scotland’s future independence from that government.

J Hamilton
Bearsden

IT is ironic that the UK Government’s attempt to hold China to account for its breach of the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong of 1984, in what could no doubt be described as a “specific and limited way”, comes at a time when the UK itself is signalling its willingness to break an international agreement it signed only last year.

China has always contended that the declaration on Hong Kong has no validity beyond the date of handover, so clearly has no intention of taking any notice of protestations from a second-rank country on the other side of the globe. The UK’s historical ability to draw on the moral high ground in order to muster support from its allies in Europe and North America has been corroded by its own actions.

Cameron Crawford
Rothesay

READING Lesley Riddoch’s article (Forget the Tories’ generation game ... it’s what Scots want that counts, November 12), I have to say I agree with every sentence in it. All that she writes mirrors all thoughts that have been the basis of all the letters of mine on indyref2 that The National has kindly published.

READ MORE: Forget the Tories’ generation game ... it’s what Scots want that counts

In the final analysis it’s the decisions and actions of the people of Scotland that will be the determining factor on having indyref2. Not the opinions of anyone in a leadership position, past, present or future.

Well written, Lesley, What an excellent thinker and asset you are to our movement.

Bobby Brennan
Glasgow

ANDREW Learmonth’s article “SNP MP employs evangelical group intern” is yet another example of The National’s hounding and haranguing of Christians. CARE is a well-respected organisation that carries out some great work supporting single parents, bereaved family members and marriages under stress.

It seems that our society (including The National) has become so intolerant of anyone who believes that an unborn child in the womb deserves protection that it shuts down anyone who mentions such a thing.

Perhaps the problem (somewhat understandably) is a confusion of right-wing Trumpism with mainstream evangelical thought in Scotland. The vast majority of evangelicals I know are horrified by Trump and gobsmacked at the support he has among American “evangelicals”. To win independence we must stop marginalising and caricaturing Christians – there ought to be room in a modern Scotland for people of all beliefs, including those who have a different view on sexual morality and the unborn, but nevertheless believe in a just, fair, kind and welcoming Scotland.

Callum Henderson
Director, Comfort International