Insults to SNP MPs are all part of a Tory ploy to drive division

The time for walking out of Westminster will come, but it is not now. For full effect, it must be done collectively, with dignity and in response to a more general bit of political chicanery which will raise international eyebrows. But please do not announce that mass walkout in advance. That would give the BBC ample opportunity to have a pre-planned technical hitch.

If my judgement is correct, the present tendency towards rude behaviour on the part of the Tories (and others) is part of a deliberate strategy – and also potentially quite an effective one. I have noticed a similar tendency during informal exchanges with acquaintances who reject the idea of independence for Scotland.

If I am correct it is also the case that the target of these objectionable comments is not really Dr Whitford or even SNP MPs. It is an attempt to elicit counter-insults as part of an plan to erect a wall of animosity between those who favour independence and those who do not – a wall which erstwhile supporters of the union will find it difficult to cross should they be tempted to defect to the ranks of the independence’itas.

We should welcome this as a clear sign that they know very well that a polite fact-based argument is one which the Tories would inevitably lose.

Ours is a position based on fairness, equality and factual accuracy. It is also based on a friendly and cooperative attitude to all the peoples of all countries (including England). Theirs (or some of them at least) is a case based on social snobbery, false assumptions, a refusal to think things through in detail and a ludicrous notion of innate superiority – which is deliberately inculcated within parts of our education systems – in Scotland as well as in England.

I had personal experience this many years ago when I was acting in loco-parentis to a Nigerian boy who was a pupil at a well-known exclusive so-called “public” boarding school in Scotland, and had to endure at the school’s prize-giving, a lecture by a retired judge on the topic of – “It is up to you boys to lead the country”. I very nearly did a Jenny Geddes on him.

Hugh Noble
Appin

I SUGGEST that you have a tag-line every day in a prominent place, as a sort of Editorial, saying:

“(Our Aim is) or just “Government of the people of Scotland, by the people of Scotland, for the people of Scotland” (a nod to Abraham Lincoln) – possibly with caps for OF, BY, FOR.

It is important ALWAYS to refer to “the people of Scotland”, unless you specifically mean the actual land, as:

1) sovereignty under Scots Law (guaranteed by the Treaty of Union!?) resides with the people of Scotland

2) the Monarch is “of Scots”

3) it is a reminder that what matters is, first and always, the people living here.

This contrasts well with English Law – where sovereignty resides with “The Crown in Parliament” – definitely NOT the people (more like Henry VII of England), and that the Monarch is of England, Great Britain (England) etc, emphasising ownership of the land rather than governance of and for the people.

People often ask what they should say as an argument for independence, and that tag would give an idea of a good aim.

Under this tag you could put every day a different positive thing that an independent Scotland, or people of Scotland could do, which they cannot do under Westminster eg: treat drug use as a medical matter, with safe consumption rooms/remove illegal weapons of mass destruction/reinstate the three mile limit and help the seas recover/ensure all children (as a start) have a permanent, safe, warm home to live in etc.

One simple and worthwhile thing would be expressed briefly and clearly each day. Readers could suggest topics, and from time to time the entire collection would be quoted, thus taking the place of an Editorial in other places.

This would remind people of what we could do if we had the normal democratic say of people in other countries.

Susan Forde
Scotlandwell

REGARDING P McDonald’s comment (Website comments, December 18).

As an ex-Labour supporter, may I say that your comment was excellent, articulate and set out everything we need to know about Labour (in both Scotland and Westminster).

For those who are open to understanding how Scotland has been cheated, deceived and undermined throughout this “Union”, it should underline why the Sovereign people of Scotland should reclaim her and our Independence. We are now more informed than ever before and it is inconceivable that any Scot could attempt to deny the duplicity of Westminster and “their Union”.

They have always known, but kept hidden, that SCOTLAND WAS NEVER TOO WEE, TOO POOR AND DEFINITELY NOT TOO STUPID to reclaim independence and thereby rule ourselves, by our choice of Scottish Government.

The Scottish people were never given a vote on this “Union” and some never gave up of getting out of this “con”. That support was hard fought for, but now is growing and will not be quelled, crushed, nor silenced.

Those Labour traitors who profited nicely from this farce of supposed “Union”, should be ashamed. Those Scottish Labour still fighting against our independence should also feel shame and unable to face the Scottish people.

PUT SCOTLAND FIRST not Westminster, nor yourselves.

The eyes of the world are now on Scotland as never before. All the sleekitness of Westminster and their puppets will not go unnoticed. How Scottish Labour are still tied to that lot in Westminster and vote with Scottish Tories when it suits, is a disgrace. Scottish Labour people long gone, will be “birling in their graves”!

Scotland’s time for regaining her Independence has arrived and we will take our place in the world as such. Alba will breathe again!

Tha mi a Alba

Tha mi Albanach

Tha sinn an Alba

Saor Alba

Helen McGowan
via email

THIS October a criminal court in Barcelona ruled that Tamara Carrasco, a young Catalan independence activist accused of public disorder, was innocent. Tamara’s case illustrates how the Spanish police, prosecutors and judges reach ridiculous levels in their obsession with pursuing the political aspirations of the Catalan national minority.

Tamara Carrasco was arrested in 2018 during a wave of protests over the arrest in Germany of Carles Puigdemont, the President of Catalonia who was dismissed by the Spanish government and who went into exile in Belgium to avoid the revenge of the Spanish Justice system.

Tamara’s arrest was a totally disproportionate anti-terrorist police stunt that the media ramped up by criminalising her as a leader of the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDR). The only thing that the Guardia Civil found in Tamara’s house was a yellow whistle (the colour that the Catalans use for the freedom of their political prisoners), a cardboard mask of one of the Catalan political prisoners and a printed Google map, and she was accused of having encouraged, by WhatsApp, friends and colleagues to join the demonstrations. Tamara was transferred to Madrid, accused of terrorism, rebellion and sedition, and was held incommunicado for two days in a dungeon. She was subsequently forced to be confined to her municipality without being able to leave it.

Over the next 13 months the charge against Tamara changed from “terrorism, rebellion and sedition” to “public disorder”. The judge finally ruled that Tamara had committed no crime and that the protest actions of the CDR were completely legal.

This story is not an isolated case and is repeated from time to time. For example, the Spanish police repeated all this staging a year later with the arrest of nine more CDR members. They were accused of preparing attacks, but after three months they were released from prison on bail... Surprising. They are still awaiting trial.

These two operations, and many more that we will not explain now, seek to make you afraid that, if you are Catalan and support independence, someone might knock on the door of your home one day and, on the other side, you may find ten armed policemen wearing balaclavas and a cloud of journalists who will say that you are a terrorist, even though even if all that can be found in your home is a whistle, a mask and a map.

Maria Garayoa
Catalonia

ACCORDING to Rees-Mogg Unicef should be ashamed of themselves but no alternatives from him or Tories for feeding hungry bairns in England.

Who is to blame for the poverty and inequality that bairns have to survive in, you only have to listen to the life stories of Marcus Rushford and his mother Mel to hear what affects three million families in Britain.

Blame lies at the feet Austerity introduced by the coalition of Tories/Libs and the introduction of Universal Credit and Welfare cuts in 2010, we are now returning to the Dickension period where rich were rich and the poor were living in hovels. The same can be said about London today.The third group is 90-plus Labour Party MPs and their opposition to Corbyn, and his socialist ideology of an end to austerity and re-nationalisation of rail, water and energy. But in 2017 a Blairite General Secretary controlled the direction of monies to go to the existing Labour MPs. Despite this, Corbyn just about won.

Rab Amos
Roslin

PERHAPS we should judge the LibDems on their present actions rather than the historic aspirations in their Third Way leaflet described in the letter by John Hamilton of Bearsden (December 17).

Here in Edinburgh Western we have practical experience of the Lib Dems, who are at the moment extremely vocal in Holyrood on all health matters. In fact hardly a day goes by without a quote from their Health Spokesperson, Alex Cole-Hamilton. Many may be surprised to learn that according to the minutes of the Holyrood Health and Sport Committee neither he nor his substitute have attended any meetings since August.

Apparently this is because the LibDems decided that their priority should be to attend the Harassment Committee (usually called the Salmond Inquiry by the media) rather than the Health and Sport Committee that meets at the same time.

This appears to be a questionable decision in the present circumstances.

John Jamieson
South Queensferry