WE’VE been torn from the EU, our European family, against our express will, for almost a fortnight now. Our national sky hasn’t fallen in. Should we expect anything less from independence?

Of course, there are deplorable instances of individual hardship which have resulted from something we never asked for, voted for, or wanted, yet the sun still sets and rises, our lives continue, it’s simply that those lives are just a little different now, for all of us. With our EU exit, we can expect, over time, those differences to become greater, more pronounced, not just for us as individuals and families, for our children and grandchildren, but for our nation as a whole.

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This next independence referendum, irrespective of name, is about a simple choice for each and every one of us. To rejoin the community of nations, to have our proud voice heard again, or not.

Are we willing to accept continued serfdom, an endowed legacy of a feudal age, when the few decided for the many in our nation, or do we decide to claim our previously dearly bought inheritance as free men and women of a proud nation, one with a voice, our voice, one listened to and respected on every stage?

Make no mistake, today, by our collective vote in 2014, we remain vassals to both the outdated monarchy and the British state.

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A free, proud and independent nation could not find itself in the place we do today. Such a nation would never be subject to ridicule, unless self-induced. As Scots, we might say we are not seen as such, yet by that vote in 2014 we certainly placed our elected members of the Commons in such a position, where they are laughed at, ignored or brayed at by two-legged donkeys on plush seats. We place ourselves in the same world by dint of our ignominious exit from the world’s greatest trading block. We place ourselves there by meekly accepting governments which we did not vote for.

The majority of us, we placed our fellow citizens there by not questioning the lies emanating from “perfidious Albion”. Refusing to learn the lessons of history, we were too comfortable in our homes, our own little worlds. It’s so much simpler to not question, to accept, to ignore. Perfidious Albion was not a name accidentally acquired, it’s never been a tag strongly denied. Indeed, quiet smiling acceptance is perhaps the best descriptor. Would any outside of England’s own borders wish to subject themselves to that mantle?

In 2014, collectively, we did. Since then, we’ve been sidelined, ignored, seen our elderly deprived, seen our parliament abused.

In the very near future we will have a choice again, and only a fool does not learn from the mistakes of the past. Each of us must look at the respect given our folk, our representatives. We must examine the value of the words of that London Parliament, we must examine if Westminster acts in honour, with integrity, and we must, each of us, decide again.

In 1320, our nation wrote: “We fight not for riches … but for freedom, which surely no man gives up but with life itself.” The last three centuries, and increasingly these several years since indyref1, have demonstrated so very clearly that our choice is simple. Freedom or serfdom?

Which box will you check? For surely, by any measure, you risk far less than our ancestors did?

Ashley MacGregor
East Kilbride

A TALE of two Tories. I notice, with no sense of surprise, that Colonel Davidson, the queen of the photo opportunity, has said she would give, “serious consideration” to accepting a peerage. Let’s consider her credentials for gracing the red benches with her august presence.

For starters, she has an impeccable reference from her erstwhile colleague Kezia Dugdale: “Ruth Davidson continues to remain silent about the abhorrent rape clause. She is complicit in the continuation of this vile policy.”

Secondly, she can cite her loyal and unswerving support for Johnson (whose elevation to PM she opposed by mounting her “Operation Arse” and whom she credited with her decision to stand down as leader of the branch office of the Tories in Holyrood.

Thirdly, the other reason she gave for standing down was that she wanted to “spend more time with her family”. Reason four, without missing a beat she arranged to earn £50,000 for a 24-hour-per-annum sinecure.

All of this is greed and hypocrisy writ large. And to think she was once touted as a possible PM. Ye Gods!

Tory number two: the Papageno of Downing Street. This millionaire adolescent, who has accepted a holiday worth £15,000 from a Tory donor. This is the man who besmirched the UK Government’s reputation on the international stage as the Foreign Secretary with his foul language, who hid in a fridge to avoid a reporter and who pocketed another reporter’s phone rather than give a response to the picture on it.

On Wednesday this man claimed that Jeremy Corbyn had “demeaned himself by the tone of his questions”. This from the man who, a few years ago admitted to Eddie Mair on Newsnight that he had asked a friend to arrange to have a reporter beaten up. For the second time, Ye Gods! One question remains. What sort of person would support, finance or vote for this aberration of the human species?

Joe Cowan
Balmedie