HAVING watched Thursday night’s edition of Question Time from Dundee, I am frustrated at Joanna Cherry’s seeming inability to field the most infantile of questions from the audience that concerned Scotland’s sovereignty.

An audience member asked why the SNP preferred to be “tied” to France and Germany but not England. A question that was either an indication of the questioner’s ignorance of the different natures of the EU and UK, or a disingenuous attempt to mislead voters and put Ms Cherry on the back foot. Whichever was the motive for the question, it certainly succeeded in putting Ms Cherry on the back foot. Her response was weak and the glee on the questioner’s face showed she could not believe her luck in having succeeded so easily. At this stage of the independence campaign, this question should have been brushed aside with ease.

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It is not a question of either/or when it comes to EU/UK status. They are fundamentally different in nature. The EU consists of many independent member states that voluntarily pool a portion of their sovereignty with each other. The UK was able to take back the sovereignty it had pooled with its former EU partners and declare “independence” (sic), with the EU completely unable to prevent it.

Compare that with Scotland’s position within the UK. Scotland’s sovereignty is not “pooled” with other UK nations. It is “held” at Westminster with Scotland having absolutely NO access to it without the consent of the government of what is a different country in the context of Scottish-self determination. Scotland could elect 129 SNP MSPs, 59 SNP MPs and vote 100% SNP, and the UK Government could still legally refuse to grant Scotland any access to its sovereignty for as much as a millisecond never mind perpetuity.

Within that context, Scotland is in effect a prisoner within the UK. That some Scots do not recognise this description of Scotland’s status does not negate its reality. A prison can seem as inviting and as comfortable as any home but if the condition of that comfort is that you can never leave without the consent of your “jailer”, then it remains a prison as much as Barlinnie.

If the UK was constituted in the same way as the EU, I would not have a problem with us being a member state. It would mean that Scotland was an independent country with full control of its own sovereignty. We would have the ability to choose whether or not we wished to remain in that Union or, if it wasn’t working out for us, leave and seek our destiny elsewhere. Perhaps that is a way for the Westminster Government to prove that Scotland remains in the UK by popular consent. Give Scotland full control of its sovereignty and, if the UK is so good for Scotland, we would never take the decision to leave. What is it they are afraid of?

Stuart Allan
Perth

WHILE I felt that Thursday’s Question Time was considerably more civilised and less of a “stairheid rammy” than the last one from Dundee, I was nonetheless quite flabbergasted that someone could still be complaining that we need information about things like currency before folk can make up their minds about independence.

Where have these people been, and do they go about with eyes shut? If anyone truly wants such answers, they need only look on social media and they will find ample information from a variety of sources, and notification about talks being given on the subject all over Scotland almost every day of the week. I myself wanted just such information, preferably from more than one source, and have only recently attended two very clear, but different, easily understood talks on this subject, each presenting a detailed, carefully worked out scenario.

They also provided an alternative to the Growth Commission report, which many feel is too closely reliant on the current failing Westminster model.

Do they want this information handed to them individually at the door? As they seem to make no effort to find what is readily available, can they not be bothered to look for it or are they not really all that interested and just using it as an excuse not to think and come to a decision about independence?

P Davidson
Falkirk

LOOKING on as an interested observer of the recent re-shuffle and the sensational resignation of the chancellor – whom we all know was a puppet – is causing me to feel a little alarmed.

It appears to be without doubt that our blond-haired leader is following the path of his mentor and confidant, Trump.

Politics of the UK is now apparently ruled by strong-arm tactics of the playground bully.

However, the point I’m making is that Boris will follow where Trump leads. Trump as we know has been impeached, walked free, and is now stronger than ever. His wrath will felt.

Boris has seen that Trump is now stronger than ever. Impeachment is not an American-only process.

The first politician to be impeached was actually one of Edinburgh’s finest – the Honourable Henry Dundas, the first Viscount Melville. He’s the chap at the top of the Melville monument in St Andrew Square in the centre of Edinburgh. He also survived impeachment. In fact the public contributed to his grand monument to glorify his achievements – including waging war and the support of slavery.

Boris loves history; he is a gambler. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him stretch things to point of illegality and then test the consequences. His action to prorogue Parliament resulted in nothing more than a mild slap on the wrist to him.

Donald and Boris will be boastful to each other at their next meeting about their recent challenges by the courts. The similarities are too much of a coincidence. Are dark forces at work? Are liberty, freedom and truth about to disappear from former bastions of democracy?

Very worrying times ahead. Impeachment for Boris? Possible or probable? Time will tell.

Dougie Gray
Dunbar