A DAILY read of The National is a favourite ritual every morning. There are always interesting articles and letters. And then there are those editions where I am left quite breathless by the sheer volume of amazing writing in both of these categories. Monday’s was one such edition.
As soon as I’d finished Ruth Wishart’s article, being of the same generation and having keenly felt that same sense of what amounts to collective guilt at having been born when we were, I resolved to write a letter of gratitude to Ruth for having expressed those feelings so effectively and making the case for Yes for the sake of future generations.
READ MORE: Ruth Wishart: Backing No will deny young Scots the kind of lives we have enjoyed
I came across more than a few angry, well-off, usually elderly males standing at the front doors of their beautifully maintained owner-occupier houses set in beautiful large gardens in an idyllic little village in south Argyll, the area I had been designated to canvas in for Yes in the lead-up to indyref1. So, Ruth, I hope that perhaps The Herald might consider a similar article from you, having a sizeable readership in our age group.
Turning the page to read the first article by your new columnist, Stephen Paton, he was instantly added to my letter-in-waiting. His fascinating and necessary reflection on policing led me to think of my father. He was a policeman not out of choice but necessity, following active service in World War Two. He was a clever man who, like so many, had to leave school at 14 in order to supplement his family’s meagre income. He was an honest, hard-working man and had no time for following the path chosen by most of his police colleagues, that of joining the masons in order to further his career, nor did he accept back-handers from shopkeepers for enhanced vigilance over their businesses.
READ MORE: Stephen Paton: This is what we really mean when we say that ‘ACAB’
As the years passed by and he remained a low-paid constable in a quiet little village full of rich ex-colonials, his colleagues were promoted again and again. I admired him for following through on his convictions and I think it was that sense of honour that allowed him to live with the apparent put-downs. So, thank you Stephen for your well-written and thoughtful analysis of the reality that is our police force.
On to the next page and (phew!) George Kerevan’s hard-hitting account of reality vis-a-vis the worldwide energy sector and the financial implications for indy Scotland as things stand. Thank you George for yet another on-the-ball analysis of the reality of the big bad world.
READ MORE: George Kerevan: We didn’t learn our lesson with oil ... now Scotland is paying the price
By this time I was beginning to feel the need of another cup of strong tea, but I kept going to the letters pages. While there are often one or two that I might take issue with, Monday was one of those editions where with every one I read, I was exclaiming yelps of “YES!” – out loud – and I live in a block of flats with no deafening between the floors and I don’t give two hoots either.
So it’s thanks all round. And well done The National. I have bought a copy every single day since your launch and can’t thank all of you enough for the amazing commitment and astonishing amount of work that you do, especially in the current circumstances. You bring together our wonderful disparate Yes movement and give it cohesion. Irvine Welsh’s words in 2014 (which in those heady days adorned one of my kitchen cupboard doors) have just come to mind: “Whether the result is Yes or No, it’s that turbulent, quarrelsome, compassionate minority, the Scots themselves, who have – quite astonishingly – won the day. At 97% voter registration, unprecedented in the Western world, they have shown that a G7 power state, mired in a neoliberal model of globalisation, can be challenged even broken up, and a vibrant, non-militaristic democracy established. This amazing country has, to its own great surprise, lit a torch of freedom that will burn across the world.”
Reflecting on that statement of six years ago, there is a collective and growing feeling of confidence. This time around it is a confidence grounded in experience and expertise, building on the hard work of all those indy pioneers who have gone before us and shared with us seven days a week by The National. With the helping hand Westminster is unwittingly giving us, that feeling grows into an ever-stronger sense of: this time WE WILL WIN!
Jennifer Rodger
West Kilbride
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