MY responses to various letters that appeared in the National on Friday.
In response to L Carroll – Aberdeen Angus is a breed of beef cattle, long since widely exported to beef-producing nations across the globe. Beef products can be correctly labelled Aberdeen Angus, to indicate the breed of animal from which the meat has been taken, but it does not in any way mean that the beef product originates from Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire or any part of Scotland!
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Crisdean Mac Fhearghais – absolutely: it’s important to recognise that a vote for independence is not a vote for the SNP to govern in perpetuity; it is not a personality contest between Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson (or anyone else); it is a vote for a different constitutional arrangement within which there is scope to determine and implement the politics and governance that the citizens of Scotland choose. A vote for the SNP may be part of the way to achieve that, but for many voters it is not an endorsement of their overall politics or behaviour as a party.
And so to Julia Pannell who, like others, is endorsing Kevin McKenna’s view on the Growth Commission etc, with which I agree too. It is so important that we keep front and centre the real purpose of independence: to ensure that issues of gross injustice and inequality in Scotland which are blighting so many lives are remedied.
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Independence will entail at the very least some unsettling change: that has to be for a worthwhile benefit or at least to create the opportunity for significant improvement to people’s lives. There will be no advantage in simply putting a Scottish brand on the same old neoliberal politics we have had from a UK Government – and it is entirely possible that a “don’t frighten the horses” independence strategy will win the battle and lose the war.
Cathy Watkins
West Calder
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