JUST like all independence supporters, I was delighted with the result on May 6. Not having a majority is a disappointment but not being able to get Fergus Mutch over the winning line in Aberdeenshire West was for me a personal scunner and heartbreak. Having been an activist on Deeside for 30 years I’m well aware of how difficult his fight was, and when we look at the obvious tactics between the Unionist parties, Fergus did exceedingly well to garner a huge SNP vote.

I found it hard, post-election, to listen to Anas Sarwar and indeed Douglas Ross (now of two parliamentary posts, which he says will be a positive thing for his constituents) when they spoke of their parties' "achievements" in gaining the number of seats they did. Now now boys, let’s nae be gettin’ carried awa'. The D’Hondt system ensured the thousands of SNP votes were gifted to you. There are other countries where this system has been used and then stopped!

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A daft lassie question would be "Why can’t we use another proportional representation system?" The forthcoming council election will use such a system. Is it an urban myth that this system was mooted for the new parliament? Two senior Labour politicians thought it to be just the thing for us. When another senior Labour politician was interviewed in more recent times by a now semi-retired and much-missed, brilliant journalist, asking him if the system was deliberately installed to "stymie the nationalists", strangely enough the answer is said to be a resounding YES!

Now in my advancing years and at this game for circa 45 years, I don’t want to see another Holyrood election in its present form as our independence referendum beckons, and the winning of it I hope will mean a very different set-up regarding elections.

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I would also like to see our Westminster group come back hame whaur they belong. Watching Pete Wishart in committee trying to control the horrible outburst from Douglas Ross, who seemed to be trying to assert his authority – or acting big, as this Dundonian would call it. The new Tory leader was accusing Pete Wishart of being less then capable of chairing the meeting. The chair asked the MP to desist several times but to no avail. Is this what Douglas Ross meant when he tells us he can dae twa jobs? He was displaying the level of behaviour we expect from a toddler that needs his mammy’s loving hand.

I’ll repeat what Anas Sawar told him during the recent leaders’ debate when he advised Douglas Ross to "grow up"!

Nobody in their right mind would ask the First Minister to take her attentions off Covid and its effects on Scotland’s people. She has played a blinder here and is driven in her work to keep us safe. However I do believe that our independence belief is part of our recovery. If we don’t keep an eye on our aspiration to live in a free Scotland and start our independence referendum journey now alongside the aforementioned, we will be all the longer in getting there, for something we do know is that it will not happen overnight. Are we there yet? No, but it’s jist ower this hill!

Linda Clark
Forfar

I KEEP reading letters in The National saying that the BBC have now lost their impartiality. This is wrong. Almost from the inception of the BBC in October 1922 it has never been impartial. To give credit to the first director general, John Reith (later Lord) did try to be impartial, giving equal coverage to both sides of the 1926 General Strike, much to Stanley Baldwin’s displeasure.

After a speech by Baldwin was broadcast during the strike, the leader of the Labour Party, Ramsey MacDonald, requested a right of reply. This was refused by Baldwin and Reith was impotent to defy the order. MacDonald complained that the BBC was “biased” and “misleading the public”. So in nearly 100 years of broadcasting nothing has changed.

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John Reith did regretfully admit that the BBC was not independent, something most people in Scotland have known since 2014 if not well before. PM Tony Blair’s press officer, Alastair Campbell, did much to further reduce to BBC to nothing more than a purveyor of government propaganda. After the “sexed-up dossier” episode, Lord Hutton led a judicial inquiry into it. His farcical report basically condemned the BBC and exonerated the Blair government, leading to the resignations of respected reporter Andrew Gilligan, chairman Gavyn Davies, and director general Greg Dyke. And, shockingly, the suicide(?) of weapons expert Dr David Kelly. The people who spoke the truth suffered while the liars are enjoying their wealth to this day.

Richard Walthew
Duns

IAN Stewart from Skye (Letters, May 14) has said what thousands of us know to be correct. Scotland must move forward now with a clear commitment to setting up our own central bank and currency.

It is not rocket science and Ian knows what he is talking about. Nicola must get a grip, send Andrew Wilson packing and get some real advice, which is available in the SNP and elsewhere, to give attention to this issue now, without further delay.

Andy Anderson
Saltcoats