READING David Torrance’s research briefing for the House of Commons library is a lesson in how Unionist politicians have continually shifted the goal posts in establishing what would trigger negotiations on Scotland’s independence. And it would seem that the SNP have themselves shifted position, backing themselves into a corner from which it is more difficult to manoeuvre.

But before the Nicola haters get going on that, they should realise that the shift in SNP position happened under Alex Salmond’s leadership. It was once, not so long ago, the perceived political wisdom that Scotland returning a majority of MPs in favour of independence to the UK Parliament would in itself trigger negotiations on Scotland’s independence. And why not?

In other normal countries of the Commonwealth, with parliaments modelled on the Mother of all Parliaments, if a majority of MPs in support of their own independence from the ultimate sovereignty of Westminster were elected, then the British Parliament would duly enter into negotiations to sever imperial ties.

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2015: 56 seats out of 59; 2017: 35 seats out of 59; 2019: 48 seats out of 59. In three UK General Elections in a row, the independence-supporting SNP has returned a whopping majority of Scotland’s MPs to Westminster.

If our elected representatives did not sit in the UK Parliament at all and we followed Westminster’s example in our own parliament, as has been exported the world over, then Scotland would be independent now! By this measure, the Union is held together only because Scotland is held to a different set of standards than any other country.

David Torrance argues that Northern Ireland, in having an agreed right to border polls, is an exceptional circumstance. I would argue that it is Scotland that is exceptionally held in a Union where a majority of independence-supporting MPs elected from Scotland is ignored by the Westminster government.

However, a difficult-to-achieve Yes vote in a legal referendum agreed to by the UK Government would demonstrate that the majority in Scotland were in favour of independence. It is the truly democratic answer which the UK Government must be forced to accept.

As stated before, by other measures we would already be an independent sovereign nation.

Thom Muir

via thenational.scot

ON Thursday there were no trains and less than the usual number of planes, and if the price of fuel goes up much further there will be a lot fewer automobiles. Bairns are going hungry.

Parents are choosing between heating their homes and serving up a decent meal. Inflation is approaching 10%. Interest rates are on the rise. Hospital waiting lists and waiting times are on the increase. Brexit is slowly destroying our economy. War has returned to Europe. A sick man sits in the Kremlin, his hand on the nuclear button. Covid still stalks the land.

In the midst of all this, SNP MSP Natalie Don is launching her consultation for a Proposed Witchcraft Convictions (Pardons) (Scotland) Bill. If passed, this would grant a pardon to all those convicted under the Witchcraft Act 1563.

The National: In the past, the election of so many SNP MPs would have been enough to trigger independence negotiationsIn the past, the election of so many SNP MPs would have been enough to trigger independence negotiations

She is quoted as saying that “to build a fairer, more equal and forward-thinking Scotland we must address the historic injustices of our past, but this has relevance in the modern day too and the symbolic nature of a pardon could have far-reaching impacts.

The witchcraft hysteria was rooted in misogyny and while women in Scotland no longer face the threat of being burned at the stake, women and girls still face an unacceptable level of harassment, threats, abuse and sexual violence.”

While I accept that even today women and girls do indeed face an unacceptable level of harassment, threats, abuse and sexual violence, I find it hard to link this and the pardoning of witches more than 400 years ago. I strongly suspect that pardoning witches will have absolutely no effect on the plight of those who sadly suffer today, usually at the hands of a partner.

I wait with interest, and a little fear and trepidation, the promised major statement from the First Minister in a few days’ time but I just despair at the political gimmickry of pardoning witches. I can see the justice in pardoning miners convicted during the miners’ strike of 1984/5.

I was alive then and watched the worst of it on a black-and-white TV. The madness which led to the brutal murders of witches 400 years ago is behind us now. Perhaps I have missed it, but I do not recollect the suffragettes having been granted a pardon for the campaign they carried out between 1903 and 1918 to enable women like Natalie Don to vote, let alone stand for parliament.

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Please Natalie and the SNP, stick to the problems we are suffering in 2022 and leave the actions of 1563 in the very dim and distant past where they belong. Save your best efforts for those who are suffering very real hardship today.

John Baird

Largs

IT is a pity that the SNP have given up their annual Bannockburn rally and other public events. Those of us who carried on for the sake of continuity in the face of the Labour Public Order Act, which the other Tories are “improving” on, plus hostile petty officials and the Unionist National Trust in Scotland, want to see the SNP leadership take back control of all the public events they used to do so well. Instead, the vacuum is left wide open for the splitters and malcontents to fill.

It is not just for the Hero King Robert the Bruce that we march but for the sma’ folk who aye suffer the most in any wars and struggle and are still suffering. Please march with us on Saturday and join in the impromptu Scottish Republican Jamboree after the funeral on the grounds of the nearby1314 Inn. It’s free and we invite all entertainers to be good for nothing. No speeches, just fun. We all know why we are here and need no lectures from anyone.

Donald Anderson

Glaschu