THE present wave of industrial action which is set to include more sectors of workers should not be dismissed or thought of as a diversion in our struggle for independence in our movement.
It could be advantageous.
All of it is justified and is a result of Tory austerity over years, which has now come to a head and is being inflamed by Brexit and the Tory-created cost-of-living crisis.
When there is industrial action on a scale which is now happening, it results in a growing political awareness in working people, particularly those involved.
There already is in Scotland a high political understanding that is overwhelmingly anti-Tory and our fight for a referendum/independence has contributed to it.
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People involved in those industrial actions as well as those not directly involved are now enlightened that their interests are not being fought for or defended by the leadership of the Labour Party in Scotland or Westminster.
While the Unionists and their media blame the Holyrood government, pretending solidarity with those defending their living standards, here in Scotland it is generally known that the real culprits are the Tory government.
Those in action in Scotland have no alternative but to defend their standard of life with action against the Holyrood government, despite its budget being set by Westminster.
In the context of the referendum struggle, all the industrial action now and to come opens up another front which Westminster has to fight on. That will be of advantage to our fight.
The intentions coming from the Tories about outlawing strikes etc, if attempted, will be met with a unified struggle waged by the trade union movement.
Starmer and his front bench will then have massive choices to make.
Bobby Brennan
Glasgow
CERTAIN legal commentators forecast that the Scottish Government’s submission to the UK Supreme Court for a non-binding referendum on independence for Scotland would be thrown out at the first calling. They were wrong and there is now to be a two-day hearing of the court in October this year.
These legal commentators do not appreciate that the supremo of the Supreme Court is a Scots lawyer who learned constitutional law at Edinburgh University during the 1970s, when an Edinburgh law student had to “absorb” the judgment in the 1953 session case of McCormick (easily available online) in order to pass that degree court. An English lawyer supremo would not have had the same absorption.
A material factor of significance.
The McCormick case is of additional interest in that the 1953 Court of Session Lord President had the same school education (George Watson’s) and the same university education (Edinburgh) as the 2022 UK Supreme Court Lord President.
McCormick is of importance for highlighting some difference in constitution between Scotland and England, and Scottish law students and lawyers over the years have itched to see that legally considered at the highest legal level.
Thus, the October 2022 Supreme Court case is the best opportunity – since 1707 – for the Scottish people to get the UK explanation of the constitutional position of Scotland within the United Kingdom. The best person to do that is Lord Reed. The SNP should insure his life.
Thomas Mackay Cooper
Edinburgh
DIRAR Riyad Lufti Al-Haj Saleh, 16, was shot in the back by an Israeli sniper around 10.35pm on August 2 in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank. Dirar is the 18th Palestinian child shot and killed by Israeli forces in 2022.
Not to mention the men and women killed, the homes demolished, the detentions without trial, the daily humiliations imposed by the occupation army, the murders carried out by Israeli settlers etc. But then it’s not Russia in Ukraine but Israel in Palestine so the usual rules of international law don’t apply and there are no sanctions.
Brian Mckenna
Dumbarton
AFTER reading Steph Brawn’s interview with Tim Walker in The National (July 26) about how the Edinburgh International Festival was a celebration of freedom of expression, I made a point of going to see Bloody Difficult Women at the Assembly Rooms yesterday.
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I can see why when it opened in London some Brexit-supporting newspapers were not willing to acknowledge Walker’s play about what these very same newspapers put Gina Miller through when she courageously took the governments of first Theresa May and then Boris Johnson to court for failing to pay any regard whatsoever to the principle of parliamentary sovereignty.
I would just like to say I loved the play. It made me laugh and it made me cry. More importantly, people can be heard out in Scotland now – and at the Edinburgh International Festival in particular – in a way that they can’t in London. May I just say that I for one welcome Walker and his play to our city. If they no longer value freedom of expression south of the border then that is their loss.
Iain Frazier
Edinburgh
WHEN Trump became US heidbummer I wrote to a relative in that fair land that Daddy Bush woke up Baby Bush to tell him that he had been Out-Trumped as the worst president in the union’s history. Soon Carrie can nudge bawjaws to give him the glad tidings that he no longer has the title of uber-numpty as he has been well and truly TRUSSed up.
Well, that’s me first in line for Rishi’s thought correction camp. Will he set it up in Rwanda or Partick?
M Ross
Aviemore
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