I WAS enjoying my usual morning read of The National until I turned to page eight and its two headlines. The first was “Yes should shun terms like ‘imprisoned’ and ‘shackled’”. According to Stewart McDonald MP, our campaign is “not a liberation struggle”.

The second was “De facto vote more likely to lead to indyref2”, where apparently – according to former Glasgow councillor and “ally” of the First Minister, Mhairi Hunter – “a de-facto referendum would be ‘more likely’ to lead to a plebiscite rather than triggering talks to end the Union” and “a victory for pro-Yes parties in the next General Election would not necessarily begin separation negotiations – but could be the basis for a referendum.”

READ MORE: Good Law Project sets up Scottish office amid 'bullied' judges claim

Scotland is now indeed shackled to a dying UK economy which is draining the economic life blood from our nation. It is draining our gas, our oil and now our electricity. It is separating us from Europe and the rest of the world. Unlike Mr McDonald and Ms Hunter, many of our folk are cold and hungry this winter and dreading the arrival of Christmas Day.

I am sorry if that is too emotional a description for the likes of Mr McDonald but it is that kind of emotion – linked to sound economic policy proposals – that might just get us over the 50% mark at the next election.

Frankly I am beginning to question why I have spent the past 48 years active in the SNP and if the next two years are likely to be wasted on a campaign which now begins to have very uncertain final aims.

Brian Lawson
Paisley

I AM not sure how accurate Stewart McDonald is when he states that Scotland is not a colony. That is what we might all want to think, but the facts of our history (though not the anglicised version we have been fed in our schools for decades, if not centuries) suggest otherwise.

Following the defeat on Drummossie Moor the government in England set up numerous garrisons planting troops and probably their camp followers also throughout Scotland. This was done in order to subdue the Scots and prevent another uprising (not the third, as there had already been more than that number – a fact mostly ignored by the English versions of our history).

READ MORE: Indyref2 ruling ‘very problematic’, constitution expert says

A significant function of these garrisons was to enforce the various acts of legislation passed in London with the intention of suppressing the Scots by eradicating a number of aspects of Scots culture and replacing them with English culture. Not least among these measures was a direct attack on the indigenous language from which our country has never recovered. If that is not colonisation then perhaps Mr McDonald can explain what it is.

Mr McDonald, indeed all Scots, would do well to pay heed to the reputed words of an English former prime minister: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.

Let’s rise now and be a nation once again.

Ni Holmes
St Andrews

I VOTED Yes for independence in 2014 for the single reason that I believe Scotland can do better as an independent country than as part of the United Kingdom. In a future independence referendum I will also vote Yes for independence for the additional reason that it is essential now that Scotland escapes the clutches of an increasingly failing, less democratic, more authoritarian and more isolated Dis-united Kingdom.

The Supreme Court judgement did not come as a surprise but the decision lays bare the truth that Scotland is no longer, if it ever was, in a voluntary union. The fact that Scotland cannot choose itself to hold an independence referendum is by itself oppression; the fact that Scotland is reliant for a referendum on the choices of the elected representatives of another country, England, is by itself colonialism; and the fact that members of the parliament in London appear to be delighted that they can, for now, deny Scotland a referendum is by itself a sign that the United Kingdom is a deeply flawed and inadequate democracy.

READ MORE: Andrew Tickell: Supreme Court's indyref2 judgment won't stop independence

It is high time the case is made to the United Nations that Scotland is a dependent territory and merits the interest of, protection of and, if need be, the intervention of the UN in securing the future it wishes.

Those who support independence for Scotland must do all they can to promote support for independence in Scotland and decry the inadequacies of the United Kingdom’s democracy in England. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision there is much unwarranted triumphalism from so-called Unionists, who now in the light of the Supreme Court’s decision are actually demonstrated to be imperialists from an era of colonialism we thought was passed. These imperialists must be very careful what they wish for and give careful regard to the law of unintended consequences.

Andrew Parrott
Perth

THE question Scots must now ask themselves is a very straightforward and simple one. Are you a citizen or a serf?

Les Hunter
Lanark