MANY of the letters and articles in The National rightly condemn the actions of the Westminster government, but so far this has made little or no improvement to the Yes vote in the polls.

Could it be that people need something to vote for, as opposed to voting against something?

The Scottish Government intends publishing white papers on different subjects but it may well be that the people who will decide the result of any election are not the ones who will read them or are having political discussions. They are too busy trying to make a living and keep their heads above water but unless some way of convincing people to change their views on independence is found, nothing is going to change.

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Perhaps if would help if the Scottish Government produced, alongside their white papers, a question-and-answer leaflet asking the questions and giving the answers. For example, “Do you want an improved health service? Here is what we’ll do and here is how we will do it. Do you want an improved benefit system? Here is what we’ll do and here is how we will pay for it. Do you want the people of Scotland to have control of their resources? Here is what we’ll do and it will pay for itself” etc etc.

I am sure there are people with much better ideas they could bring forward, but where are they? Condemnation seems to be the order of the day at a time when action is required as opposed to fine words.

With 99.9 % of the media spreading misinformation, the only way left to inform people of the facts is to hand these to them personally or put them on posters, billboards etc.

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Being in government puts restrictions on what the Scottish Government can do but the rest of the independence movement does not have that restriction. Posters stuck on every lamp post, bare wall or stray dog by “Midnight Crusaders” might just get the message across.

There are plenty of facts and figures available to inform, thanks to the wonderful work of Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp and his team, and I am convinced that many people, once made aware of the facts, would see the advantage of independence.

I feel somewhat guilty suggesting such action when I am in no position to help, but unless something changes, nothing will change.

William Marshall
Dundee

I WOULD like to point out, in particular to some of those who responded online to my letter of Jul 14, the reason why I mentioned the Irish Civil War. I have a vintage copy of The Radio Times which contains an interview with Hugh McDiarmid on the occasion of his 80th birthday. In that interview he accused the SNP of being a “middle-class” party who were not capable of delivering independence and actually said that the only way to achieve Scotland’s freedom was an armed revolt.

Needless to say, I was shocked by such comments. It was an appalling thing for anyone to say.

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That is why I mentioned the Irish situation in my letter, alongside Rhodesia’s UDI and Catalonia’s wildcat referendum. Are these the alternatives that some criticising the SNP leadership are suggesting?

So far we have had a lot of criticism and very little in the way of alternative options to what is proposed by Mr Yousaf and others. So, what I’m saying is – come up with alternative proposals and let people hear them. If they are workable, then start conversations with the wider grassroots, who are showing signs of wanting to work together to achieve the common goal. It’s not simply a top-down effort.

Andrew Haddow
Glasgow

IN July 2017, I was fortunate to have a short discussion with Angus MacNeil in Gairloch Community Centre at a Barra/Skye wedding. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he agreed with me as to the ineffectiveness of the SNP since the 2014 referendum and their inability to admit their campaign mistakes and rectify them.

Six years on from our conversation, we are still in this political quagmire with politicians posing, pretending pathetically in both parliaments. You can take the man out of Barra, but you can’t take Barra out of the man.

Sandy Coghill
Isle of Skye

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THANKS for the photo of Keir Starmer on page 21 of Friday’s National. Now I can see why whatever he says, he is lying through his teeth. Starmer has become so right-wing in picking up the election tab from the Tories he should start wearing the blue identity tie.

Hissing through his teeth as he takes in a sharp intake of breath, his turncoat policies are taking on the identical mantle of all MPs opposite himself in the market hall of the UK parliament.

Many of the Tory party are beginning to realise they will be looking for employment come the end of next year. Some have already jumped ship in anticipation.

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The Labour Party might be the next Westminster government, so some have quickly got behind behind the man that blows the whistle. So it’s nae wonder his followers such as Anas Sarwar, George Foulkes, Angela Rayner and David Lammy, to mention a few, have fallen in line with Starmer’s political tailoring of his turncoat policies.

The Westminster SNP leadership has stated that on no basis would they support a Labour government. Well good for them. Scotland can achieve its independence of its own accord. It does not need any help from “darn sarf”, not that it was for the want of trying with the last Scottish administration’s efforts anyway.

Westminster Labour and the Tories have made their positions clear about Scotland’s future. So let’s see how the UK Labour Party will survive in government (if they get so lucky) without the support of any other Scottish MPs, whether SNP, Conservative or otherwise – apart, of course, from their own solitary Ian Murray.

Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife