WITH all due respect to Brian Lawson, his letter of March 27 (“Haudin yer wheesht …”) appears to be based on some fundamental misapprehensions.
The first is his apparent belief (seemingly shared by Glenda Burns) that the SNP could and should be faultless in government, not only in achieving financial and operational perfection but in introducing policies that would always appear to be welcomed by the majority of the general public, regardless of the principles on which the party was founded and in spite of a grossly hostile UK mainstream media.
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Certainly the Scottish Government has made mistakes, but there is no perfect government anywhere on this planet and at least our government is free of the blatant corruption we have seen evidenced around the awarding of PPE contracts by Westminster and, while seeking to prudently manage Scotland’s finances, is sincerely attempting to do the right things in terms of alleviating poverty, protecting the environment, furthering egalitarianism and building a better society for all.
The second misapprehension is that the electorate can objectively assess the performance of the SNP (and Scottish Green Party) in government without the provision of appropriate comparisons to consider, especially when the UK mainstream media (including the BBC) appears generally intent on only providing comparisons with England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and beyond that show the SNP, the Scottish Government or Scotland in a poor light.
The third misapprehension is that independence can be achieved without conveying a positive vision of the future and without convincing a clear majority of the Scottish public that it’s time to withdraw from this failing Union and, on a new constitutional basis, determine our own destiny. Rather than keeping quiet, more independence supporters need to “speak out” beyond already sympathetic ears and together help to convey that inspiring positive vision.
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If all who support independence become narrowly preoccupied with divisive personal gripes against the SNP, the Greens, Alba, or any other pro-independence groupings, not only will we fail to convince the undecideds whom we are each capable of personally influencing to support independence, Scotland will not regain its independence in the lifetimes of even the youngest supporters.
We may not comprehend all the factors considered in making key SNP decisions, but that does make them the wrong decisions with regard to furthering self-determination, both in the short term and the long term. We may not personally see the logic behind recent actions taken by the new SNP leadership, but that does not mean they were illogical. We may not convince all of our family, friends and acquaintances to get out and vote in the next General Election (perhaps only six months away), and to vote for an independence candidate (and in my personal opinion preferably an SNP candidate), but the more people we can convince in this election, and any future election or referendum, the faster Scotland’s centuries-old journey to regain its independence will reach a successful conclusion.
Stan Grodynski
Longniddry, East Lothian
M ROSS (Letters, Mar 28) misses a very important point about why complainants names are kept confidential. I am sure this is not true of Murdo Fraser, but you cannot guarantee that the person complained about will not take some type of retaliatory action. The safeguarding against vexatious complaints is the legislation around wasting police time, attempting to pervert the course of justice etc.
Alan Thompson
via thenational.scot
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