THE long letter from Alan Walker (Jun 8) contained so many of the carefully planted ruses of the Unionists that I was surprised that it was published at all.

Nobody had even heard of a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) until a breakaway group in the state once named Rhodesia succeeded in breaking the chains England had bound it with, as it had so many before it too. But these were white supremacists, nasty nasty.

We’ve been taught that UDI is an untouchable thing, dirty, looked-down-upon, despicable, and yet we use it every day.

In a shop they offer goods, and we buy or decline of our own free will, we don’t ask permission for either course, we take that decision “unilaterally” and “independently”.

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This might seem flippant, but it happens where the law is involved too.

You can remove yourself from a marriage, a mortgage, a rental agreement, a work contract, WITHOUT seeking permission from the other party. There may be a price to pay for that, but you’d be free nonetheless.

These, then, are clear demonstrations of Unilateral Declarations of Independence.

We can do that with the 1707 treaties, but don’t.

Alan is an engineer, and knows full well that being told indy support is at 50% does not mean that indy support actually is at 50%, and he knows, surely, that 98% of our news comes from Unionist biased sources.

Being brought up in a constant stream of propaganda makes it incredibly difficult to see.

Who told Alan that our European neighbours would not recognise us as a country? You guessed it, the Unionists did. By the way, Scotland is a country. No-one will deny that and anyway, it only takes one other independent country to acknowledge that fact, but there will be many.

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Who told Alan that only a referendum with better that 50% of the vote would win us independence? Aye. You guessed it, and it is a lie.

It is a lie in more than one dimension, Alan. The UN Charter of Human Rights is quite clear. A country HAS THE RIGHT to govern itself.

Nowhere in that august document is a vote or a referendum mentioned, but the propaganda we’ve been subjected to has drilled those false facts into us. So, it really is a lie.

Alan, perhaps like many, thinks that voting for independence and winning that vote delivers independence. But that is not true either.

And here is the truth of unintended consequences.

Alan, and many others, assumes that after such a vote independence magically descends upon our land.

But it doesn’t.

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The very small print, if he cares to find and read it, would tell him that such a win will only enable our politicians to approach England and ask them to let us go.

Alan already knows what that response would be.

Under no circumstances will England relinquish its hold on Scotland, which can be found embodied in the texts of the 1707 treaties.

The simple truth is that either signatory can exit those agreements without discussion. That – although being the absolute right of either party – would be called UDI, and it seems Alan would rather put up with what we have now than live with such a label tied to his name in a free Scotland.

Like Alan Walker, I too am a retired engineer. I worked on Concorde and our aim was to reach for the stars, not cower beneath the self-elevated lords and masters from that other land.

Christopher Bruce
Taynuilt