THE debate has moved beyond Brexit. It should be obvious to the donkey in the stable and the dog or at by the fireside that the UK Government has no intention of treating Scotland in any way like a partner in a Union, rather than a colony that should shut up and do as it is told.

I am not of the opinion that Brexit is the worst thing that has been done to us: the Union itself takes that prize, but we did enter into the Union with England (or our representatives at the time did, however undemocratically) so we may need to look at ourselves, too.

After the actual Union – which has enabled everything else – for me, it was the rape of our oil and gas resources. No, I’m not saying we could not have shared then to an extent, I am saying that we reaped little to no benefit from them while they were PC and not part of the climate change problem.

We could, as a small nation, have used them to build not only a future fund, but also to fuel (pardon the pun) renewables and carbon capture and storage etc. The Scots have always been innovative and forward-seeing, and we would have made a difference, given the opportunity. The use of our valuable resources to enable the destruction of our industrial base – and not just ours, either – is unforgivable way beyond Brexit, for me.

Much of the now-defunct heavy industries were profitable and even productive, contrary to the myths, and Thatcher must bear the blame for their destruction – not loss, but destruction – in turn enabling the establishment of a largely service economy, the darling of the big bosses but inimical to workers’ rights and conditions in the longer term and to consumers protections and built-in capping of unnecessary (except for higher profit) price rises.

Thatcher’s reign led us to what is now a UK on the brink of a right-wing coup and all that that will herald for Scotland and the rest of the UK. What appeared on the surface to be an era of de-nationalisation and a “return to efficiency by the big private sector” – another complete myth – was nothing more than the same old, same old return of the profit-driven destruction of social consent and its consequences for working people.

Again, we could have turned to a different industry model, retraining, innovating into future industries faster and more efficiently, investing in our infrastructure and our up-and-coming generations, but those opportunities were denied us, and opportunities are still being denied us, not because we have neither the wit nor the resources to do so much for ourselves, but because our huge neighbour next door (or,at least its ruling elite) has decided that we are not part of a Union, but a lesser nation that has no say in its own future. That is our future. No other. It can only get worse. Unless we do something about it NOW. NOW. No threats, no mebbes aye, mebbes naw, just take our case to the International Court and resile the Treaty. No waiting, no supplication, just do it, Mr Blackford.

Lorna Campbell

via thenational.scot

I DON’T normally watch the BBC or read their website, but yesterday I was going out and wanted to know what the temperature was. The way to get to their weather page is through the main Scottish news page. There, I counted six – yes, six – stories about Scotland’s NHS, all of them highly critical of the service, one of them even attacking Jeane Freeman personally.

Then I had a look at the website pages for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Nothing of that kind to be seen there. Can anyone explain this? Is everything going swimmingly in the NHS in other countries of the UK? (I think we know the answer to that one).

On the few occasions I’ve looked at the BBC Scotland website in the past, I’ve concluded that if it wasn’t for public services, their reporters would have nothing to write.

Jean Nisbet

Glasgow

YOUR anonymous contributor (Letters, November 16) makes erroneous reference to “five million christian Scots”. The majority of Scots declare themselves as of no religion. Some, I include myself, are declared atheists and many more are humanists and agnostics. Please dispose of your broad brush and the associated tar.

Archie Drummond

Tillicoultry

MAY I ask if the Scottish Life magazine’s Joanna Blythman – food writer of the year 2018 – has travel sickness, or gets a headache if she ventures further than Glasgow or Edinburgh? Surely there are worthy places in Dumfries and Galloway, and the Borders. Maybe a trip to Fife, and then further towards Inverness and the wild North, or to the Western Highlands? The Western and Northern Isles are easily reached these days – a simple flight is all that is required. Surely she cannot be feart of the kilted, hairy legged natives, or perhaps she’s worried may have to stalk her own haggis? Away from Central Belt bias, please.

Steve Brooker

North Kessock