I CAN well understand the frustration around the apparent reluctance of the SNP to force the issue of an independence referendum. I certainly shared that frustration whilst listening to Lesley Riddoch press Ian Blackford on that very topic at the All Under One Banner assembly. I had a good sulk for half an hour after that.

Then it hit me. YES2 (or whatever we call it) needs to just get on and do it anyway.

Here we are, waiting, hanging on the every word of politicians, who by their very nature of their job can be slippery characters. Why would we expect Mr Blackford to be the first to make a firm commitment to an indyref2 date during a Zoom interview?

There’s an apprehension, which I share, that the SNP want to play a very long game towards independence. Some even think they have abandoned that idea.

To quote Edward Abbey, action is the antidote to despair. It is time to get the band back together and start campaigning for independence regardless of political machinations. Let us take Mr Blackford’s comments and amplify them. Shout them from the rooftops. Even if some accuse us of taking his comments out of context, who cares?. Let us start the push for “Scotland’s coming of age in 21”.

The SNP is not the Yes movement, and if we are honest, the small leadership clique doesn’t really seem to represent the SNP anymore – that’s how I feel anyway. We can’t wait any longer for the tail to wag the dog.

What good will it do, folk might ask? It will create massive momentum. It will form a juggernaut behind the political establishment that will just keep going if they attempt to apply the brakes.

Isn’t it amazing how the UK Government and its faithful press inflated a small comment – “once in a generation” and all of a sudden it became a policy, even though there’s no mention in the Edinburgh Agreement? Well we can do the same using Ian Blackford’s comments.

We need to take what we have now and run with it. Imagine where we’ll be by April, July, August if we do? Then imagine where we’ll be if we do nothing? Exactly where we are now, waiting for politicians to give us permission. If they do, it will either be way too late, or they’ll have kicked the can further down the road.

Major change has never been delivered by politicians. Sure, they get the glory, running the last few yards up the mountain to plant the flag, but only because we push them every foot and every inch of the way This is different to 2014. Thousands and thousands of conversations have taken place over the dinner tables from Dumfries to Dunnet Head about “what we need to do now”. We’ve never stopped thinking about it! We are wiser and much much richer in ideas – just look at the policy base of Common Weal and the work of the Scottish currency group, for example.

Project Fear never stopped, and for that I am grateful because we have debunked all of their claims. Their arsenal is empty and WE are the majority.

I have been more than a little disturbed by a number of the SNP’s recent policies and yes, I do worry about their commitment to independence, but even though it stutters and stalls it is our only vehicle capable of delivering independence.

Mr Blackford asked the people of Scotland to get behind his party, so let’s do it.

Let US be the prime mover and apply an irresistible force, and if our momentum overtakes them then so be it. That will make it all but impossible for them to turn back.

Scott Egner
Aberdour