AS an SNP member for many years I attended Bannockburn rallies that marched from central Stirling to the monument and Wallace rallies that went to Elderslie. They were great for morale and for meeting up with people from all over the country as the speeches were always by our leaders.
Time has moved on but SNP members still want to be involved in rallies, with the main ones now being those by All Under One Banner, and I was delighted to note that they had been able to get a date for one in Stirling that replicated the Bannockburn date.
READ MORE: AUOB accuse SNP of 'contempt' as special convention clashes with rally
I was also pleased to see that the SNP had promised to have someone senior to speak at the rally although tinged with sadness that Humza and Stephen were not guaranteed to be the speakers as a way of building bridges.
When the date for the SNP independence convention in Dundee was announced I did not immediately register that there was a clash of dates with the AUOB rally. As virtually all SNP MSPs and MPs will be in Dundee because of the convention’s importance to future policy, I do not see how any senior SNP people will not want to be involved in that meeting so I consider it to be a daft own goal by the SNP leadership to have allowed such a clash to arise.
READ MORE: SNP's depute leader responds to 'contempt' claims from All Under One Banner
My recommendation to the SNP leadership is to move the convention and really engage with the rally in Stirling, as that is how we get a more united front rather than give a message that the leadership does not want to engage with the rest of the independence movement despite Humza’s rhetoric.
I also think that the official who caused the clash needs a lesson in SNP history before the annual Bannockburn rally was terminated so as to avoid further faux pas.
Name and address supplied
I WAS pleased to read Isabel Cooney’s letter (May 22). Scotland’s representatives have sat too long confirming Westminster rubbish. When the Speaker makes a ruling, give him a good round of applause, he will enjoy that. A bit of “I spy strangers” would do no harm. If a minister lies, say so, not just one member but all of them, one after the other. Scotland’s representatives will be expelled, apologies will be demanded – don’t apologise. Make a mockery of this undemocratic chatting shop. Westminster treats our members with contempt, so return the complement. Scotland needs to see real action. No more Mr Nice Guy please.
R Mill Irving
Gifford,East Lothian
READ MORE: We need more clarity from Jamie Hepburn about the path to independence
LIKE Isabel Cooney I too am totally frustrated and just do not understand the SNP’s Oliver Twist approach (“Can we have a Section 30 Order please?) to Westminster. Why are they ignoring the Scottish people’s sovereignty of rights? We don’t need to be begging to an English government – who, by the way, will tell you with straight faces that we are in a voluntary union. If the SNP are not going to step up to the mark then we have to.
READ MORE: Westminster could override legislation designed to protect devolution
How? Sign the Salvo declaration. If you happen to be one of the folks who have been trying to sign Salvo but have been directed to fake sites due to malware which is being used to stop people from signing – to make them think “what’s the point, I can’t get the site to let me sign up” – then please don’t give up, Salvo are aware of this and are sorting it. Who is doing the sabotaging of Salvo’s site? Who knows, but the Unionists are apparently getting desperate at the thought of losing their cash cow.
I sometimes feel we are in North Korea. Lets all sign Salvo and get the hell out of this parasitic unequal so-called Union ASAP.
Anne Smart
Milton of Campsie
WINIFRED McCartney (Letters, May 21) continues to complain at the coverage devoted to the Port Glasgow ferry fiasco by BBC Scotland. The clue is in the name BBC SCOTLAND.
To ask or even demand that arguably the nation’s largest news organisation (both by coverage and viewers) simply ignores one of the largest public spending disasters in Scottish history is, to say the very least, unreasonable.
As has already been pointed out to Ms McCartney, holding up in contrast the example of the two troubled aircraft carriers (not battleships) is a bit of an own goal as they were both assembled right here in Scotland.
READ MORE: Names of new ferries for Islay and Jura announced
HS2 is indeed an England-based railway vanity project, never really designed to benefit Scotland, and currently hitting the financial buffers (pun intended). News of the overspends at London’s Bond Street Station and the Elizabeth underground line have featured prominently in the TV news – in England. Much detail on all three can be found on the BBC website but you have to look in the pages devoted to England and to London.
At least, unlike the ferries, both the Elizabeth line and Bond Street station are in operation.
Far be it from me to defend the construction skills of those involved in the Elizabeth line project, but they faced massive civil engineering challenges in constructing the line and its stations while keeping the existing system in operation and safely tunnelling under the streets of central London. The Port Glasgow ferry builders were simply asked to produce two medium-sized ferries – a task they had performed before.
READ MORE: No blank cheque for shipyard to complete delayed ferries, says Gray
If we ever hope that an independent Scotland will benefit those of us who live here we have to accept and try to rectify our failures. The first step in that process is to actually accept that responsibility lies right here in Scotland. The management of the ferry project by our own Scottish Government – not the BBC, MI5, MI6 or even MI7 – has been far less than perfect.
If we hope to convince those as yet unconvinced of the benefits of independence we need to show them evidence of our financial competence, something sadly absent from the ferries project.
Glenda Burns
Glasgow
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