NO doubt Alex Gallagher, when he argues that "No must mean No for a generation" (Letters, September 20), would like to see the independence question put to bed, whether through referendum fatigue or otherwise.
However, in making his case he stretches some points too far while conveniently forgetting others which indicate the opposite.
The Bannockburn celebrations turned out to be pretty low-key, and as to whether a house full of English relatives during the Commonwealth Games had any influence on voting, either way, I have my doubts.
Scotland is coming out of a recession and although employment is rising, wages have been held down. People are not feeling well-off and this was duly used by the No campaign with threats on mortgages and prices, along with threats to jobs themselves.
The situation in Europe was far from being "a perfect confluence of factors". We had repeated pronouncements from so-called European leaders as to the dreadful consequences of a Yes vote while Russian nationalists were shooting down airliners in Ukraine. This, and the situation in the Middle East, had increased the threat to the West which allowed David Cameron to play the "we are stronger together" card. This was duly backed up by Barack Obama and his generals.
So we are left with promises of substantial new powers mainly from a backbench, semi-retired, Labour MP with no office and with what influence it remains to be seen.
Nobody can tell me what these powers are, hence we cannot judge if we have indeed been sold a pig in a poke.
This is not the time to be making any commitments on future referendums, rather it is a time for reflection by all parties. They may also care to reflect on the large elephant in the room - the Glasgow vote.
Allan Smith,
40 Mitre Road,
Glasgow.
Alex Gallagher states that "No must mean No for a generation". I tend to agree with him to a degree, but the challenge is that how long is exactly a generation? Is it the 30-40 years in the leafy suburbs of Edinburgh or the 16-20 years in the estates of Glasgow or Dundee? I am inclined to think it will be very much the latter and in reality the genie is very much out of the bottle. I'd give it 10 years.
Allan Mackintosh,
20 Hunter Crescent,
Troon.
IN 40 years of reading The Herald, the letter by Alex Gallagher is easily the best I have seen. With every conceivable factor in, or more probably manipulated into, their favour, the Yes campaign could still only manage 45 per cent.
What would the real vote have been without this manufacture of circumstances? Mr Gallagher, you said it all.
Scott Macintosh,
4 Alder Crescent,
Killearn.
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