Forget squabbling over polls and get back to the real issues

However, if as seems tediously likely, this faux democracy is to continue until the week before the referendum, perhaps the pollsters might like to use more precise increments to measure opinion, the better to give the public and commentariat something to argue about.

So far, the opinion polls have corralled perceived popular opinion into three pens only; Yes, No, and Don't Know. Instead of discussing the matter in hand, the first two groups fight over ownership of the third. As the voting intentions of don't-knows seem to be the main focus of debate, it might be helpful to look more closely at it and consider of what and whom it is comprised.

Is it a homogenised mass of drones incapable of making their minds up, or is there a process at play which is yet to be understood? I suggest there is and that this group itself can and should be divided into three sub-groups; Undecided, Don't Care and Not Saying. I'm assuming the referendum will be held by secret ballot, a mechanism designed specifically to enshrine and protect the rights of this last group. This would give politicians, media and the public a lot more to dissect and analyse, no matter how pointlessly.

Alternatively, we could get back to debating the matter at hand and simply wait until September 19, 2014 to learn the result of the only poll that matters.

Martin Morrison,

5 Inverpark,

Lochinver.

Iain Macwhirter's comments, both on George Osborne's visit and the Yes Campaign, are spot on ("Osborne has a nerve to say Scots would be worse off", The Herald September 5). Some of the Chancellor's claims at the Aberdeen oil conference were so ludicrous they should have been howled down.

Why are we not enraged and insulted when UK Government ministers including David Cameron, Mr Osborne, and Philip Hammond make flying visits to tell us contemptuously how economically poor an independent Scotland would be, and that we couldn't possibly make a success of running our own country? Where is the resentment and outright rejection of such comments, especially when made by ministers who are making such a mess of running the UK economy?

Instead the Yes campaign has allowed itself to be dragged down into a morass of pointless argument over minute details, trying to respond to the increasingly bizarre projections of doom being produced by Government departments under orders from Downing Street. It has been conned into playing the game on the opposition's terms. The result is that the Scottish people are now increasingly confused and mystified, when instead the Yes campaign should be inspiring and encouraging them to grasp this unique opportunity to reclaim our independence.

No-one can predict with total accuracy and detail the economic future either of the UK or an independent Scotland, even a few years ahead, and it is a pointless exercise to try. Independence is not about individuals being a few more pounds a year better or worse off. It is about having the confidence to take charge of our own nation's affairs and resources, and the belief that we can make a success of it.

Neither the Yes campaign nor the SNP has so far been able to mount a coherent and inspiring case for independence, and it's high time they began to do so. Who is going to provide the Braveheart rallying cry?

Iain AD Mann,

7 Kelvin Court,

Glasgow.

WILLIAM Bonner (Letters, September 5) is wrong to state that opinion polls have shown 30% for both the Yes and No camps in the referendum campaign.

The Herald's own online coverage, which includes a Poll of Polls timeline, shows that, with only two exceptions at random points, No has been consistently and decisively been ahead of Yes, confirming that a result in favour of the break-up of the UK has always been unlikely, and is not getting any likelier.

Peter A Russell,

87 Munro Road,

Jordanhill,

Glasgow.