WE are being inundated by the high and mighty, and also some of the fallen mighty, as we prepare to go to the polls next Thursday to vote on Scottish independence.
"Please stay; we love you, really" is the message from Westminster; this after years of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and co telling us in great detail how we couldn't possibly manage on our own.
I believe in Yes not because it will guarantee me a government of my choice. It may well not. I believe because it will guarantee that in Scotland we will get a government that the people choose, especially given we have proportional representation. We will be able to take decision regarding our needs.
I have, over the past two years, conducted my own research on the issue, deliberately excluding politicians' views. Eminent economists, including Nobel prizewinners, believe we have the ability to be very successful on our own (not inward-looking, but on the global stage); on membership of the European Union? Every independent expert (Graham Avery, Dr Fabian Zuleeg, Professor Seonaidh Douglas-Scott and more) I have read has directly criticised the Unionist politicians' negativity on EU membership.
The only questions for people living in Scotland of any merit are: do you want to control your own resources? Do you believe in yourselves and your fellow citizens?
We have the chance to take control of ourselves; to grow up and take our place on the world stage; to actually dare to be responsible for ourselves. Or we can submit.
Roger Graham,
23 Cullen Crescent,
Inverkip.
MOST Scots still think of Scotland as a nation, despite the fact that the Treaty of Union of 1707 (the constitutional basis of the United Kingdom) states "That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England shall . . . be United into one Kingdom by the name of Great Britain". I submit that the reason why we can still sustain the view that we remain a nation is that the Union was never endorsed by the population at large.
The 31 Scottish commissioners who negotiated the Union never got the approval of the ordinary people of Scotland. And the Union was deeply unpopular initially, although eventually there was acquiescence - at least by the majority.
Today, the situation is quite different. For the first time ever we have the chance to vote Yes or No to independence. Whatever the result, the status of Scotland will change, in our own eyes, in the eyes of England, and in the eyes of the world. And we will be treated accordingly. If we vote Yes we will be reclaiming the sovereignty which we lost in 1707. But if we vote No, we will, in effect, be endorsing, for the first time, our status as "North Britain" - not a country, not a nation, but just the most northerly region of the UK.
Harley J Cameron,
Duisky House,
Beauly.
ALEX Salmond says that people not born in Scotland, but living here and able to vote in the referendum, will automatically take on Scottish nationality in the event of separation.
What about those of us who do not want to be Scottish? I was born in Northern Ireland, am British with a UK passport and wish to remain so.
Dr Alastair Knox,
50 Brodie Park Avenue,
Paisley.
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