YOUR reviewer Alison Rowat describes the French film Deux Jours Une Nuit (Two Days One Night) as "a picture which says more about our economic times than any number of think tank reports" ("Cotillard gives eloquent voice to everyday struggle for work", The Herald, August 21).
I have just seen the film: it follows the weekend of a young mother struggling with depression and the loss of her job. Although it is set in a French industrial suburb, the dilemma of people whose jobs have been casualised and lives marginalised by society is all too common in any modern western industrialised country.
While watching, it occured to me that, if the young woman in question were living in Scotland, she would be targeted by the SNP referendum machine that told that her predicament was all the fault of Westminster: that her health services could only be guaranteed and her job could only be saved by voting for Scottish independence. Except, she's not, she's in France and the solutions to her problems, and parallel problems in Scotland and the UK, lie within politics and economics.
They have nothing to do with the arbitrary changes to the constitution and even less with nationalist scaremongering about health, jobs or anything else. Voting for independence would make no real difference to the predicaments presented, and it is dishonest and misleading of the Yes campaign to pretend otherwise.
Alex Gallagher,
12 Phillips Avenue, Largs.
IAN Bell paints too a rosy picture of the Yes campaign and conveniently ignores its less savoury side ("The No camp is losing out in this carnival of democracy", The Herald, August 23).
About a year ago, many of us attended the launch meeting of Glasgow Better Together at the Mitchell Library. I am sure that I was not the only one to have been puzzled as to why the venue was kept secret until the last minute. However, even before arrival, the reason became clear as Yes campaigners had set up a picket and were using a loudhailer to harangue those attending. In the meeting itself, an audience member revealed his true colours by refusing to accept the polite and full answer to his question (which alleged that Scots were "over-represented in the UK armed forces") and then went on to abuse those present as "fascists" and "Quislings" before being removed.
The behaviour of Yes campaigners in the streets has been even worse. For example, the redoubtable Jim Murphy has been taking the No case to the people with his 100 Streets tour, and is increasingly being met by barrages of violent abuse from the Yes mob. Similarly, friends speak openly of not putting up No posters in their houses for fear of having their windows put in; and there are reports of cars with No stickers having been vandalised.
Peter A Russell,
87 Munro Road, Jordanhill, Glasgow.
MUCH is being made of the fact that 34 Church of Scotland ministers have signed a declaration of support for independence and the convener of the cross-denominational group Christians for Independence tells us that the group had been overwhelmed by the number of Church of Scotland ministers backing the Yes campaign ("Dozens of Kirk ministers backing independence", The Herald, August 25).
A quick Google search tells me that there are 43 presbyteries with 1,500 parishes, some shared, so excuse me if I feel somewhat underwhelmed by 34 signatories.
R Russell Smith,
96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.
ON Saturday, Ayr High Street became a metaphor for the referendum campaigns. There was a group of campaigners for the Yes side who were enthusiastically engaging in discussions with shoppers and attempting to explain their point of view. On the other side of the road was a group of No supporters under the slogan "No thanks". There was little attempt to engage with the public and their main intention seemed to be to hand out little flags and stickers to anyone who would accept them.
This is really what the referendum is about. You can either choose to accept worthless tokens or engage in the way your nation is run not only for yourself and your family, but also for future generations.
David Stubley,
22 Templeton Crescent, Prestwick.
WHEN it suits him, David Cameron is keen to extol the merits of togetherness: we're all in this together, and Scotland is better together with the UK. It seems a shame that his esprit de corps did not extend to Alex Salmond's ice bucket challenge ("Salmond takes ice bucket challenge", The Herald, August 25). If Messrs Salmond, Darling and others could throw themselves into the spirit of a such worthy cause, why not Mr Cameron? Maybe he didn't want to appear wet.
Iain Stuart,
34 Oakbank Crescent, Perth.
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