NEIL Mackay ("Tories plot to kill off indy – Yes movement can do that by itself", The Herald, October 22) berates some in the Yes movement for intemperate reactions to his recent interview with Andrew Wilson ("Revealed: The blueprint for Scottish independence", The Herald, October 18) and in the process gets all irritable himself. A very wide range of people support independence – is it any surprise there is a broad range of opinion?
The interview was interesting – perhaps he can now do more of these, with figures reflecting the full spectrum of thought in the independence movement. Why not even engage with one of the fierce "indy Blog Lords"?
What's the worst that could happen?
The problem that some of us have with Mr Wilson is that his recipe for independence seems to be almost entirely based on not giving a certain type of No voter the jitters. But this policy of stealth independence ("you'll hardly feel a thing!") combined with the glacial slowness of SNP thinking on key issues such as the central bank and currency, did not play with this type of voter in 2014 and did not enthuse a sufficient number of other potential converts to Yes.
Mr Wilson is right that the debate became about what the first year of independence would look like, with feared economic turbulence. But surely the way to combat this is to have something else to talk about.
For example, we can take charge of our incredible renewable resources to become the "Saudi Arabia of renewable energy". We can keep a public health service that is the envy of the world. Guy Verhofstadt has rightly said: "Scotland has shaped European civilisation". We can continue to do so by staying European citizens. A vision. Now that really would scare Tory Central Office.
Jim Daly, Edinburgh EH10.
GR Weir (Letters, October 21) maintains that it is a sign of a "strong, well-rooted" political party to have a number of serious "fights" within its ranks. It has frequently been observed over many years frequently that "divided parties lose elections". Cited as evidence is the experience of the Tory Party when faced with New Labour under Tony Blair. To that one can add the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. Experience has shown that lack of party unity does influence the reaction of many voters in determining the destination of their crosses on the ballot paper.
Mr Weir states that the departure of Nicola Sturgeon, whenever that might be, will unleash "a contest between some highly impressive candidates". Perhaps he could help us to form our own judgments by providing a list, particularly since the presentations on behalf of the Scottish Government during the pandemic from the political side have been something of a one-woman band’.
Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.
ALEX Orr (Letters, October 21) reminds us of the very substantial Scottish contribution to the Royal Navy’s victory over the naval forces of the tyrant Napoleon Bonaparte at Trafalgar. Scots have made a similarly impressive contribution to all the other great British achievements including the industrial revolution, the scientific revolution, the suppression of the slave trade and victories over tyranny in two world wars among others. The lesson most people take from all this is that we Scots, English, Welsh and Northern Irish can together achieve so much.
Otto Inglis, Crossgates, Fife.
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