A FEDERAL solution to the current iniquities of the UK’s current constitutional arrangements, as espoused by Gordon Brown, Henry McLeish and others, is never going to happen.
The sooner Mr Brown and other thoughtful socialist politicians who have not joined the SNP realise this, the sooner they can truly commit to helping to build a fairer and more egalitarian country, independent of London Rule.
The final irony for Scottish Labour would be for the Conservative Party in Scotland to split (possibly foreshadowed in the sudden resignation from the party by Michelle Ballantyne) and form an Independent Scottish Conservative Party supporting home rule.
All the more so if this happened before the Labour Party in Scotland got its act together and rose above ‘SNP-Bad’ (rejecting the anti-independence agenda of Richard Leonard and ‘political dinosaurs’ such as James Kelly, Jackie Baillie and Iain Gray) to form an Independent Scottish Labour Party genuinely reflecting the enlightened ambitions of Keir Hardie.
The tide is not turning. It has already turned.
And if the Labour Party in Scotland does not wake up to the new political reality that the majority of the population in Scotland now reject London rule, as epitomised by Boris Johnson and his woefully incompetent cabinet of Brexit disciples, then another party will emerge to grasp the socialist mantle of representing those with left-of-centre views, beyond those represented by the perhaps more centrist SNP of an independent Scotland.
Stan Grodynski, Longniddry,
East Lothian.
ONE thing that has become clear over the last few days of Herald letters is that the last resort of a losing argument is personal abuse.
As noted by many of your recent correspondents, Unionists Struan Stevenson, James Cleverly, Fraser Nelson, Andrew Neil, and Ian Murray have all resorted to the last desperate tactic.
The more I hear it, the more I am convinced that Scotland will be independent quite soon.
John Jamieson, Ayr.
WE’RE in the midst of a national crisis over Covid, with loss of lives, jobs, and social and financial hardship.
Added to this there will be inevitable Brexit disruption in the new year, yet the palaver and obfuscation over one-time Big Chief Alex Salmond inquiry continues (“Swinney facing confidence vote over secret Salmond legal advice”, November 26).
Sort it.
R Russell Smith,
Largs.
AS an ordinary Scot I am concerned that the SNP continue to drag its feet over the release of the Alex Salmond papers that have been asked for. What was it that someone once said about the ‘arrogance of power’?
D Harvey,
Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel