Notice board Unionists would love to get the SNP out of parliament
l Free Highlight Talks continue in the Robertson Room at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway at 2.30pm today. Author L Bruce Keith will present Bridgescape, based on his book of the same title – a journey through Scotland celebrating the country's bridge-building heritage with references to and quotations from Robert Burns. Free, booking via Eventbrite advised.
l Blazing the Trail, an evening of film, poetry and music to celebrate the adventurous life of Isobel Wylie Hutchison, is at 6pm tonight at National Library of Scotland at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. This special event pays tribute to a true trailblazer, explorer, botanist, writer and artist. It will feature a selection of Hutchison's films taken during her travels between 1927 and 1936. See Eventbrite to book a free place.
l Professor Fiona Skillen will give a lecture focusing on the development of women's football in Scotland from the 1880s to the outbreak of World War Two, at 5.30pm tomorrow at Augustine United Church in Edinburgh. See Eventbrite to book a free place.
l Glasgow and West of Scotland Historical Association will hold their next meeting at 10.30am sharp on Saturday at Kelvinside Parish Church, Saltoun Street opposite Hillhead Library. Dr John Clark will be giving a presentation titled ‘'From the Long Wood to the Hill Head – Napoleon and Glasgow''. Arrive early for tea/ coffee/home baking. Free event, all welcome.
l The Radical Independence Campaign (Edinburgh branch) are hosting a public meeting on Scottish Independence and Internationalism from Below at 7pm on Wednesday, March 13 at Augustine Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. There will be speakers from the campaign against the arms trade, SNP trade union group, and Ukraine Solidarity Campaign. All are very welcome.
KEITH Brown has called for the party to consider the seemingly popular public demand to withdraw its MPs from Westminster that now appears so often in the media.
For many years, no matter how hard they have tried, the Unionists have failed to get the SNP out of either parliament.
Perhaps this is a last-ditch coordinated attempt by the Unionists to silence the SNP because of the increased international support the party has gained by its constant position on the Gaza crisis.
The Speaker appeared to have colluded with Labour, assisted by the Tories, to thwart a vote on the SNP’s opposition-day motion by overturning long-established conventional parliamentary procedure designed to give minor parties the opportunity to have their business debated and voted on in Westminster.
Consequently a reappraisal is required to assess how SNP MPs will in future simultaneously pursue the interests of their constituents and challenge policies imposed by the Westminster duopoly.
Anybody advocating that the SNP should walk out of Westminster en masse permanently because SNP MPs and the people of Scotland are treated with contempt has obviously no concept of how much worse the situation would become if the SNP were not in Westminster.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
DESPITE strong support for such action in the comment sections of thenational.scot, I don’t understand a strategy of withdrawing SNP MPs from Westminster, I really don’t.
Why would we voluntarily remove our limited voice from that place? In a fit of pique over Starmer’s new best friend Hoyle? In protest? And then what? A grand gesture, soon forgotten as the media moves on, and then ... silence! Sinn Fein, silence. Virtually never referred to apart from on election day.
Flynn, for one, has frequently commanded commentary for his PMQs effectiveness. His succinct, terse and sharp questions often break through the Unionist media wall. When else do the SNP get coverage in these outlets? “Baaad” or not.
Does it move the needle towards independence? Probably not, but until the SNP in general get their act together they serve as a repeated irritant and reminder that a significant proportion of the Scottish electorate want out; want something different.