If listening is so important, why doesn’t Sturgeon listen to result of Indyref poll?

I find this latest SNP stunt, ludicrously named “nation’s biggest listening exercise”, now being foisted on us as both patronising and insulting.

More concerning from my viewpoint is that it shows the mindset of the SNP as control freaks brooking no dissent – that a majority of the Scottish electorate dared to reject their holy grail of independence .

As part of this exercise we’re now about to be assailed by their zealous minions armed with questionnaires, ostensibly to record our views as to why we voted No. Who does Ms Sturgeon think she’s trying to kid with this nonsense? You can be most assured there will be no listening by this antidemocratic crowd as the word doesn’t seem to be in their vocabulary.

As a party whose hypocrisy knows no bounds, this “exercise” is no less than a subtle form of intimidation, as in their pretence of “listening” – they will in fact be pitching the party line.

If visited I would endeavour to be polite but bin any “loaded” questionnaire and I would not engage with them as it’s akin to talking to religious zealots – no amount of reasoned dialogue prevails .

I would ask why, as “reasoning Scots”, they would possibly want to condemn their fellow Scots to years of austerity in a failed EU. Though not changing their mindset it will give them food for thought and explain why I am pro-uk . DEREK DREVER Campbell Drive Troon, Ayrshire Now that Nicola Sturgeon’s alleged listening exercise on the face of it appears to be no more than an informationgathering exercise to specifically target both soft Yes and No voters, a more sinister element has presented itself.

By engaging with either the door-steppers, or any printed literature that purports to want to “listen to Scotland”, any information willingly given is a tacit authorisation for every bit of that data to be shared, from name and address to voting intention, hence many unionist movements advising people to either politely close the door, or dispose of any published material, but certainly not to give out any information whatsoever.

Professor John Curtice, political scientist and wellrespected Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, has similarly dismissed it as something not to be filled in.

Unsurprisingly, some of the less informed SNP online posters are quite openly claiming to have made multiple survey entries.

Perhaps these people don’t realise that by giving such a false perspective, they are not only intending to legally defraud their way to this fabled “independence”, but in reality, they are setting back the “beautiful dream” that they share with Ms Sturgeon by giving their leaders completely false and misleading feedback.

MARK WARD, Dalmellington Road Crookston, Glasgow Having watched the debate on the proposed second indy referendum it strikes me that the SNP are being castigated for the quality I would like to see in the rest of the parties – following their beliefs and consulting the people.

Would that Westminster did the same. Brexit without points-based immigration, only the chosen few can vote for the labour leadership election… Makes you think. JOHN CUTLAND Montgomery Street

Kirkcaldy What does Nicola Sturgeon not understand about the word “no”?

The Oxford Concise Dictionary defines it as “a negative answer or decision, especially in voting”. It may well be, of course, that as a former lawyer, the word can be construed by her to have a range of meanings, including “maybe sometime”.

The people living in Scotland, and they are certainly not all Scots by birth, are growing weary of the never-ending quest by the SNP to break up the UK. The Nationalists seem to be quite content for Scotland to become an EU member state, but at the same time are desperate to break away from the UK. Unbelievably, they take no account of the fact that the rest of the UK just happens to be Scotland’s biggest customer by far for its export of goods and services.

They also seem to be oblivious to the trade deficit in the Scottish economy of almost 10 per cent of GDP – equal to almost £15 billion.

The latest rather tiresome “listening exercise” being mounted by Sturgeon and her cohorts is likely to prove most unpopular with the majority of the electorate in Scotland. 2,001,926 of us emphatically voted No to Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum and we quite rightly we expected that to be the end of the matter.

We will most certainly regard a “listening exercise” by the SNP as an intrusion of our privacy.

Before the Sturgeon devotees even take to the road, or send out questionnaires by e-mail, we know full well that the whole “exercise” will be biased towards the SNP’S crusade to break up Britain, and therefore completely undemocratic.

I am certain that many folks throughout Scotland, including myself, will just send them packing.

The electorate gave the Government(s) a clear verdict in 2014 which should be respected. This state of “neverendum” in Scotland is totally unacceptable. ROBERT IG SCOTT Northfield Ceres, Fife