Let’s lead from the front as part of UK
FOR anyone not sure which way to vote on Thursday, the situation needs to be considered carefully. If the first Minister and her government have ‘taken the eye off the ball’ in some areas, it begs the question if they have seriously thought about a plan for the defence of the UK if Scotland were to become independent (the looming prospect if the SNP win this election). As the current pandemic has shown, we can get very insular in our views of an event that is unfolding on the other side of the world, and it is only when it starts to affect my family and I that I become concerned about it. The same might apply with the political issues that affect me right now. Have I considered how Britain would defend its borders if Scotland became independent? Scotland would become the weakest point of entry into the British Isles. Let’s not forget the countless lives that have been given up, with British forces standing shoulder to shoulder against the common enemy in the world wars and other conflicts, to give us the freedoms and privileges that we still enjoy today. Let’s focus on ending the division and building a future that will see a prosperous Scotland leading from the front, within the united Kingdom.
GARETH HOPWOOD, Faucheldean, West Lothian.
THE weekend’s polls were disappointing for those Scots who would prefer the UK to remain intact. It seems much of the electorate remains locked in some kind of mesmerised state and under the spell of the fantasy-ridden utopia painted by the SNP for the past 20 years or so. It does not matter the eye-watering incompetence of its administrations running Scotland, nor the lack of any clearly defined and practical, non-fantasy path towards their goal. I can see the attraction of a separated Scotland to exiled Scots, for whom the certain disaster of separation would mean little. But for those living here with the ability to reason and think through the economic consequences and perhaps receiving uK pensions or welfare benefits and in steady employment, to still vote for the SNP, brings a new meaning to hara-kiri.
ALEXANDER MCKAY, edinburgh.
LIKE so many Scottish recipients of an SPPA-controlled pension, I fear for the future value of my pension if it is ever paid in Scottish pounds, groats or euros. Quite apart from reduced purchasing power, there must be a big question mark over a future independent Scotland actually managing to maintain payments to an already bloated Scottish Civil Service. Would this be another practicality overlooked or ignored by a party set on returning Scotland to the Dark Ages? Surely a majority of Scots can see the SNP is playing out a fantasy, grounded on fiction, chest-beating and flagwaving designed to satisfy the egotists who would see Scotland cast adrift. This must be a rallying call for nonsupporters to be altruistic and vote for the party most likely to win their constituency. GRAHAM WYLLIE, Airdrie, Lanarkshire.