Does Lamont have the makings of a spirited leader?

I AM sure Ian Bell’s latest theory is not accurate (“At last, a Scottish Labour leader who grasps the thistle”, The Herald, March 24).

He states: “This country will become independent if and when the people who have voted Labour decade upon decade make their vote.”

If they have always voted Labour then they are essentially conservative voters with a small “c”. Consistently voting in a conformist working class traditional manner. If anyone was to vote for independence they would likely be very young, radical, impatient and, unlike many Labour voters, uninformed.

I accept that the old left have often felt homeless since the emergence of New Labour, but to imagine the SNP could provide more than a bed for the night is, for me, going too far.

I discern no real evidence that the SNP have or can fill the political needs of the “old, urban and unimpressed working class”. This section of society must remain unimpressed by the fanciful wind turbines which have been forced upon us as if by modern versions of Victorian railway capitalists. They will be unsurprised by the centralisation of our police forces to be under national control. They will be bemused by the unwelcomed and unwanted Curriculum for Excellence which Holyrood is now throwing money at in despair.

It is early days yet. Johann Lamont may yet prove to the tired old left that she has the makings of a Scottish Boudicca. Bill Brown, 46 Breadie Drive, Milngavie. AS always, Ian Bell pens an excellent essay. There is one deadly species of carduus he does not mention, which Johann Lamont will not touch, even with the proverbial barge pole.

Prior to her election as leader of the Scottish Labour Party, she was asked repeatedly by Scottish CND to clarify her position on Trident. She simply did not reply.

The legal position is crystal clear. “Qui tacet, videtur consentire”: she who is silent is deemed to be giving consent.

Like the mythic upas tree, which poisons everything that grows in its shade, Trident already corrupts by its evil presence.

Our tragedy is that Trident has become so domesticated, and we are so habituated to it, that we no longer see it for what it is.

There is a perverse logic in this shameful silence from Ms Lamont.

Trident is the ultimate totem of Britishness, and the Unionist parties are as one in their support of this.

As a (British) nationalist party, the Scottish Labour Party is obliged to kowtow to the British state idol, Trident.

The Scottish Catholic Bishops and the Church of Scotland have condemned Trident. How can anyone who has any association with either of these communities support the Labour Party, when a vote for Labour is a vote for Trident? Brian Quail, 2 Hyndland Avenue, Glasgow.