How is No camp more honest?
CATHERINE MacLeod fails to mention one of the chief reasons people are confused about the powers the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments each have. (“Bills will not be paid by national fervour”, The Herald, June 19). I would have thought the British press is also culpable because of its tendency to trivialise current affairs in the neverending search for a snappy headline. The Herald and the Sunday Herald are honourable exceptions to this habit but national broadcasters must take their share of the blame too.
As to her assertion that the No campaign is more honest than Yes, this is risible. Iain Macwhirter is spot on in pointing out that the three party leaders who posed on Calton Hill are not in a position to give any credible guarantee about more powers for Holyrood and they know it. They must know how Westminster works and how difficult it would be to get English MPs and members of the House of Lords to give priority to legislation that will not be to the advantage of their constituents and won’t help their chances of re-election.
This is not to ignore the input of the London press, who will savage any proposed legislation in the way Labour’s regional assemblies referendum was destroyed a few years ago.
The best and only reliable way of increasing Holyrood’s powers is a Yes vote in September. David C Purdie, 12 Mayburn Vale, Loanhead, Midlothian. CATHERINE MacLeod sacrifices another tree in pursuit of the still elusive argument for voting No.
On the same day that she questions the real desire or, indeed, ability of Scotland to handle more powers, we read that a plan to reduce road deaths in Scotland has been snubbed by Westminster. So much for Westminster’s desire to devolve more powers. Actions speak loader than words.
She condems John Swinney’s plan to borrow out of austerity yet Labour, on whose watch we borrowed trillions of pounds, are beyond reproach. What, then, are her thoughts on Westminster quantative easing? Gordon Brown’s stewardship as Chancellor? The UK’s tenuous credit rating? Our near certain exit from the EU as part of the UK and so on?
People will vote with their hearts as the economic arguments on both sides are confused and remain unarticulated.
The question people will ask themselves in the voting booth is whether their gut reaction is Yes or No. Do they feel more Scottish or British? I believe many will veer to the former and vote Yes.
Do I want to leave in a country which is positive, ambitious and prepared to take risks for the benefit of all or do I want to remain part of a risk-averse, going nowhere “province” of the UK?
As Catherine MacLeod writes, it’s a no-brainer. Simon Taylor, 3 Kirkdene Place, Newton Mearns. A PAIR of white butterflies atop a thorn in glorious sunshine meant a fast shutter speed to capture the flight. Shot while taking a break from covering the baton relay at Musselburgh on a Canon 1Dx at 1/2000thsec at f8.