Scotland will give its verdict SNP dead hand on politics

BRIAN Taylor reminds us of what happened in “that apogee of political strategy, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (“Sturgeon’s performance was thorough, respectful, controlled and capable”, The Herald, March 6). To keep a long story short, look what eventually happened in Lewis Carroll’s marvelous tale.

“You’re nothing but a pack of cards,” screamed Alice as the pack flew though the air and the trial, the nightmare, was over. The First Minister maybe hoping for a similar outcome to the muddle that has taken place in Holyrood this past week and the whole nightmare disappear like a tossedaway pack of cards. But this is not a fairytale, it is very real and irrespective of “controlled and capable performances” the truth will out. The jury in the present case is not a jury-box full of lizards, dormice and guinea pigs but the people of Scotland and I suspect that we are all facing the right way up, know how to hold a pencil and will come to a sensible conclusion.

Thelma Edwards,

Kelso.

VARIOUS commentators are right to identify Nicola Sturgeon as a capable politician in need of comparable talent alongside her. But that’s not her only poverty.

Healthy modern democracy is an interplay between the best of

collective endeavour and solidarity (Labour), the upholding of diversity, human rights and civil liberties (Libdems), and wealth generation within the market place (Conservatives). All these principled positions apply at any level of government.

The SNP, in contrast, has no principle for government, only a single policy aim, which Alex Salmond called a “dream” after referendum day 2014. It has no interest in making devolution within the UK work well. SNP councillors have no principled purpose for holding office; they are there to support the party’s voter base and acquiesce to SNP legislation from Holyrood.

Furthermore, the SNP seeks to bypass our long-established representative democracy by means of winning a simple majority of votes on a day and tell us that a profoundly important and highly complex matter is thus resolved. Our voting procedures, with surrounding legislation, are designed to lawfully elect named individuals to office for a fixed period. Transference of these arrangements to the testing of an