Notice board Royal drivel on Sunday afternoon TV was not for Scots

l Tonight from 8pm-10pm at Lynch's in The Old Burns Barns, 179 London Road, Glasgow, Gavin Paterson's All-Star Skiffle Band will be performing and joined by special guests, with all welcome to join in with the band or perform on their own.

l Jim Cuthbert, economist and former chief statistician at the Scottish Office, will give a talk at 7pm tomorrow at Edinburgh Newington-Southside SNP's meeting at Priestfield Parish Church. John Mason MSP, a member of Holyrood's finance committee, will also participate in the discussion titled Scotland's Fiscal Settlement.

l The Radical Independence Campaign (Edinburgh branch) is hosting a public meeting on Scottish Independence and Internationalism from Below at 7pm tomorrow at Augustine Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. There will be speakers from the campaign against the arms trade, SNP Trade Union Group, and Ukraine Solidarity Campaign.

l Screenings of To See Ourselves, Jane McAllister's documentary about the 2014 independence referendum, are taking place at 7pm on Friday at Ayr Town Hall; 7pm on Saturday at CCA, Glasgow; 6.30pm on Friday, March 22 at Strathearn Arts, Crieff; and 2pm on Sunday, April 7 at Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh. Each screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director. For details of how to buy tickets see toseeourselves.film/ see-the-film

l Edinwfi are marking IWD24 at their meeting on Saturday from 2-4pm at Edinburgh Central Youth Hostel, with guest speakers in person and zooming in from the USA and Jordan. The topic for discussion is Women & Conflict: Surviving then Thriving, which will cover the current conflict areas Ukraine and Palestine. Details and zoom link from edinburghwfi@ gmail.com

WE have friends who arrived from Melbourne, Australia, at the weekend and on Sunday afternoon, as I was making them some lunch, they asked if they could put the telly on and catch up with what’s happening in Scotland.

I said of course, and put on the TV menu for them. I cannot say exactly what came out of their mouths when they were confronted with a choice of: The Seven Wonders of the Commonwealth, or The Queen’s Favourite Animals, followed by Crufts or Inside The Tower of London, followed by Henry VIII.

They both said they could understand a lot more now why Scotland is so desperate to break away, saying – and these are their exact words – “not content with nicking all your oil and gas to steady their sinking Brexit ship, they are now brainwashing you too. Jeez, fella, if they tried this back in Oz there would be rioting in the streets”

They certainly have a point, and said they can’t wait to let Scots over in Oz know just had bad it really is here with state control. Me, I am thinking it would be very interesting to see the Scottish viewing figures for this absolute drivel being served up to us on a Sunday afternoon.

We simply have to leave, and leave now, whether it’s through Salvo or denying the crooked authorities down south and informing them we are having a vote and if they won’t sanction it, we simply have to take it above their heads. We owe it to our children, as no more generations should have to put up with this absolutely preposterous situation, as a) it’s not the Middle Ages, and b) we cannot bear another moment of having foreign governments ruling our lives, ones we simply NEVER vote for.

The last time I looked this hugely unhappy set of islands, excepting Ireland who prosper, could not be more broken or unhappy as the latest research should only one place on earth was unhappier. So what is happening to Scotland’s huge resources, which should be the key to our prosperity?

Any vote would be a landslide

– we know it, they know and the whole world knows it – so hopefully

Scotland will elect a real leader as it can’t happen a moment too soon. The best brains in the Yes movement need to all gather together under a new banner. It’s not rocket science.

Anyway, I must go or will miss the end of The Queen’s Favourite Animals, and don’t want to miss that or I will be jealous of the 13 people in Scotland who are watching it. Iain K

Dunoon