Notice board Worrying narrative in coverage of elections in England

● To See Ourselves – Jane McAllister’s documentary about the 2014 referendum focusing on her father, activist and local councillor Fraser McAllister – will be shown at 7.30pm tonight at Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh. The film will be introduced with songs from Stuart McHardy and followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and Fraser himself, hosted by Bella Caledonia’s Mike Small. For tickets see toseeourselves.film/ see-the-film

● Alec Ross will be in conversation with Jen Stout about her book Night Train to Odesa: Covering the Human Cost of Russia’s War at 5pm on Sunday as part of Boswell Book Festival at Dumfries House, Ayrshire. For ticket information see www. boswellbookfestival.co.uk

● The Blether-In, Forfar’s pro-independence hub, is hosting an event from 2pm to 4.30pm on Sunday in the West-End Social club. This will be a Q&A event on the question “Is Westminster relevant?” with MPs on the panel. Tickets are £5. Contact Linda Clark: 07917142622/mrsLindaclark@ btinternet.com

● There will be special screenings of Faslane/Coulport film A Guided Tour of the Unacceptable will take place at 6pm on Wednesday, May 15 at Eden Court, Inverness, and 7pm on Thursday, May 16 at the Ceilidh Place Venue in Ullapool. The events will feature an opening poem from Gerry Loose, an acoustic set from Ciaran Ryan and discussion. All welcome, donations will be collected.

● Julie McNeill will launch We Are Scottish Football, a collection of poetry to get us fired up for the Euros, at a very special evening of football, poetry and music at 6.30pm on Monday, May 20 at The Scottish Football Museum in Glasgow. Free tickets are available from www.tickettailor.com.

DURING coverage of the local elections in England, I noticed a worrying narrative from Labour and Tory representatives when asked about the performance – or even mere presence – of smaller parties like the Greens, LibDems and Reform UK, when considering any effect on their General Election performance.

The argument they both gave, in response to criticism of the Conservatives for not being conservative enough, or Labour for not being progressive enough, is that voters who feel like that need to treat the election as a choice between either Labour or the Tories in Number 10; Starmer or Sunak; red or blue. This is an admission that we live in a two-party system, and that while other parties, policies, and ideologies exist, it is only theirs that matter.

The most worrying part is that there was never any challenge from interviewers about this, but that’s because – by virtue of the first-pastthe-post system – they are basically right, it’s just that they’re saying the quiet part out loud: in England, you’re voting for the party of Margaret Thatcher or the party with a leader who looks up to Margaret Thatcher; the party that introduced the two-child cap or the party that intends to keep the two-child cap; the party that took us out of the EU or the party that plans to keep us out of the EU ... you get the idea!

In Scotland, however, we have a third option. We know that regardless of how we vote, the now 543 English seats, of a total 650, will likely determine the next government and prime minister, so it’s worth remembering that the SNP in Westminster has often acted as the parliament’s conscience, and while the “Official Opposition” is meant to hold government to account, the SNP have held both government and opposition to account, and the SNP have constantly reminded the Labour Party of the values it once had, whilst also holding a mirror up to the naked fascism in the words and actions of the party opposite.

Ultimately, a vote for the SNP at the General Election is a vote to reject the idea that we must accept what either the Tories or Labour are offering us, because for as long as they – and the Liberal Democrats – continue to stand arm in arm, better together, under the red, white and blue banner of “Unionism”, they will forever be offering us less than the SNP, with the prize of independence and all the powers that come with it. Jim Love

Islay