Scottish independence, for me, is a desirable and necessary goal.
But advocates should be aware that, at present, no material change to the political class and social structures will arise from such an event.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic etc, all achieved self-government by various routes.
However, they retained the in-built political class system of elected elites, and made no effort to change the wider class structures of the new countries they governed.
Sure, they introduced and enacted policies which more reflected their national needs and aspirations, but the fundamental inequalities of the governing class system remained.
They had the opportunity to throw off the oppressive and self-serving political superstructures that had gone before but chose not to do so.
Rather, they continued with a system of personal reward and aggrandisement, but now venerating the new, but personally bountiful, smaller state.
Greed and power always seem to trump democracy.
We in Scotland have a unique opportunity to greatly democratise political representation and governance itself.
With independence we can end the rigid unfairness and opportunism that is built into Western political systems; systems that confer great power and rewards to individuals, but with very little personal and political accountability.
An independent Scotland could be the example that redeems Western political systems from the disaffection and hostility that electorates show at present towards the system.
What are the chances of the architects of a new Scotland ditching this corrupt framework for an egalitarian structure based constitutionally on fixed terms and median pay for elected members?
Watching the 6 O’clock News on BBC 1 (other news outlets are available) it depressed me yet again that the corporation saw fit to have one of their news anchors outside a blacked out Buckingham Palace and a second anchor in the studio (“King Charles: ‘Let me state clearly, the law must take its course”, The Herald, August 20).
All the interviews outside could as easily have been held in the studio; and nothing said outside couldn’t have been said in the studio.
What did they expect, the King, Queen or a minion to suddenly appear from the gates to offer an exclusive interview?
I do not believe the present Lord Advocate is corrupt, but the recent row in the Scottish Parliament raises serious questions about her dual role as Head of the Prosecution Service and Member of the Scottish Government (“Murrell case row sees Lord Advocate defiant”, The Herald, February 19).
In any modern democracy the former post should be completely independent of Government to avoid any potential conflict of interest.
This is not the first time that suspicions have been voiced about the Lord Advocate being in cahoots with the Government of the day.
During the 1984-85 miners’ strike, questions were raised by myself and other MPs about the cosy relationship between the Government and the Prosecution Service.
Many striking miners were prosecuted on spurious grounds and there were well founded suspicions that many of those prosecutions were politically motivated by the Government of the day, using every dirty trick in the book in a concerted attempt to defeat the miners and weaken the entire trade union movement.
Forty years later, the Scottish Parliament granted a belated but welcome pardon to most of the miners convicted in Scotland.
The powers that be should now take another step forward by making the Prosecution Service completely independent of Government.
The SNP has a long history of spin and avoidance of answering pertinent questions.
Perhaps the most obvious one, so far, has been the ‘what is a woman?’ debate, where the answer is far clearer than the SNP makes out.
This new row over what the Lord Advocate shared with the First Minister over the trial of Mr Murrell might be the last straw for the voting public as trust in politicians is already at rock bottom.
Not answering the question is a skill, though sometimes it can be a curse too.
The First Minister has confidence in the Lord Advocate and that confidence may well be justified, and the allegations of political corruption from the Tories may well be unfounded.
But there are better ways of governing and managing situations than those demonstrated by recent events.
It is noteworthy that Willie Maclean’s account of Scotland’s history in the Union stops abruptly in 1801 (Herald Letters, February 19).
It is not surprising that a nationalist should stop at that point, as to continue into the modern age would show, for example, how Scotland benefitted enormously from its role in colonial exploitation.
It did so from profiting from the slave cloth and salt fish which clothed and fed enslaved people, as well as from the manufacture of equipment for sugar refining and production.
It would also show how Scotland’s place in the Union was supported continuously by the people of Scotland over the centuries, including in three separate referendums since 1979, culminating in our specific and explicit rejection of independence in the SNP’s own secession plebiscite in 2014.
Mr Maclean obviously also needs to be reminded that following the successful conclusion of the 2014 vote, all of the parties at Holyrood agreed the future division of powers between Scotland’s two parliaments in London and Edinburgh.
So it is unaccountable how Mr Maclean and his fellow nationalists are less than happy with the current settlement, though it does explain why their version of history stops abruptly at a date which is over two hundred years ago.
Calum Steele’s articles are always spot on in evaluating our country’s zeitgeist.
He has a knack for saying what many of us are thinking in an articulate and erudite manner.
From his personal experiences and astute observations he scrutinises the dubious and imprudent activities of institutions, which such establishments would rather keep hidden or unnoticed.
We live in peculiar times and it is most important that Mr Steele’s journalistic skills continue to expose the ineptitude and inefficiency which appear to characterise society on so many levels.
His South Uist education must be applauded for producing this level of journalism.
I must be naïve, but am I alone in being disgusted that Russia should remain in control of land that it has already captured, as well as having control of land which it has failed to win? (“Envoy signal no breakthrough on bridging Russia and Ukraine’s differences in latest peace talks in Switzerland”, The Herald February 19.)
Land which Russia has captured through an illegal, aggressive act against one of its sovereign neighbours.
As things stand at the moment, there is no debate on the future of this area; it will remain under Russian control.
What exactly is the point of organisations and institutions such as the UN and its International Court of Justice if aggressive acts like this are allowed to occur?
Why was President Putin not arrested in Alaska last year?
Also, what will happen if China invades Taiwan?
My guess is absolutely nothing – the big boys call the shots.
Not everyone can afford books, and even fewer a computer and Internet access. Closing a library doesn’t affect one generation, but all generations (“Scottish library closures risk widening inequality and isolation”, The Herald, February 17).
Children reading or researching for school; young adults looking for work; homeless people finding warmth and companionship; and older folk looking for the same.
If you close a library, all of that is gone and the problems increase.
Libraries are a community’s lifeblood.
If we close a library, we have to replace what it offers to so many.
As Joni Mitchell warned in her song Big Yellow Taxi, we often don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone. Enough said.
Ash Wednesday is an important date in the Christian calendar being the first day of Lent and, for many, the start of a period of abstinence, prayer and contemplation in the run up to Easter.
The marking of palm ashes on the forehead in the shape of the Cross is an important and solemn element of this day for many Christians.
I couldn’t make a service at my own Episcopal Church so made my first visit to St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on the banks of the Clyde.
The Cathedral was packed and it was a beautiful, flawless and solemn service. I can only thank the hosts for their warm welcome and a very special spiritual experience.
Christianity has been riven by schisms since its early days but the many doctrinal differences that cut deep are now largely unknown to the vast majority of people.
My own Christianity draws on a range of influences from the joyous praise in Evangelical Churches to the structured traditional worship in the Episcopal and Roman Catholic Churches, with a near 1,000 mile pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in France and Spain the crowning moment.
Strip away dogma and strict doctrine and the Cross is laid bare for all.
I was born into the Church of Scotland and it grieves me to see the ongoing demise of that once magnificent institution that was central to Scottish life and character.
If you simply bend in the wind of liberal social opinion, and cease to stand apart with a message of your own, then you will be destined for irrelevance when society needs so much more.
Fraser Kelly, Glasgow.
Scrappy, scrapping play on the football field should be dealt with. (Image: Colin Poultney)
Fixing footballing fights
John Jamieson articulates a valid point about football’s delaying tactics (Herald Letters, February 19).
Similarly, referees should be instructed to eradicate the body-wrestling which regularly occurs as a corner or free kick is about to be taken.
These scrummages are premeditated and not accidental (like many ‘handball’ incidents).
Perhaps initially there should be one warning to offenders, with repeated misbehaviour meriting action.
If the altercation takes place within the penalty area a red card could be applied.
Only a thought, though it might, just might, improve the ebb and flow of the game.
