SO near yet so far – the 2014 referendum result was a devastating setback for all who wished Scotland to withdraw from this long-dysfunctional Union and regain our country’s independence.

We can all look at what has happened since, and question the possible outcome if different actions had been taken by our politicians in the subsequent years, but given the UK Government control effectively exerted through the courts, intelligence services, the press and television channels, the reality is that independence would still not have been achieved.

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It is no secret that in spite of whatever political mandates for self-determination may be achieved, the single most important and critical mandate is the people’s mandate.

This “supreme mandate” is a clear representation of the will of the Scottish people which most reasonable persons would accept as being expressed by a persistent majority of 60% or more of the electorate. Whatever the differences over past political decisions, or even current Scottish Government policies, this objective should be uppermost in the minds of all independence supporters and every one of us should be striving to help attain that goal.

Writing letters to newspapers with nothing positively constructive to say about achieving independence while simply voicing negative personal gripes or stating an intention to abstain from voting, or spoiling a ballot paper, is not going to help raise that number and is more likely to put off “undecideds” who could be persuaded. Instead of dwelling on individual frustrations it is incumbent on those genuinely seeking independence for the benefit of all of Scotland’s population to focus on reaching out to others rather than retreating into ourselves.

The faster we can inspire others, the sooner Scotland will be free.

Stan Grodynski
Longniddry, East Lothian

THE five-year merry-go-round of election, failure in government, then promotion of those that failed to the House of Lords, has left a Union in tatters, a people cold and hungry and an elite apparently untouchable.

Welcome to the despotic, dysfunctional and depressed UK. A unitary state where you can say anything you want as long as you are a donor to the ruling political party. Since the Brexit referendum, we have all been living in a surreal realisation of George Orwell’s book 1984. Increasingly the press has shifted from investigative reports to publishing propaganda regardless of how untrue it is. Truth is now the least used virtue of the rancid empire.

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The imperial family are in full-on dysfunctional mode, the Lords are absorbing money, alcohol and food in obscene quantities.

The government have hollowed out all departments, rendering them useless and ripe for privatisation, such is their libertarian agenda.

The lack of a properly codified constitution means that Westminster “runs” by goodwill and precedent. Both have been shattered recently by the tyranny of the Speaker.

There is no meeting of equals in that chamber, there is no family of nations represented, there is only what England votes for, England gets.

For the moment we are stuck with the first-past-the-post voting system, the House of Lords, the unelected head of state and the mandarins of Whitehall.

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This quite obviously is a position that is as unsuitable as it is unwanted – after all, there is no better together, no bonus of being in the Union, nothing but an elite practising parasitical asset-stripping.

The time has come for change, the time has come for those that voted for the Union in 2014 to register the mistake of trusting the imperial message. In all honesty, every country, every nation, and every people who has trusted that message emanating out of London has been let down.

Cliff Purvis
Veterans for Scottish Independence 2.0

OH dearie, dearie Mr Speaker,
can your spine get any weaker?
Closed office with the “socialist” knight,
you took the carrot! Then took flight.
To save Sir Keir a right red face,
you changed the rules in thon place;
it was obvious for the world to see,
there was coercion, do you agree!

Then came another spinal bend,
this time the Tories you’d defend;
a lady stood, yes 46 times,
yet to her, your eyes never climbed.
Of corruption I can feel the stench,
coming from that Speaker’s bench;
a chair that you’ll kowtow to keep,
how can one ever fall that cheap!

Aye Mr Hoyle, Mr Hoyle,
most people bend a spine in toil;
not you, not you, not at all!
yours is at beck and call...
to anyone, that could bring you down,
and rob you of the Lordly gown;
why don’t you be brave ... resign!
stand up and show you have a spine.

George Robertson
Edinburgh