By Alec Ross
As a lifelong supporter of our cause, I read your comments piece in today’s paper with interest.
Although we have never properly met, I offer the following not as criticism but in the manner friends do – honestly, and with a wish that you succeed in making Scotland the place it ought to be. The following might be minor gripes but I mention them anyway and I am happy to be challenged.
1. The headline. “Scotland must be able to choose independence”. It is already able to. We have a triple locked mandate to choose. The EU results arguable add a fourth. We should be bolder and say: “Here is why Scotland must be independent at its earliest opportunity”. I understand and applaud the collegiate tone of your piece (and while you may not have written the headline I have heard you utter the phrase), but there comes a point when we have to stop asking permission, to stop begging for a piece of what’s already ours. The first responsibility of any leader of any country is the continuing wellbeing of that country. Therefore your job is extricate Scotland from this permabouroch at the earliest opportunity and by whatever means and deliver us independence.
2. Please stop referring to Scotland as “small”. Most countries are roughly our size. It’s the “big” countries who are the statistical outliers. We are a median sized place. Calling us small immediately puts us on the back foot. Just call us what we are – a country.
That aside, you’re doing a great job. Please finish it by righting a three centuries old wrong and restoring Scotland to its rightful place as an independent country.
Thanks and Saor Alba.
PS tell Michael Gove the Farmers could do with the £190m of Convergence Uplift monies that are still “resting” in his account.
Cheers.