Unionism is an extreme fanatical ideology that seeks to deny reality thenational.scot - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thenational.scot Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
DAVID Pratt’s perspective on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is of course accurate but also steeped in his own professional lived experience as a war correspondent who understands more than most the tragedies that will unfold with the withdrawal. However, as a lifelong political activist of the Scottish independence left, I have always assumed that we” went into Afghanistan for the wrong reasons in the wrong way. Had it been an in-and-out affair to get Al Qaeda I would probably have found it objectionable for other longer-term reasons but at least it would have had a modicum of strategic coherence to obtain the object of the operation as per on the tin.
I WAS curious to read the moderate view of the former SNP “spin doctor”, Kevin Pringle, in rejecting the short time frame for a referendum to be conducted next year – the first year of the newly elected Scottish Government, no doubt it will be an SNP one (Indyref will not happen in 2021, says former SNP spin doctor, December 28)! Mr Pringle opines that indyref2 is a matter for the medium term of the Scottish Parliament and not the short term of 2021. I wish to challenge that assertion by reminding him that there will likely be a transition period of preparation from the point when a referendum is formally “given the green light” by a majority of Scottish voters. Therefore the effect of a positive early referendum result would transcend into the long term if the expected two years of prep concludes in a new era of self-determination for Scotland.