SO, there we have it! Trident is to be renewed, despite the overwhelming rejection of it by 58 of our 59 elected Westminster representatives (excepting David Mundell). So much for the wishes of the Scottish people! Yet again, what Scotland wants gets totally ignored by the Westminster establishment.

We were told during the independence referendum that we should stay with the UK as we were a respected and integral part of the Union and that we would enjoy a status of equality in the post-referendum realisation that the relationships within the Union would have to fundamentally change. As we now know, this promise lasted about as long as it took to count the votes. Since then Scotland has been relegated, once again, to being the “junior partner” in the UK. The democratic wishes of Scotland’s voters are simply ignored, witnessed by our refusal to endorse the present Tory Government, Brexit and Trident, yet to have them thrust upon us, whether we like it or not.

The time has come for Scotland to seriously consider whether continuing in the UK is really serving our interests. Being a member of a Union that is so blatantly unequal is not good for a Scotland that is outward looking, striving for social justice and is European in its ambitions.

Each time we are ignored and find our wishes being discarded, the march to independence becomes yet more inevitable. When Indyref2 comes along there will be very few of us who will swallow the old, tired lies about “equality of partners, “valued member of the Union” and “a new relationship tantamount to federalism”. “Project Fear” will not work the next time around. Scottish people have now heard them all and we will no longer be scared. Our confidence is growing as we realise that our wishes matter nothing to the UK Government and that we have been sidelined.

Far better to be a self determining independent nation than an unwanted “add on” to an increasingly dysfunctional UK. It’s time to leave, stand on our own two feet and be responsible for our own destiny, just like all other mature independent nations. There is nothing to fear in self-determination: on the contrary, it is an exciting prospect that the people of Scotland are more than capable of successfully embarking upon. The future of Scotland is in our hands. When our second chance comes, we must grasp it this time.

Alan Carroll

Clarkston





FORMER US Secretary of State Madeline Albright was once asked if half a million Iraqi children who had died as a result of US sanctions against Saddam Hussein was a price worth paying. Her reply was “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price – we think the price is worth it.”

Theresa May’s assertion that she would have no hesitation in ordering nuclear strikes is very much in the same vein.

The blunt, somewhat genocidal answer appears to have been the right one for the crowd, as the Commons has agreed to give a blank cheque to develop a new generation of Trident submarines. At least 65 percent of this bottomless money pit will go straight into the pockets of US arms manufactures.

The decision should be seen in the context of a million people in the UK being reliant on foodbanks and the NHS warning that due to shortages some cancer patients will not get the life-saving drugs they require.

Also Trident is entirely reliant on American satellites for targeting.

The question about massacring civilians with a nuclear strike is a common one during such debates, and historically one prime ministers dodge. Former Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe said he believed it was a question no prime minister would ever directly answer.

But with Jeremy Corbyn being open that he “does not believe the threat of mass murder is a legitimate way to go about international relations,” and that he absolutely would not kill millions of innocent people, May ultimately decided to go the other, pro-nuclear holocaust way.

Alan Hinrichs

Dundee





YOUR headline today reminds me of the time over half a century ago when the US Polaris base was situated on the Holy Loch after an agreement between Macmillan and Kennedy. The advance party came aboard the depot ship, the USS Hunley, and boy did we give them a welcome.

After several weeks the Pentagon issued an international statement stating that the UK nuclear base would have to be reviewed as it was “pointless to have an advanced base in the centre of a hostile population.”

The abject panic on the Thames was a joy to behold. Needless to say the London establishment managed to persuade the Americans that history should not be constructed by several hundred Jock scruff. The Americans have gone now, but as you suggest today eviction notices are pending on their Brit successors.

Alan Clayton

Strachur





A RESOUNDING “Yes” from the Mother of Parliaments to renewing Trident ; a resounding “Yes” from Theresa May when asked if she would push the button; a resounding “Yes” from the People’s Party to spending untold billions on unusable weapons of mass destruction while inflicting austerity on the poorest; a resounding “Yes” to storing these obscenities close to Scotland’s largest city; a resounding “No” to having them on the Thames – they are too dangerous!

James Mills

Johnstone





THE argument put forward in renewing Trident are laughable but sadly the decision passed in the House of Commons is far from a joke. As pointed out by many SNP members the real and immediate victims of the Trident renewal will be the disabled, unemployed or anyone that benefits from any public service. That happens to be everyone in the UK.

Not only is having weapons of mass destruction dangerous, the democratic right and view of the Scottish people have been ignored, yet again. A sad and very shameful day for “British” politics in prioritising the British state’s ego over the needs of its citizens.

Brian Finlay

Rutherglen





ON Monday July 2016 the parliament of another country, with a government that the people of Scotland did not elect, voted to impose Trident nuclear weapons on us and store them 30 miles up the road from our largest centre of population, this despite 58 of Scotland’s 59 MP’s voting against. This will guarantee if there is an accident or God forbid, a nuclear war, then the vast majority of the Scottish population will be wiped out in an instant.

Charlie Sherry

Clydebank