Only the historically illiterate would think this Union is ‘equal'

To call this a 'union' is akin to a burglar looting the silver and then claiming joint ownership of the house.
READ MORE: Here's what's on the agenda at our next independence convention
Opponents of Scottish independence – the grim custodians of imperial nostalgia – cling to their myth of 'British unity' with the tenacity of flat-earthers grasping their ancient maps. They wax lyrical about 'shared history' as though history, in this case, were anything other than a record of coerced assimilation – a process in which Scotland's Parliament dissolved itself under duress, its elites bribed and strong-armed into submission, while its people bore witness to their nation being relegated to a provincial outpost of London's ambitions. To deny this is to inhabit a realm of fantasy where the Highland Clearances were merely an invigorating game of musical chairs, and the exploitation of North Sea oil and gas reserves was an act of benevolent Treasury largesse.
These Unionist apologists – these parochial zealots swaddled in Union Jacks – would have us believe that sovereignty is a fixed, immutable doctrine, akin to the divine right of kings or the literal truth of Genesis. They quiver at the thought of Scottish self-determination as though it were heresy, a rupture in the cosmic order. Their arguments – when not drowned in syrupy sentimentalism about wartime camaraderie or the Queen's Christmas broadcasts – amount to little more than the petulant wails of a child unwilling to part with a favourite toy. 'But we built the Empire together!' they bleat, as if the moral and economic ruin of that enterprise were not already scrawled in blood across the pages of history.
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And what of their vaunted 'United Kingdom', this patchwork of asymmetrical power? It is as contrived and unsustainable as the Ptolemaic model of the universe, requiring ever more elaborate contortions of denial to uphold its fiction. The Unionist's devotion to it is a form of Stockholm syndrome – bizarre loyalty to the machinery of their own cultural diminishment. They are the political equivalent of those who, confronted with Darwin's On the Origin of Species, retreat into murmuring about 'missing links' and the aesthetic perfection of the banana, as if wishful thinking could erase the fossil record.
Scotland a colony? The question scarcely requires an answer. Only those afflicted with terminal imperial amnesia – or perhaps the careerist urge to ingratiate themselves with the mandarins of Whitehall – could dismiss the evidence. The sun has long since set on the British Empire; it is high time it ceased to set on the intellect of those who confuse subjugation with solidarity.
Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee
PETER Bell lays out an interesting formula to get us to independence (Letters, May 25). One thing that kept entering my thoughts throughout the piece was: as a colony getting independent status, how would we the people of Scotland and the newly reformed Scottish Parliament get our hands on any of 'our dosh' held at Westminster and how, if at all, would that be calculated?
Ken McCartney
Hawick

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Western Telegraph

16 minutes ago

• Western Telegraph

Sir Mark Rowley ‘shocked' at planned protest in support of Palestine Action

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said a protest supporting the 'organised extremist criminal group' was due to take place in Westminster on Monday. He said until the group is proscribed the force has 'no power in law' to prevent the protest taking place, adding that breaches of the law would be 'dealt with robustly'. The act of vandalism committed at RAF Brize Norton is disgraceful. Our Armed Forces represent the very best of Britain and put their lives on the line for us every day. It is our responsibility to support those who defend us. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 20, 2025 The Home Secretary will update Parliament on Monday on the Government's plan to ban Palestine Action following the group's vandalism of two planes at an RAF base. Yvette Cooper will provide MPs with more details on the move to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support it, in a written ministerial statement. The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine. The incident is being investigated by counter-terror police. The actions that they undertook at Brize Norton were also completely unacceptable and it's not the first Jonathan Reynolds In a statement on Sunday, Sir Mark said: 'I'm sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action. 'This is an organised extremist criminal group, whose proscription as terrorists is being actively considered. 'Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and last week claimed responsibility for breaking into an airbase and damaging aircraft. Multiple members of the group are awaiting trial accused of serious offences. 'The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest. 'Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects. 'We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group. If that happens we will be determined to target those who continue to act in its name and those who show support for it. 'Until then we have no power in law to prevent tomorrow's protest taking place. We do, however, have the power to impose conditions on it to prevent disorder, damage, and serious disruption to the community, including to Parliament, to elected representatives moving around Westminster and to ordinary Londoners. 'Breaches of the law will be dealt with robustly.' A spokesperson for Palestine Action previously accused the UK of failing to meet its obligation to prevent or punish genocide. The spokesperson said: 'When our Government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.' Cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said he could not rule out the possibility of a foreign power being behind Palestine Action. The Business and Trade Secretary told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: 'It is extremely concerning they gained access to that base and the Defence Secretary is doing an immediate review of how that happened. 'The actions that they undertook at Brize Norton were also completely unacceptable and it's not the first. It's the fourth attack by that group on a key piece of UK defence infrastructure.' The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act of 2000 if she believes it is 'concerned in terrorism'. Don't forget about Gaza. While the world is distracted, almost 400 people – queueing for food – have been gunned down by Israeli forces. You don't accidentally kill 400 people waiting for aid, they have been deliberately massacred. The UK must end all arms sales to Israel now. — Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) June 19, 2025 Proscription will require Ms Cooper to lay an order in Parliament, which must then be debated and approved by both MPs and peers. Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company the Wagner Group. Former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer said vandalising aircraft at RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing the group. Asked whether the group's actions were commensurate with proscription, Lord Falconer told Sky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: 'I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton, they may have done other things I didn't know. 'But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn't justify proscription so there must be something else that I don't know about.' Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf said the Government was 'abusing' anti-terror laws against pro-Palestine activists, as tens of thousands of protesters marched in London on Saturday. Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Home Secretary @YvetteCooperMP is banning Palestine Action. We are pleased that the Home Secretary has listened to our representations over the last week. Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF… — Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) June 20, 2025 The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) welcomed the news that Ms Cooper intended to proscribe Palestine Action, saying: 'Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF jets.' Former home secretary Suella Braverman also said it was 'absolutely the correct decision'. A pro-Palestine protester at Saturday's march in central London said it was 'absolutely horrendous' that the Government was preparing to ban Palestine Action. Artist Hannah Woodhouse, 61, told the PA news agency: 'Counter-terrorism measures, it seems, are being used against non-violent peace protesters. 'The peace activists are trying to do the Government's job, which is to disarm Israel.' Palestine Action has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.

Spectator

31 minutes ago

• Spectator

Farage's latest hero? Benjamin Disraeli

At 9 a.m on Monday morning, Nigel Farage will march into a central London venue to make one of his most audacious speeches yet. Since returning as leader of Reform UK last May, he has trodden carefully when it comes to policy. Farage quickly canned the party's manifesto after the election, preferring to focus on a few key areas: lifting the two-child benefit cap, hiking the annual income tax personal allowance to £20,000, cutting council waste, abolishing Net Zero and renationalising steel. But his next move is more original in its thinking. Farage will announce a new policy for 'non-doms': British residents whose permanent home for tax purposes is outside the UK. Rachel Reeves' first Budget abolished this status in April, claiming it would raise £2.7bn a year by 2029. Yet amid a wave of reports about a 'flight of the rich', Farage senses an opportunity to try to retain such wealth in the UK while making a political pitch to the poorest in society too. He will float a new one-off £250,000 'landing fee' for the super-rich, renewed every ten years. Non-doms would be exempt from inheritance tax, instead only paying income tax on a remittance basis. The cash generated by this card-based scheme will be redistributed to the poorest 10 per cent of full time UK workers. Between 6,000 to 10,000 are expected to be issued annually, according to internal estimates. In a low-uptake scenario with 6,000 cards issued, the party expects to generate a £1.5bn fund, resulting in a tax-free annual divided of £600 per worker. Farage hopes to do three things with this speech. The first is a straightforward political attack on Rachel Reeves. The Clacton MP intends to savage her record in office and dub her 'the worst Chancellor in living memory.' This fits in with Reform's plans to frame the next election as a straight fight between them and Labour. The second is to show that the party is serious when it comes to policy. Both Farage and Zia Yusuf have been heavily involved in its conception; a ten-page document of graphs and workings will be handed out to journalists at Monday's press conference. His speech aims to appeal to both rich and poor and show that the fate of these 'two nations' are bound together by fate. Farage, similarly, professes a confidence that 'the working classes of England are proud of belonging to a great country'. His speech will be delivered close to the statue of Disraeli in Parliament where the masses once gathered to lay primroses at his feet; the Reform UK leader hopes to elicit a similar metaphorical reaction on Monday too. The non-doms announcement will be relentlessly scrutinised by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and others, who warned Reform's personal allowance changes would cost the Treasury between £50 to £80bn a year. Yet Farage is willing to face criticism if it enables his party to claim territory that others regard as unfavourable. His strategy has echoes of Boris Johnson's Brexit coalition in 2019: pro-banker, yes, but, crucially, pro-worker too. Farage and Yusuf have spent many hours discussing how best to capitalise on the theme of a 'battle of resources' in a country which, for many of their voters, seems to reward the old, the comfortable and the immigrant at the expense of the young, the struggling and the native. Reform might have ditched its 'contract with Britain', but expect talk of the social contract to be a staple of its future pitch.

The National

an hour ago

• The National

Holyrood must yet again mitigate against harm caused by Westminster

This announcement, just like the Scottish Child Payment, is progressive, and tackling child poverty at source. Time and time again the Scottish Government are having to mitigate against the harmful policies from Westminster, just like they did with Westminster's abolition of the universal Winter Fuel Payment. READ MORE: Scottish Government names date for ditching two-child cap Those mitigating measures along with the public outcry resulted in a U-turn by the Labour government at Westminster and rightly so. On the pressing and urgent issue of child poverty, can we expect a U-turn from Westminster with the immediate withdrawal of the damaging two-child cap on benefits? Catriona C Clark Falkirk