Kevin McKenna gets so much right in his column in The National today that it seems churlish to pick on the one thing he gets seriously wrong. But he gets it so very seriously wrong that I cannot in good conscience allow it to pass unremarked.
Mr McKenna states – or strongly implies – that those who “pour scorn” on the self-styled alternative pro-independence parties are all or predominantly “leadership loyalists”. Had Mr McKenna been keeping his ear just a little closer to the ground he might have been aware that few people pour more scorn on these bandwagon-jumping chancers than myself. And that fewer people are less likely to be regarded by the SNP leadership as a “loyalist” than I.
I pour scorn on these ‘list parties’ for sound, rational, considered reasons which have nothing whatever to do with loyalty to the clique of crazies or their enablers who have done to my party and Scotland’s cause such grievous harm.
My commitment is not to any leader or party or faction thereof but to the cause of restoring Scotland’s independence. I will support anything that I calculate to be aiding that cause, and condemn everything which I regard as impeding or endangering it. And I shall pour the most caustic scorn I can muster on those who seek to exploit Scotland’s cause in the service of some partisan agenda or personal ambition while having not the remotest possibility of contributing anything meaningful to the effort to save Scotland from the British Nationalist menace which is already upon us.
Whatever one’s personal preferences and prejudices, the fact remains that only the Scottish Government can initiate and pursue a process that will end the Union and restore Scotland’s independence. Our nation’s predicament is such that no other consideration is relevant in the coming election. If the outcome of May’s election is not a Scottish Government with a massive mandate for a #ManifestoForIndependence then the chances of Scotland’s cause making any progress in the next five years are reduced to but a sliver more than non-existent. No number of ‘list party’ MSPs will alter this. They can only be powerless, superfluous, pestilential or all of these.
Given that the SNP is the only credible candidate to be the party of government, our focus must be – and should have been for the past year at least – on ensuring that the party is first required to adopt the #ManifestoForIndependence and then on securing the most compelling mandate possible for the Scottish Government that will confront the British state on behalf of Scotland’s people.
Peter A Bell 
Do you not accept that these Indy parties have appeared because the SNP were seen to be failing to take any real action towards independence while public opinion has increased with a now consistent majority in favour. They may not be the solution but they do in my opinion have a job to do and have already partly done by focusing public attention towards the Scottish government inaction despite having a pro-indy majority.
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I not only accept it I have said repeatedly that these ‘list parties’ are exploiting disappointment, frustration and anger caused by the SNP. But I totally reject the notion that they are doing so for the benefit of Scotland’s cause. Because there is no benefit.
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Until very recently I have always been an advocate of ‘Both Votes SNP’. My contemporary doubts on placing both ballots in the “SNP” box emanate not from wishing to have a super-majority of pro-Indy MSPs but from the fact that I believe my SNP list candidate is a chancer or, as you may put it, a snake oil salesman. Just like those ‘Alt-List’ parties you have so-labelled.
The good news is that if the SNP do well on the constituency ballot – as still seems likely despite all the party shenanigans, although there is a way to go with the campaign proper still not even started – it is highly unlikely that these opportunists within the SNP will be elected in any case.
I describe this as ‘good news’ in a relative way. What I mean is that, despite all my reservations about the party’s hollowing out of internal democracy, I should in all likelihood be able to vote ‘SNP’ on the list without running the danger of the candidate who holds views that I find obnoxious being elected as an MSP.
Sounds perverse I know. But in this way I would be contributing to maximising the popular vote for the SNP in both ballots but will not be electing an individual whose view are, in my opinion, abhorrent.
It is worth remembering that the current leadership will not be there in the future. Perhaps not even in the very near future given recent and on-going revelations.
The mandate, if given by the people, would, however, remain.
It would just need to be prosecuted by a leadership that is competent, smart, determined and, above all, focussed on restoring Scotland’s full self-government.
By any non-violent means necessary.
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