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I READ with both interest and not an inconsiderable rancour the article by Kevin McKenna (The fight against neo-liberalism starts as soon as we leave the UK, December 16).

I really did not understand his thinking and what audience he was aiming at. Let me try!

Was this an attack on the SNP? Was it a call to the Socialist faithful? Was it a recruitment drive for the Labour party, but not Sir Keir Starmers Labour party? Was he recruiting for the SSP? He certainly rather vividly made clear where he was coming from, no ifs no buts.

Perhaps Kevin McKenna shows his true politics like never before. To suggest the SNP is a party run by big business and has a neoliberal philosophy at its roots is just not true. It is a left-of-centre social democratic party and its policies are there for all to see. For 13 years the bulk of Scottish voters have supported these policies while out-and-out socialist policies have withered on the vine in Scotland, as has the Labour party both in Scotland and the UK. Far-left socialism has been all but forgotten.

READ MORE:Kevin McKenna: SNP neo-liberalism must be fought, but we cannot while in the UK

He waxes lyrically about Jeremy Corbyn, suggesting his failure to introduce radical socialism was the result of dark political forces undermining his vision. The rise and fall of Corbynism which, lets face it, was spectacular was more to do with the public. Many Labour supporters, after close scrutiny of not only the man himself but his vision of a socialist UK, found him wanting and delivered their verdict through the ballot box. The red wall in the North collapsed. How does Kevin Mckenna explain this?

There is no question that as he describes his personal journey to Yes this journey has also been mine and that of many others who lived through those difficult times and continue to do so. I do not, however, understand why he needs a stiff drink every time he votes for the independence-supporting SNP. This is very condescending and perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek. Either way I am sure the SNP are happy to get the vote. I am sure he is not the only person who bites their lip before putting an X in the box for the SNP. Lets face it, if we are going to win independence we are going to have to attract many reluctant Labour voters who are clearly looking to a post-independence Labour party to emerge on the spectrum of Scottish politics.

What saddened me the most was his rather vicious unfounded attack on the SNP and the suggestion that the SNP were in the pay of big business and that SNP policies failed to be radical enough as a consequence. The facts clearly show otherwise. He reverts once again in to the world of fantasy with his vision of an independent socialist republic. Independent and republic I accept; socialist is just a pipe dream.

Finally, I am not a sleep walking SNP loyalist but a hardworking activist foot soldier. Kevin, please stop the divisive sniping and name-calling and keep your political powder dry until after we are independent.

Dan WoodKirriemuir

TODAY'S piece by Kevin McKenna was another tour de force. I find myself agreeing with Kevin on all of what was said in his article, particularly when he pointed out how the party has permitted a large number of fakes and opportunists to hitch their careers and finances to the only political show in town.

Absolutely correct these carpet-baggers have hitched their star to the SNP juggernaut, not in the hope of regaining our countrys independence or to make the lives of Scotlands people better, but quite simply to feather their own nests.

The party was, and in some respects still is, at a crossroads, but the first steps have been taken to make the party accountable to the members.

Its been a while coming!

Cameron M FraserBannockburn

Original post:
Kevin McKenna's Scottish socialist republic is nothing but a pipe dream - The National