MARK McGeoghegan asks what Labour can offer pro-independence Scots, and concludes that it will be tricky to please them ("Can Labour become home to pro-independence Scots? It will be tricky...", The Herald, April 13). However, there is another possibility, especially as we now experience the twilight of the long Salmond-Sturgeon era.

This is the prospect that those who were carried away in the delusional hysteria of 2014 have now grown up, either chronologically or politically. Since Scotland decided that it wished to stay in the UK, they will have learned from the Supreme Court decision secured by Nicola Sturgeon that it is politically impossible and from the lack of a coherent economic strategy that it is unaffordable. (You can't always get what you want.) With these facts now apparent as the failings of nationalism to all who are willing to see them, the rational response must be to look elsewhere and to find ways in which to create a better Scotland within the UK. (But if you try sometimes, you get what you need.)

Peter A Russell, Glasgow.

Positive case for independence

MY letter is inspired by the latest column from Brian Wilson ("Labour will need much more than tactical voting to beat the SNP", The Herald, April 11) and previous letters from Union-supporting correspondents.

Mr Wilson wrote that he didn't consider himself a "unionist" and explained his ethos and career was about fighting on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged all over UK. He then again used the flip-side word to that term Nationalist (with a capital "N"), with the clear implication about nasty nationalism.

In that argument about fighting for the poor and disadvantaged all over the UK, I'm with him. It is one of the few arguments that could be made, that would make me think twice about independence.

The only trouble is that I almost never hear it. What I mostly hear and read is the British Nationalist case for staying in the UK. How we were so lucky to partake in the global wonder that was the British Empire and how independence will separate Scotland from British exceptionalism. Separated from such a wonder, they then consider that Scotland will inevitably crash and burn. The unionist argument. Mr Wilson seems to think that this argument doesn't exist and neither does the type of people making it.

I can assure him it, and they, exist; it even seems to be the main argument.

In deciding whether or not to support Scottish independence, one must consider who has the most internationalist case. So far, I've decided that it rests with independence.

Iain Cope, Glasgow.

• I SEE Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray is proffering advice to the Scottish National Party on obtaining a new accountancy firm to audit its books ("SNP group faces £1m loss over Commons accounts", The Herald, April 14). Surely he could forward the name of the accountants who audit Scottish Labour's books, as they would surely be keen on obtaining clients with more than a single, solitary MP?

Now, what am I missing? Perhaps that there is no such registered political party as the “Scottish Labour Party”?

GR Weir, Ochiltree.

Read more: Yousaf should be praised for standing up for our parliament

Time to end the spin

MICHAEL Settle explains some of the damage done by the SNP leadership being economic with the truth, from membership numbers to auditor resignations, and suggests further revelations are likely to follow (“The SNP’s culture of secrecy has become transparently toxic”, The Herald, April 14).

Yet new First Minister Humza Yousaf looks set to continue the tendency to tell only what he judges the more useful half of the story, as he tries to justify spending our money picking a fight with the UK Government over the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill, and of course in the process placating the Scottish Greens, his dogmatic partners in government.

The First Minister says the legal case is "vital" to defend devolution. Yet he knows the core of the GRR Bill could potentially have given the trans community the great majority of what they wanted whilst avoiding a clash with UK-wide laws, if only he and his colleagues had listened more carefully to the genuine concerns raised in the GRR Bill’s development. With stronger safeguards for women-only spaces, and without reducing the minimum age from 18 to 16, Scottish public opinion would likely be more supportive of the bill and the UK Government would quite possibly not have had to issue the Section 35 notice. We will never know now, of course.

In the midst of a cost of living crisis the First Minister has decided against any thought of compromise, and instead chooses expensive and time-consuming legal challenges. As he tries to convince us he is committed to openness and transparency, Mr Yousaf prefers to ignore the inconvenient truth that is becoming ever clearer to the people of Scotland with every passing day. The SNP’s only hope of regaining any credibility will be in replacing political spin with honesty.

Keith Howell, West Linton.

Yousaf will need some luck

LIKE most of the population in Scotland at the moment, even those who support the SNP or used to, I am wondering what on earth is going on in our beloved Scotland. Of course, we luckily live in a country where we are free to live our lives, do what we wish to do (within reason of course) and finally vote for an individual or party with whose views and policies we (generally) agree.

For the past few months and years, however, our SNP governing party has done its own thing, under the dictatorial leadership of Nicola Sturgeon, and totally ignoring its people. I know of course that there are many SNP members and supporters who genuinely wish Scotland to be an independent country, and separate from the UK, and behave and speak and write letters accordingly, as it should be. However, I have struggled over the past few weeks to find out exactly what the core of the SNP party has been doing – it is hard to believe the number of resignations there have been.

We have had resignations from the head of the National Investment Bank, the SNP national treasurer, the Lord Advocate, Police Scotland's Chief Constable, the First Minister's chief spin doctor, the First Minister's Chief of Staff, the Westminster SNP leader and deputy, the Deputy First Minister, the SNP's auditors, the party's chief executive, and the First Minister.

To misquote Oscar Wilde: "To lose one party member may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose a dozen seems like carelessness."

Best of luck to our new First Minister, Humza Yousaf, who surprisingly has not known a thing about what has been happening in the party where he has served in ministerial positions for a long time.

Walter Paul, Glasgow.

Read more: Workers need to learn that strikes achieve nothing

Give me reasons to be cheerful

IT is a little over a week since I drafted the letter which you published on April 10 regarding my sadness at what Scotland has become and looking for a way back.

Unfortunately, events of the last week have done nothing to straighten my face.

The unravelling of the SNP initially generated feelings of Schadenfreude on my part but as the disclosures became more tawdry my feelings moved to disgust and have now settled at acute embarrassment for my country. How did we get to this place?

No matter the legal intricacies surrounding the outcome of the various allegations and criminal investigations (and I fully respect the presumption of innocence) I think most of us would agree that the conduct of the SNP has failed the “smell test” and we know that a fish rots from the head down.

Add to this Andy Murray’s latest struggle to rage against the dying of the light ("Murray angry at own performance", Herald Sport, April 11) and readers can see why I am in the slough of despond (will we ever see his like again?).

Against this background (apart from Dundee United’s recent first win since January 2) it was difficult to find reasons to be cheerful.

However, one bit of news did make smile and feel a genuine warm glow and that was Kieran Cuthbert, Scotland’s first deaf driving instructor using sign language to teach hearing-impaired learners ("Scotland’s first Deaf BSL user driving instructor on his inspiration", heraldscotland, April 8). A small thing indeed, but in its own way quite life-affirming.

I wonder if Herald readers could identify and share their own reasons to be cheerful and see if we can get a top 100?

It may prove to be quite therapeutic and make me happy again.

Keith Swinley, Ayr.