By TuS friend and helper, Frances McKie, from a letter to the Times she does not expect to see published:

From football to politics, most of us eventually learn that targeting  the opponent- instead of the goal- is foul play. It is also the mark of fear, desperation and- most importantly- losers. 

Scotland has been witnessing such behaviour since September 19th 2014  when, apparently, according to her loyal servant, David Cameron, Queen Elizabeth the First of the UK  “purred” with relief that  Westminster’s grip on what is more or less the ” last colony”  was still- just- intact. 

However, in the subsequent 2015 General Election, massive support for the SNP ensured that the red flags went  up again. Fear, desperation and panic clearly ensued: we know this because of what Westminster – and you -Westminster’s media- did next.

Our SNP MPs were subjected to relentless personal scrutiny and vicious personal attacks. While London continued its inglorious reign as the money- laundering centre of the world our Scottish representatives were hounded for the slightest hint of financial or moral imperfection. 

And, of course, eventually, our two most charismatic leaders, firstly Alex Salmond and then Nicola Sturgeon, were targeted -not just by what is known by the “gutter press” but, without subtlety, to the point of real, shameful farce, by Westminster itself.  Like many other people in Scotland, I firmly believe that the wicked  pursuit of Mr Salmond severely damaged his physical health and finally cost him his life.

We should not, however, have been surprised. History shows that such behaviour, targeting effective and  charismatic leaders of political movements which threaten existing control, is the well-tried and ruthlessly executed method of what the old  red-marked maps of the world will recognise as “London Rule” . 

As we warn our children,  however, from football to argument, it is also the mark of the loser: despite the dirty play, most colonies -and their leaders – have removed themselves from the asset-stripping racist empire that turned that world map red. Scotland, the first and last colony, will be leaving too: like the others we have learned that independence is “declared”  – not requested.

In this way, our recent  Scottish history, our  Scottish reminder about the losers’ dirty play, their resort to ever more vicious “Ad Hominem” attacks on leaders of change, should surely be a clarion call to English voters, who have already witnessed the cynical,  ruthless campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, a campaign that eventually handed the whole of the UK over to the  current appalling economic disaster and international disgrace of “sponsored” rule. 

Do not, under any circumstances, allow Westminster and its media, including this newspaper, employing that infamous tactic of targeting leaders, destroy your best chance of political , economic and social recovery: Zack Polanski and the other brilliant, incisive, young advocates for the Green Party.