Mind games

Kevin Toolis is broadly right to argue that the nationalists have a more visceral commitment to their cause than their opponents (Perspective, 24 July). But I think Mr Toolis is wrong to suggest that passion will win the argument on its own.

At the moment, the Yes camp is made up of dedicated SNP supporters plus a section of floating voters who have been impressed with the party’s competence in government. That is still not enough to move the polls towards majority support for autonomy.

A cool assessment by individuals about their immediate prospects and, to a lesser extent, their long-term future is likely to be a decisive factor in shifting public opinion.

Comparisons with the record of Sinn Fein in achieving Irish independence can be misleading. Support for that party rose in the second decade of the 20th century mainly because of the unnecessary brutality exercised by the British government in the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising. Nationalist sentiment was backed up with IRA guerrilla warfare, which did eventually lead to negotiated but imperfect settlement of the Irish Question.

Arguably, the 1998 Good Friday agreement is the modern equivalent of the 1921 Irish peace treaty. Violence was the background to both documents.

By contrast, the SNP’s modern tradition is an essentially social democratic one. This has developed gradually over the past  80 years.

Whatever the temptations, the SNP needs to continue to appeal to the head and not the heart if it wants majority consent for an independence agenda.

Bob Taylor

Shiel Court

Glenrothes, Fife