IN 1963, the then Pope John was raising the issues of economic interdependence and the right of human beings to choose for themselves the kind of life which appeals to them.

These questions are to the fore today, no less relevant.

In the House of Commons, the SNP Group of MPs are sporting Scots poet Hugh MacDiarmid's white rose of Scotland, which smells sweet, but breaks the heart.

What message are we viewers to glean from such a display? Were he alive today, I doubt if the poet would support the SNP in Scotland and elsewhere.

I believe the majority of Scots would reject utterly MacDiarmid's 'vision' for an Independent Scotland.

So what are the SNP up to in the Commons today? Thanks to ousted SNP MP Mr Salmond we now know that some SNPers had been dubbed 'Scottish Nose Pickers'. Picking noses, of course, can spread germs , doing harm to the person(s).

However, in recent readings by yours truly, I came across another SNP 'interpretation' worthy perhaps of a MacDiarmid impulse?

For example, SNP...'Single Nucleotide Polymorphism' which I understand relates to germs affecting DNA and the host body.

What's in a name these days? I note too that SNP philosophers are currently discussing SNP tactics re 'Triangulation', which seems to refer to division and perhaps 'domestic tyranny?

On a 21 per cent SNP loss of assets, marketing and income recently (General Election Results), I imagine the SNP October conference will be discussing 'division', merger or perhaps liquidation of assets?

To date I believe the SNP leadership has been divisive and wasteful of talent and potential. As with SNP Winnie Ewing would not young Ms Sturgeon have made a lasting contribution to the House of Commons, at the very heart of issues raised by Pope John in 1963?

Is it too late, is the die cast? Is it time up or time out for the SNP? Outed MP Mr Salmond does hold out prospects, while another ousted SNP MP, using the the reported words of a certain prominent Russian revolutionary (perhaps unwittingly) says, 'Our time will come'.

Time present or time past as referred by poet T S Elliot. Where stands the SNP today? What we Scots need, without delay, is the nuts and bolts of what SNP independence will actually mean.

We have had enough of 'vision'? Vision will not create jobs or put food on the table, we know what the problems are, we we now need is an understanding of what to do for lasting remedy.

ANDY WILSON,

Kelty.