Getting Trident off Scottish soil is my dream
At a time when expressing any view on the independence debate can be perilous, this regular feature will reveal how some of the best known people in the Highlands are voting on 18th September.
Ann Yule is a passionate supporter of the Yes campaign. The Dingwall resident, who convenes the Neil Gunn Trust Group, organises a creative writing group and a reading group and sits on the board of literary magazine, Northwords Now. Here, in her own words, Mrs Yule explains why she is putting a cross in the Yes box on September 18th.
"I have always been interested in history and I want to see us Scots governing our own country again and making our own decisions, just like any other country. I believe that the Scots lost confidence in themselves after Culloden and the Clearances. Being an independent country again and making our own decisions would give us back our confidence and a pride in ourselves as a nation.
One other thing that adds to this is that I am totally opposed to nuclear weapons and hence the replacement of Trident. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction, killing everyone for miles around and devastating the land for generations to come.
What kind of legacy is that to leave to our children and future generations, not to mention the fact that these weapons are illegal. According to international law countries at war with each other are only allowed to kill soldiers. Nuclear weapons kill everyone in their path, regardless of their age — babies, innocent children, mothers with child etc. Now is our chance to remove these weapons from Scottish soil and from our conscience. The Scottish Parliament is determined to expel these obscene weapons from this land of Scotland. For that reason alone I would vote Yes."
