The Sunday Herald

I was annoyed at the Sunday Herald's front page last Sunday but I thought I'd wait and see what the paper's reaction was to the criticism it received.

In essence, the editor's defence is that, while the Sunday Herald supports Scottish independence, "we are here to report news, not to be an echo chamber." I understand the Sunday Herald's wish to keep its editorial independence, but there were a few problems last weekend.

This was the front page in question:

The editor now regrets using this picture. He says the editorial team had a choice: use a picture of independence marchers that was sure to appear in many other papers or find something new. It's a tough call but surely someone round the table realised that this picture made it look as if there were as many unionist protestors as independence marchers. It also suggests at first glance that the two groups got very close. I saw on TV that that was not the case: the police and stewards were in place to make sure the two groups did not clash. I accept that there was no ill intent by the paper but I also need to point out that the story about the march in Glasgow as reported in the Sunday Herald used the word 'confrontation' a couple of times, suggesting there had been confrontations between independence marchers and unionist protestors. That simply did not happen. 

(As for the moron in the blue outfit giving the Hitler salute, which seems to have got a lot of Sunday Herald readers (and non-readers) upset, I'm more upset about unionist protestors wearing Rangers scarves). 

I would suggest as well as making that mistake, the Sunday Herald editorial team made the mistake of putting two quite different stories on the front page. That caused me a bit of confusion when I picked my paper up off the mat and it may have had that effect on others. In fact, I still haven't actually read the main story in full. 

As for people sending abusive emails, tweets and Facebook messages, welcome to the real world, guys! It goes on all the time, although I'm sorry if it has just reached the Sunday Herald. But you have - like the rest of us - to accept that only a very small group of independence supporters put out this kind of hate mail. I refuse to accept that my colleagues in the Scottish Greens, the SNP, the SWP, Women for Independence, Labour for Independence, Bella Caledonia, Yes Alliance, etc are in any way engaged in abusing other independence supporters. We don't have that many newspapers supporting out cause that we can afford to lose any. 

And - please - don't compare what we are doing to the Trump campaign. That's a step too far. 

A couple of other small points: this week's front page of the Sunday Herald features a photo and an article about the widow of Alekzandr Litvinyenko urging Alex Salmond to give up his show on RT. Can I remind the Sunday Herald that Alex Salmond holds no office in Scotland, the UK or the EU? What he does as a private citizen is his business. 

And finally, along with a few of my pals I've had letters printed in the Guardian, the Herald and the National but never in the Sunday Herald. Why is that?