Letters: Sturgeon is right to show caution on lockdown exit. Why can't she do the same with indie?

Nicola Sturgeon, on the other hand, is a lawyer and would be expected to take more care and caution in separating facts from opinions; evidence from wishful thinking; ratifying information and foreseeing every consequence.

I just wish that she would apply her commendable caution to the folly of independence.

Bill Brown, Milngavie.

HAS PM REALLY LEARNED LESSONS?

AS Scotland's First Minister remains wisely cautious amid the rising clamour (primarily orchestrated by right-wing Tories previously Brexiters) for an immediate return to "normal", the Prime Minister again bows to populism in deceitfully pronouncing the importance of data over dates yet specifying set calendar numbers for the removal of lockdown restrictions.

In proclaiming that his Government has "learned lessons" while persisting with a "suppression strategy" (instead of an "elimination strategy" as pursued by the Scottish Government) and embarking on a course of actions likely to spawn another UK variant, possibly even more pernicious than the London-Kent variant that has taken most lives across the UK in this devastating second wave of Covid-19, Boris Johnson is not only demonstrating his duplicity but his recklessness.

The UK may be leading the world in genomic sequencing but as evidenced by the highest death rate per capita in the world, no number of euphorically-announced vaccination milestones can hide the scandalous incompetence of this Prime Minister and his chosen Cabinet ministers.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry.

* WHEN are SNP MSPs going to show some backbone by publicly daring to challenge the First Minister's continuing over-cautious approach, in the light of the public's obvious wish to move more quickly along the road to a more normal everyday life?

Ron McMurtrie, Edinburgh.

WHO SPEAKS FOR THE REFUGEES?

THE attention of the media within the past few days has been directed at the "roadmap" towards some measure of normality in the component areas of the UK.

Statistics flood in from countries worldwide as to the incidence of Covid infections and to the extent of any vaccination programmes. Such information, sometimes of doubtful accuracy, seldom, if ever, presents a picture of life under Covid in the many war-torn areas of the world.

Who speaks for the hundreds of thousands existing in refugee camps where life is a daily struggle for survival? Where do they feature, if at all, in the priority list for vaccinations and how will this be funded?

Does anyone care?

Malcolm Allan, Bishopbriggs.

A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES

THE lead story on last night’s BBC TV news (February 24) was, of course, Covid. Then we had a piece about a 99-year-old man who was “comfortable” in a luxurious hospital in London. Twenty-five minutes into the bulletin, and mercifully just ahead of the story about a celebrity golfer injured in a car crash, we had a harrowing report by the redoubtable Orla Guerin from Yemen. The sight of a four-month-old girl, close to death from malnutrition and easily treatable disease, was incredibly sad.

All that could be said about Covid in the UK and the Salmond-Sturgeon melodrama has probably already been said, several times over. There’s a whole world out there, and some catastrophic situations. Maybe if the media and governments raised their eyes briefly to those tragedies, we could begin to find some solutions to them.

Doug Maughan, Dunblane.

UK DOES NOT PROTECT SCOTLAND

WILLIAM Loneskie (Letters, February 24) assumes an independent Scotland would not have the institutions or tools to manage its economic affairs. It’s not rocket science to establish a central bank, launch a new currency and create economic policies to invest in a nation’s wealth. How does he think other small European nations have managed?

Westminster economic mismanagement, austerity and epic corruption have driven the UK economy into Boris Johnson’s proverbial ditch. When benchmarked against 16 European nations across a range of economic indicators including GDP, pensions, income inequality, national debt, exports and productivity, the UK came last on four out of eight, including on overall performance.

The notion that the UK offers Scotland any advantages or protection is laughable. The UK slammed the door on free trade and movement with our biggest market, akin to shooting itself in both feet. Cabinet ministers now routinely break the law, it seems, and suffer no consequences. The UK has one of the worst Covid death rates in the world and has squandered £22 billion on a test and trace system that doesn’t work. Unemployment and poverty are set to soar when Rishi Sunak ends furlough and other pandemic supports, but as long as he and his friends in the ruling classes make out like bandits, that’s fine.

Colonial powers don’t give up their assets without a fight. The will to restore Scotland’s nationhood is greater than any political leader or party. The UK is broken. Its days are numbered. In its place we will create a prosperous, fairer and more open nation.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.

A PROGRESSIVE VISION

IN common with the majority of your correspondents today (Letters, February 23) I was delighted by the addition of Lesley Riddoch to your cadre of columnists. Her first article ("Only independence can bring the opportunity to deliver effective change", The Herald, February 22) was exemplary. She painted a vision of a future independent Scotland as a progressive, outward-looking Northern European country reunited with the EU 27 and with developing cultural and trade links to our Scandinavian neighbours.

In contrast, the letter from Jane Lax (February 23) criticising Ms Riddoch's column was a depressing read. Bereft of any vision of Scotland's prospects within the Union, it was the usual fare of carping criticism of the Scottish Government's record. Presumably Ms Lax feels things would be a lot better if the Scottish branch of Boris Johnson's Conservatives were in charge at Holyrood. Thankfully, Scottish voters are most unlikely to facilitate this prospect having seen the Prime Minister's dithering and incompetence in the face of the pandemic.

Iain Gunn, Elgin.

POINTERS FROM TORY LEAFLET

I WAS struck by a leaflet from the Scottish Conservatives that popped through the door. This noted that they were the only party able to stop the SNP gaining a majority of seats at the forthcoming Scottish Parliament elections, thereby preventing the holding of another independence referendum.

Clearly for those independence supporters there is welcome acknowledgement here that should the SNP win a majority, there will be another referendum, which is pleasing to note. It is, however, disappointing that beyond this the Tories have nothing to say on key issues such as education, health and employment.

Given this, it would be more than a little hypocritical that should the SNP gain a majority, for the Scottish Tories to then turn round and oppose the holding of such a vote.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh.

A CASE OF RIP, SNP?

RUTH Marr’s letter (February 23), praising Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP in government, reads like the eulogy at a funeral; all good, nothing bad.

Let us hope. Let us pray.

William Durward, Bearsden.

RELEASE THE EVIDENCE

REFERENCE the parliamentary committee of inquiry and the Crown Office. Here are questions that have not been asked, but should be, and answered.

Does the Crown Office know, from the material it has in its possession from the Salmond criminal trial, whether his allegations about the conduct of Nicola Sturgeon and others he named in his now-butchered written submission to be true or untrue; and given the grave nature of those allegations about a gross abuse of governmental power, refuted by Ms Sturgeon, does it not see that it has a duty in the public interest to settle the matter by releasing the material, so that there can be no dubiety about on which of the two veracity sits?

Jim Sillars, Edinburgh.

Read more: Roadmaps out of lockdown ignore the very real problems millions will face in months to come